NAIROBI, March 5, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An investigative report by the Norwegian newspaper Dagen has revealed that the top leadership of the Family Planning Association of Kenya (FPAK), a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), allows their employees to break the Kenyan law against abortion. The development has caused the Norwegian government to question its annual $6 million (US) contribution to IPPF.
While IPPF and its member associations claim to respect local laws against abortion, FPAK’s leadership revealed that they flout the law and use technical terminology to conceal their illegal actions. FPAK’s medical officer, Josiah Onyango, told the Norwegian paper regarding abortion, “Whoever wants to, can do it, I have no problems with that.”
Godwin Mzenge, the Director of FPAK, added, “If they in an informal way let my colleagues here [in the leadership] know what he or she is doing, they will not do anything about it either.”
Onyango explained, “It cannot not be recorded as an abortion, rather as MVA [manual vacuum aspirator] at a delayed menstruation.” Tom Chuma, FPAK’s financial and administrative executive said, “Don’t mention the word abortion. You can call it menstrual regulation. Whoever does not know the technical terms, would not know what actually happened.” IPPF pays an average of $1.3 million (US) per year to FPAK. The investigative report by journalist Jostein Sandsmark has caused Norway’s government to demand an explanation from IPPF for the offenses against Kenyan laws. “We expect them to explain and clarify the impression they have given earlier, that they always work in accordance with the national laws,” said David Hansen, political adviser in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The articles from Dagen are online (in Norwegian) at: https://www.dagen.no/show_art.cgi?art=5410 https://www.dagen.no/show_art.cgi?art=5466