FGM: A devil society finds too difficult to shake off

By Simbarashe Msasanuri

Though Female Genital Mutilation is a danger to health and life, societies continue holding on to the ancient ritual with high regards as a way of initiating young girls into womanhood. Even the winds of cultural imperialism, modernization and globalization sweeping across Africa, seem to be failing to put an end to the barbaric act that is usually performed without anesthesia and is intensely painful.

 In Tanzania, Female Genital Mutilation is traditionally performed in areas such as Arusha, Kilimamnjaro, Dodoma, Singida, Mara and Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya regions, and Zanzibar. According to Tanzania health statistics, FGM affects 18 percent of the female population in Tanzania.

 Women are left with little choice in the practice despite the physical and psychological harm. The practice is seen as necessary preparation for woman’s marital and family responsibilities. There are social stigmas associated with women who are not circumcised. For example it is thought that a woman not operated on will suffer ill health, disease and be affected by a taboo. Traditionally males are strongly prohibited from marrying into a family where women do not undergo female genital mutilation.

 Immediate consequences of FGM include severe pain and bleeding, shock, difficulty in passing urine, infections, injury to nearby genital tissue and sometimes death. The procedure can result in death through severe bleeding leading to haemorrhagic shock, neurogenic shock as a result of pain and trauma, and overwhelming infection and septicaemia, according to Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Almost all women who have undergone FGM experience pain and bleeding as a consequence of the procedure. The event itself is traumatic as girls are held down during the procedure. Risk and complications increase with the type of FGM and are more severe and prevalent with infibulations.

“The pain inflicted by FGM does not stop with the initial procedure, but often continues as ongoing torture throughout a woman’s life”, says Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

In addition to the severe pain during and in the weeks following the cutting, women who have undergone FGM experience various long-term effects - physical, sexual and psychological.

Women may experience chronic pain, chronic pelvic infections, development of cysts, abscesses and genital ulcers, excessive scar tissue formation, infection of the reproductive system, decreased sexual enjoyment and psychological consequences, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Additional risks for complications from infibulations include urinary and menstrual problems, infertility, later surgery (defibulation and reinfibulation) and painful sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse can only take place after opening the infibulation, through surgery or penetrative sexual intercourse. Consequently, sexual intercourse is frequently painful during the first weeks after sexual initiation and the male partner can also experience pain and complications.

When giving birth, the scar tissue might tear, or the opening needs to be cut to allow the baby to come out. After childbirth, women from some ethnic communities are often sown up again to make them “tight” for their husband (reinfibulation). Such cutting and restitching of a woman’s genitalia results in painful scar tissue.
 
A multi-country study by WHO in six African countries, showed that women who had undergone FGM, had significantly increased risks for adverse events during childbirth, and that genital mutilation in mothers has negative effects on their newborn babies. According to the study, an additional one to two babies per 100 deliveries die as a result of FGM.

 The three primary types of FGM include circumcision which entails the removal of the "prepuce" of the clitoris, excision or clitoridectomy which involves the removal of the entire clitoris in addition to the cutting or removal of the labia minora and infibulation, the most extreme form of FGM, which involves the removal of the entire external genitalia as well as the stitching of the vagina so that only a narrow opening remains.

It is against this background that some governments have crafted laws to ban FGM. In Tanzania, the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, a 1998 amendment to the Penal Code, specifically prohibits FGM. Section 169A (1) of the act provides that anyone having custody, charge or care of a girl under 18 years of age who causes her to undergo FGM commits the offence of cruelty to children.

The penalty for this offence is imprisonment up to fifteen years, a fine up to 300,000 Tanzania shillings or both imprisonment and fine. The law also provides for the payment of compensation by the perpetrator for the victim of the offence.

With this in mind, some societies devised ways to beat the law by employing hide and seek tactics.  In areas such as the central zone regions women are now performing female genital mutilation (FGM) secretly, in some hideouts, to avoid the long arm of the law and eyes of human rights watchdogs.

To make matters worse, FGM rites that are traditionally performed openly involving girls are now said to be performed on babies shortly after their births.

The Director of Women Wake Up (WOWAP), Ms Fatma Toufiq, was quoted as saying that parents in Dodoma and Singida regions conspire with elderly women to perform the outdated and harmful practice in the hideouts.

This shows that there is no light at the end of a dark tunnel for the problem as these tactics make it difficult to detect and bring the culprits to book.  To add insult to an injury, women are on the forefront of making sure that their daughters are cut. Though this is done in the name of culture, norms and values, more still needs to be done to educate these societies out of this devious practice.

 Though various groups have made inroads in reducing the incidents, it is vital that societies be educated and involved in as far as finding a permanent solution is concerned.  FGM is a devil Tanzanians should join hands and fight, for a better tomorrow.

Efforts needed to end conflicts between farmers and cattle herders

By Simbarashe Msasanuri
Land use conflicts are common phenomena in Tanzania and the world at large. The problem is fueled by the fact that land does not expand while people and other living organizations, relying on it for survival, keep on increasing, putting on pressure on the limited available resources and resulting in land conflicts.
Farmer–herder conflicts in Africa are often presented as being driven by ‘environmental scarcity’. In countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania just but to mention a few, the two groups have for a long time found themselves in deadly clashes, most of which resulted in loss of lives, destruction of property and turning the areas into war zones as the they try to clinch the right to use the land.

In Tanzania, areas such as Kilosa and Kilombero districts in Morogoro region; Kilindi and handeni districts in Tanga region; and mbarali district in mbeya region to mention the few are some of the places that have experienced land conflicts between farmers and pastoralists in recent years.

The multiple cases of such conflicts taking place in several parts of the country result when pastoralists search for pastures and water for their cattle, the farmers complain that the cattle pass in their farms and destroy their crops. This s coupled by the generally held belief by crop farmers that pastoralists’ way of keeping livestock is old and does not deserve to survive up recently as result in lack of care for land resulting in soil erosion and other abuses.

Though many clashes have been witnessed, still fresh in people’s minds is a conflict in Kilosa District in Tanzania that tragically culminated in the killing of thirty-eight farmers on 8 December 2000. The fight recurred in December 2008 at Kikenge Hamlet of Mambegwa and Mabwegere village where 8 people were reported dead and several houses were burnt to ashes and crops destroyed. Thousands of livestock were equally stolen by unknown culprits. The government, since that time has been striving to put an end to this problem leading in the reduction of such incidents.

However, the recent Ikwiriri clashes have inflicted a huge dent on government’s efforts to promote harmony among these groups.  The clashes were fueled by the death of a farmer at the hands of pastoralists who were punishing him for trying to bar them from grazing their cattle in his field at Njogoro ward in Umwe Ikwiriri South village, Rufiji municipality in Coast Region.  

This led to a backlash as farmers joined hands to avenge the death of their colleague.  The clashes sent shocking waves within the area leaving a trail of destruction as several houses were destroyed while vehicles were stoned. Though recent reports reveal that normalcy has returned to the village, more still needs to be done to curb such ugly scenes.

The recent call by the Agriculture Council of Tanzania (ACT) that farmland in this country should be demarcated, identified and legally protected , could not have come at a better time than this where conflicts between pastoralists and crop farmers continue unabated.

“For a long time now, ACT has been advocating land use plans with allocations for crop cultivation and pastoralism. It is lack of such an arrangement causing conflicts countrywide,” said the statement signed by ACT’s senior official, Cleophas Rwechungura.

Though it might remain true that demarcation of land and legalizing it will go a long way in rescuing the situation, one size fit all solution to the problem might not be feasible. The causal aspect of such clashes is tension building up over a long period of time and incidents such as the killing of a farmer in Ikwiriri becomes the spark plug.

The problem of these clashes is deeper than it seems and there is need to involve the concerned parties, for a permanent solution that is seemingly elusive. To understand the conflict, it is necessary for the concerned parties to study the history of villagization and land use in Districts rocked by the problem. This is so because attempts at agricultural modernization seem to have fostered an anti-pastoral environment in Tanzania.

It remains a fact that pastoral access to wetlands is decreasing due to expansion of cultivated areas and promotion of agriculture. Though this is inevitable as the country thrives to boost food production at a time where the effects of climate change are biting, separation of these two warring groups might come in handy, after a careful consideration and study.

In as much as there are legally protected areas such as national parks and other forests, it is important that land is earmarked, and demarcated for various use of which if one group trespasses into another’s territory, then legal action can be taken.

Agriculture is undoubtedly the backbone of this country’s economy and has lifted the lives of many peasants out of poverty, therefore, clashes between the farmer groups should not be left to continue as they reverse the gains the sector has achieved so far.

The land conflicts in this country can be traced as far back time immemorial and no solution seem to be in sight as the social anomaly continues rearing its ugly head here and there throughout the country. This therefore, calls for urgent action.

Respect and tolerance among the warring groups is required for a solution to be found as nothing, even police presence seems to be deterring these people from taking the law into their own hands.

These conflicts if left unattended will most likely to threaten the counrty’s hard earned peace. They are potential spark plugs for civil disturbances and should be nipped in the bud.

In order to preserve the gains of the agriculture sector, while in the long run promoting sustainable development in both important sectors of the economy, deliberate action and decision in solving the land conflicts should be taken without delay.

This task then should not left to the government institutions and officials only, but there must be the collaboration from all sectors, institutions, organisations, private and public and all these in order to achieve the fruitful results should incorporate the ideas of all the communities who are the main land users.

 It should be borne in mind that land is the key source development of all the other sectors but this cannot attained if the prevailing land conflicts will not be solved immediately.

Zim team clinches third position

Lack of support and failure to turn up by many Zimbabweans living in Tanzania saw their soccer team settling for the third place in a soccer tournament for all embassies in the country.  The team, mainly comprising “foreign-based” players fell  7-2 to Lebanon in the semi finals before beating England 6-3 in the third and fourth place play offs.

Lebanon went on to win the tournament after dismissing Turkey 4-1. For their efforts, the Zim team walked away with a new soccer ball.

But, it was the Zimbabwean let down that brings with it sad memories. Only a handful of Zimbabweans turned up, most of them late, for the tournament.  While the British team had adequate support, the Zimbabwean team settled for a few, isolated voices from the touch line.

This is contrary to what the Zimbabwe Ambassador to Tanzania, His Excellence EAC Chimonyo, said during Independence celebrations held in the city in April.

 “Let’s keep the spirit and remain united. Zimbabweans we are known for being educated and hard working but we lack cohesiveness. Togetherness is one thing that we lack and we should learn that from Dr Martins.

“Nigerians are good at doing that and I think this is one aspect that we need to instill in ourselves to enable that country to move forward,” he added.

“Nigerians are good at doing that and I think this is one aspect that we need to instill in ourselves to enable that country to move forward,” he added.

The British goal keeper picks the ball from the nets

Mr Sanzvenge talking to his team at half time

Zim players and supporters following the match

 Another goal

 Takurovai mafesi