By Ing.Yayah A.B. Conteh
It is really no exaggeration to state here that the issue of the constant raping of our womenfolk in our country has always exercised my mind and still continues to do so even as I write this piece.
It has haunted me everywhere: at the break of dawn, in my office space as I reflect on the day-to-day happenings in the country, or even outside my official functions as I sometimes inquisitively poke my nose into some casual conversations gaining momentum amongst a well-informed socializing group of both young and old people. Hardly do these conversations fold up without a rape case somewhere being mentioned.
Animated discussions, on the lips of many a citizen in the country, hover around the controversial issue of rape. This can be heard in the workplaces, at cafes and restaurants and, above all, along the streets and drivers in both the city and the provinces. Even the famous “Morning Coffee” programme of the renowned SLBC Radio FM 99.9 always captures extremely well the atmosphere related to several rape issues in most of its pronouncements.
The question then that exercises my mind is what is this rape and why do people engage in it?
Rape, in the strict sense of the word, is no more than the forced intercourse by a man with a woman who is not his wife and done without her consent. It is considered a reprehensible and heinous crime anywhere committed in the world.
Most learned scholars, in several fields of endeavour, especially in the religious realm, argue that the violation of a free woman is not only a violation against the victim proper but a violation against God Himself who paved the way for the victim’s existence on earth.
The Biblical Book of Genesis 2: 21-22 in the ‘NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION’ spells it out succinctly of how woman was created out of man…..” so the Lord God caused the man to fall into deep sleep; and while he was sleeping he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the ribs he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man”.
This simply portrays the undeniable fact that man and woman are one and the same, bound together by a common denominator from the very first day of creation and expected to co-exist peacefully and not be antagonistic to one another.
So all men, with a spirit of goodwill, who veer off from this expectation and embark upon the systematic rape of women at large, are no better than domestic animals bound for the slaughterhouse.
Rape is a destructive mischief and a violent crime that causes disorder and unrest in any land where it is perpetuated and it is tantamount to provoking severe punishment worldwide. The severity of the punishment largely depends on the laws governing the country where the crime is committed.
The act of rape is synonymous to that of highway robbery as it injects fear in people freely moving in and out of their homes or fear of losing their hard earned property through violence.
The systematic rape of women and girls in Sierra Leone is common place and has become deeply enmeshed in the country as a whole.
If this country was napping in the 50s, 60s and 70s and even up to the 80s and 90s, when the issue of rape was a mere figment of the imagination and rarely experienced, then it should be wide awake by now when its tentacles are far widely spread and ready to pounce upon its unfortunate victims with astonishing rapidity!
Rape is a heinous and abhorrent crime that is forbidden in all religions including those of Christianity and Islam as practiced in our country. In the minds of all knowledgeable people and those who possess a sound human nature, the rapist is viewed to be in the category of people who are outlaws and a threat towards the peace and security of the society.
Taking something wrongfully by force (in this case by committing the act of raping) is no more than a transgression against the honour of women in society, be they married or unmarried, for afterwards, women’s honour and modesty must be maintained and protected at all times.
Children, as young as few months old or less than three years old, are senselessly and mercilessly raped across the length and breadth of our country. Yes, children who ought to have been at home reading and writing and gaining an honest livelihood, children who ought to have been preparing to darken the doors of an educational establishment and sketch out a meaningful future for themselves – a future that would go to make all the difference tomorrow between starvation and plenty!
Where then lie the national pride and manhood of perpetrators of this heinous act?
The argument is often advanced in certain quarters that the perpetrators of such heinous and abominable acts like rape do so in order to satiate their sexual gratification. But if one is to ask as to why a baby a few months old is brutally and gruesomely deflowered by some rapists somewhere, can this same school of thought hold? Is the rapist in question longing to satisfy his sexual urges or merely trying to prove out an experiment long overdue for the attainment of a certain purpose? I sometimes wonder at remaining stupefied for not having appropriate answers to these questions that occupy my subconscious day-in-day out.
I was brought up in a cosmopolitan society where rape cases were experienced and recorded on a much smaller scale. They were not as rampant as they appear today, almost non-existent.
Up to the time I departed the Bo Government Secondary School for Fourah Bay College and later for further studies abroad and, in fact, even much earlier than that, there was respect for womanhood everywhere. The practicality to this was not far to see as it was evident from the various aspects to which our womenfolk were subjected, ranging from the domestic cultural and traditional values that were imparted into a girl child as she metamorphosed from infancy to adulthood, to being considered ready and mature enough to undergo the Female Genital Mutilation practice.
These girls were taught the basic rudiments of domestic undertakings: learning to dominate the art of not only cooking but cooking well, minding their everyday dress codes and the skills and mastery associated with the general upkeep of a home, etc.
It was anathema even for a girl student to be pronounced pregnant in those days. Woe betides her who falls prey to this temptation! An act of this nature was shrouded in secrecy as it would appear the whole community would frown upon and despise the unfortunate victim.
An atmosphere of calm and serenity indeed prevailed in those days and human society and interactions remained stable and dignified.
This is not to say that there were no outrageous or monstrous acts experienced within the society as I grew up. There were acts of barbarity perpetuated with impunity from time to time by a set of hardened core “unchangeables” whose principal pre-occupation was always to sow the seeds of discord amongst others and disrupt the pattern of the already uninterrupted flow of life.
But frankly speaking, the constant raping of the womenfolk in those days as compared to now was an act that was virtually unthinkable. If it did exist, which seldom happened, then, it was always shrouded in secrecy and never brought to the fore for public consumption and consciousness.
Today, as I write, the scenario is different altogether.
Rape, like its twin brother, sex, is a topic that is hardly openly discussed in most countries in the world, including Sierra Leone as well, for the stigma associated with it. It is a taboo subject and therefore women often refrain from reporting for fear of social judgement.
In Sierra Leone, where rape and other acts of violence against women are rampant and seem intractable at times, women generally don’t bother to report rape cases even if they happen to fall victims of the act.
One outstanding reason is the stigma and abuse that goes with it, because there is a tendency that their cases will drag on for a fairly long time once they attempt to go to the police, say. And if ever a matter of this kind is to go to court, the financial impact this would have on the victim’s family would be astronomical and difficult to endure.
More significantly, again, a rape issue gets immediately buried once it is realized that it was committed within family circles, like by a bonafide family member or extended family member or somebody well known in the neighbourhood. In cases where the rapist happens to be a step-father, uncle or other within the society, the situation becomes all the more complicated to be announced at will.
Situations arise too where the rapist might be heavily politically connected or some stranger of repute within the society. For fear of future reprisals from such classes of people that might not augur well for the victim and family, most of these rape circumstances remain unreported.
The punishment meted out to a convicted rapist varies from country to country. All countries in the world, save probably for a very few, regard the action of rape as abhorrent and impose the strictest penalties on it once carried out.
In some countries, predominantly in the Islamic states, where Sharia laws govern these matters, this crime is usually punishable against the evildoer by stoning to death in the case of a married man or a flogging of hundred (100) lashes for an unmarried man.
Some other laws enacted in these Islamic countries for any committed rape dictates deportation for any unmarried man caught in the act.
The government of His Excellency, Dr Julius Maada Bio, has done extremely well in enacting laws to put to rest once and for all this barbarous act of rape in our country. Prominent amongst these laws is life imprisonment for any culprit caught in the act.
The essence of this is to ward off evildoers and aggressors in our society that would fall prey to this act, as is often the case, all with the sole objective of finding a lasting solution to this menace.
But despite the government’s strenuous and genuine efforts in addressing this issue, it seems to me that no headway has yet been found in this struggle. Infact, it appears as if more rape cases have lately resurfaced to the fore than was anticipated before the enacting of this law. The rapists seem to downplay the entire rape scenario in the country. Probably they don’t see it as being outrightly ferocious a law than was commonly supposed from different regions in the country.
In view of this I will humbly suggest that prior to the life imprisonment of these rapists, it would be worthwhile frog marching them openly half naked for at least a week along the busy streets of Freetown and the provincial Headquarter towns for the rest of mankind to see and learn useful lessons from this. This should be accompanied by the administering of the rod on their naked bodies from time to time as they march along to the consternation of onlookers and passers-by. Thereafter, they should be whisked off to some agricultural field crying to be tilled and cultivated for a number of years not exceeding five, before they are finally put behind bars.
This, to me, perhaps will help solve the rape menace stubbornly hovering over our country and refusing to defy solution. If this action does not eliminate it altogether, at least it will reduce it to a minimum.
Let it be borne in mind that the resilient people of Sierra Leone will not want to stand to be abused by the present generation, and generations yet unborn, that we have woefully failed in our duty and responsibility to end sexual abuse, including rape and other gender based violence in our country, especially when it shall have exceeded the stage of tolerance and eventually spill over the country as a virulent poison.
Who will be prepared and brave enough to drink from that concoction of poison?
Engineer Yayah A.B. Conteh is the Director of the Mechanical Services Department (MSD) of the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA).
Tel. Nos : 076640364/077718805.
Email: contehyayahab@yahoo.com or
Contehyayahab2020@gmail.com