Nairobi — On the 2026 International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, Kenya faces a turning point. While we have lowered prevalence and strengthened laws, progress is not a final victory.
The persistence of FGM which is now evolving through medicalization and cross-border activity proves that momentum can stall. To meet our 2030 goal, we must shift from mere awareness to sustained action. This requires matched political will, dedicated budgets, and rigorous enforcement to ensure every girl is protected.
Indeed, over the last two decades, sustained advocacy, education, community engagement and a strong legal framework have delivered measurable results. National prevalence has fallen sharply, and among adolescent girls the practice is now at historically low levels. This is not accidental. It is the outcome of deliberate policy choices and decades of work by survivors, communities, civil society and the state.
Yet national success can obscure a more uncomfortable reality. In several communities, FGM remains deeply entrenched, with prevalence rates that rival those of two decades ago. In parts of Kisii, Samburu and among Somali communities, the practice continues to function as a dominant social norm. As Kenya moves deeper into 2026, the challenge is no longer whether change is possible, but whether the country is willing to make the investments and enforcement decisions required to finish the job.
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Kenya already has one of the strongest legal frameworks against FGM on the continent. The Prohibition of FGM Act of 2011 decisively reframed the practice from a private cultural matter into a serious criminal offence. The establishment of the Anti-FGM Board and the integration of specialised prosecution within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions signalled that the state intended to act, not merely legislate. The High Court's affirmation of the law's constitutionality further settled any lingering debate about whether the protection of girls' bodily integrity is a negotiable value. It is not.
However, laws derive their power not from their text but from their certainty. Where enforcement is inconsistent, where cases collapse quietly, or where offenders learn that the consequences are manageable, deterrence evaporates. In some regions, arrests are made but prosecutions fail to mature. In others, enforcement is seasonal, reactive, or under-resourced. This unevenness sends a dangerous message: that the law can be waited out, negotiated around, or quietly evaded.
One of the clearest signs of this adaptation is the rise of medicalised FGM. As community scrutiny increases, the practice has migrated into clinics, homes and private spaces under the guise of healthcare. When trained professionals participate, they do more than violate ethics; they legitimise a crime and weaken public trust in the health system itself. Medicalisation is not harm reduction. It is facilitation, and it must be treated as such through coordinated action by health regulators, professional councils and criminal justice institutions.
Enforcement must also mature. The future of anti-FGM prosecution lies not in symbolic arrests but in dismantling the networks that sustain the practice. Cutters, brokers, facilitators, complicit parents and medical practitioners form systems of harm that require intelligence-led investigations and well-resourced prosecutions. This demands specialised training, protected budgets and clear coordination between police, prosecutors, health authorities and child protection officers, particularly in hotspot counties and during known cutting seasons.
The challenge is compounded along Kenya's borders. In some communities, cutting has become a mobile practice, with girls moved across national boundaries to evade detection. This reality exposes the limits of a purely domestic response. Kenya's commitments under regional and continental frameworks demand more than symbolic alignment; they require practical cross-border cooperation, intelligence sharing and harmonised protection mechanisms. A girl rescued on one side of the border must not be abandoned on the other.
Yet enforcement alone will never be enough. The most durable progress has occurred where the law is reinforced by community ownership. Public declarations, alternative rites of passage, faith-based leadership and the engagement of men and boys have helped shift norms in ways that legislation alone cannot. These approaches succeed because they offer communities a way to preserve identity without perpetuating harm, and because they redefine honour, womanhood and belonging without violence.
For these social shifts to endure, they must be backed by real protection for girls. Rescue centres, education support, psychosocial care and safe reporting pathways are not add-ons; they are the infrastructure that allows refusal to be possible. A girl cannot reject the cut if doing so means losing her home, her education or her safety. Prevention collapses when protection is underfunded.
This is where Kenya now faces its defining test. The country has benefited significantly from international support, particularly through global joint programmes that have laid critical foundations. But the final mile cannot be outsourced. Ending FGM is a constitutional obligation, a regional commitment and a national responsibility. It requires predictable domestic financing, clear performance tracking across institutions and visible consequences for those who continue to profit from or defend the practice.
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The decline in prevalence among young girls offers a rare policy opportunity. Kenya stands within reach of a generational break from FGM. But tipping points are fragile. Without sustained investment, rigorous enforcement and community-centred protection systems, progress can stall or reverse, particularly under economic stress or political distraction.
The purpose of Kenya's anti-FGM law was never punishment for its own sake. It was freedom. Freedom for girls to grow without fear, for families to choose protection over pressure, and for communities to redefine tradition without violence. The evidence shows that change is possible. The law confirms that it is mandatory. What remains is to ensure that implementation makes it permanent.
If Kenya is serious about ending FGM, the next phase must be marked not by declarations, but by budgets, prosecutions and protection that reach every girl, in every county, without exception.
