According to the Standard Newspaper issue of Wednesday, 3rd January, 2018, the police are on a hunt of one rapist who violated a young girl and recorded the whole sordid deed on video. The man is reported to be in the habit of recording his despicable acts and then using it to blackmail the victim either to collect money or continue the illicit affair..
Rape is one of the most heinous crimes man can ever commit. In fact, rape is far worse than murder. When a person murders an individual, you end the life of one person. Evil as that is, it is far better than rape which is what I call ‘an abiding murder’. If someone is raped [especially if it is a young girl], that one action can continue to affect her for the rest of her life.
For instance, the damage done to this girl may prevent her from ever bearing children. Perhaps those children would have borne children as well in the future. So it will be correct to say that the rapist had potentially murdered a whole generation of children. Thus, rape is a crime against humanity and should be treated as such. When the word genocide is used, everyone is appalled at the evil of those who commit it. Well, rape is genocide.
The intricate way in which our society is formed makes it a little difficult to fight against this evil. Firstly, rape is most often committed by family members or family friends. Then the Maslaha syndrome takes over. We have the archaic belief of ‘Ndogali Yallah la’ (it’s destined) and as such, we tend to give up.
For the fight against rape to be successful, we need to attack the root of the problem. This will tell us that the first obstacles against the prosecution of suspected rapists is the interference of the family members. Mostly, they do not want the shame and stigma on their families. They also many a time want to shield the rapist who may be a relative. Then they assign it to ‘Yallah’.
We must formulate laws which are intended not only to punish the rapists but also their accomplices. These are the people who will try to cover the incident up. They must have a severe share of the punishment. In fact, they may be considered as guilty as the one who performed the actual deed.
As for the rapist, we must introduce the system of naming and shaming the rapist, particularly the paedophiles. As we claim to live in a conservative society, the shame will be more of a deterrent than any other form of punishment. Further, the residents of the entire area in which such a person – rapist and/or paedophile – lives must be notified of his presence. In this way, they will be able to protect themselves from him.
Girls are th fruit trees that bear our future. The progress of a society can be measured by observing how well (or otherwise) it treats its women. A society that turns a blind eye on violations of its women is a doomed society which is bound to be destroyed sooner rather than later.
We must honour our women!
Have a good day Mr President.
