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Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1002
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 02:04 pm: | 
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via allAfrica.com:
Will You Un-Rape Me?
The Nation (Nairobi)
OPINION
April 28, 2006
Posted to the web April 27, 2006
By Mildred Ngesa
Nairobi
So, Kasipul Kabondo member of parliament Paddy Ahenda admits he had to "sweet-talk a shy creature into marriage" for him to get his way? With more men like him, it's no wonder the rising cases of sexual violence against the meek and vulnerable!
This is the same attitude used to woo and cajole innocent little children into the dens of sexual beasts; and when "sweet-talking" according to Ahenda does not seem to work, then the only way is force, why? Since he, Mheshimiwa, reckons that an African woman says no to sexual advances when she actually means yes.
On the onset of the debate on the Sexual Offences Bill 2006, a presumably dignified member of parliament expected to vouch for a panacea for rising sexual violence against women and children, exposes the monster within - the same responsible for sexual violation. Now we know.
Yet another claims he cannot vote for a Bill that would put his community's cultural practices in jeopardy. In his community, he claims, women opt for genital mutilation at will. Whose voice is he representing? Does he know what it means to walk around minus body parts and being sewn up?
On Wednesday, if you were man enough to face up to what was going on in the streets, then by now the message should have sunk in. "Kill us, so that at least you do not have to rape us tomorrow" was the cry of 100s of mothers and children demonstrating in support of the Bill. They were dispersed by police. The lesson? They were saying that rape is worse than death.
Flashback: 1999 to 2002. Working in the newsroom for this same cause, I encountered horrendous experiences. There was this 14-year-old from the slums of Majengo in Nairobi's Eastlands. We went to get her testimony because she had been gang-raped. She was just a child - a nameless, faceless statistic, from Nairobi's most under-privileged area.
I assumed a stern stance, flipped a clean page on my notebook, and faced my source. When she opened her mouth to speak, what she pelted me with, disarmed my resolve. "Why do you want me to recount my ordeal?" she asked.
"If I narrate what happened to me, will you un-rape me?" I still recall the look in those eyes- the look of a wilting soul. That day in Majengo, when embarrassed and speechless, I gathered my notebook and headed back to the newsroom without a story.
She was right. By narrating her ordeal, would I un-rape her? You tell me. In 2001, when tired of talking to victims, medical authorities and police, I opted to face the eye of the storm- speak to convicted rapists. I talked to nine of them at the Industrial Area Nairobi Remand Prison.
They were ordinary men aged between 20- 40 with families and children. So, did you rape the child? was my standard question.No, I did not, most said. But the brutes were as guilty as hell. One admitted to hurting his child not raping because his wife had allegedly annoyed him.
I was gripped by a father of two young girls accused of raping a neighbour's six-year-old. He denied the crime. But when I asked; If today someone grabbed your five-year-old daughter and sexually assaulted her, what would you do? He jerked in surprise. An angry glimmer momentarily hit his eyes as he shifted uncomfortably. He tried to talk but failed, then started breathing fast. I... I dont know... I think, I would kill him. The fool! And why should he not be killed for doing the same to someone else's child?
That is what our problem is with this Sexual Offences Bill 2006. Our members of Parliament argue on technical intellectual fronts that aim to discredit the Bill. Some may have a point. Some may not.
Because the Bill has to be debated and okayed by an Act of Parliament, we will have to hold our breath, cross our fingers and pray for divine intervention. Why? Because sadly, some of our honourable members have decided to let down that 14-year-old girl. They have decided, there is no story to be told. They have stood their ground because they "cannot un-rape the girl".
A simple dictionary definition of honourable would be: honest, distinguished, reputable, just, upright, virtuous, ethical, all wonderful adjectives bestowed upon these members of Parliament in whose hands our fate lies. If they are anything worth the term honourable, they should know that sometimes, intellectual logic pales in the light of increasing rape deaths and gory sexual assaults hitting headlines everyday.
Rape is rape is rape and the penalties need to be raised as high as space.
Mheshimiwa? We see you in church on Sunday with your beautiful 10-year-old daughter. If someone grabbed and raped her, what would you do?
Mheshimiwa? We know your wife holds a high position in some international office and she does need the job. If her boss manipulates her into a sexual liaison, taking advantage of her fear of losing her job, would you still be standing dignified in your suit and stature?
Mheshimiwa? If today on your way back home, your driver and guard are waylaid by carjackers who for whatever devilish reasons opt to sodomise you, how far will your resolve hold?
Mheshimiwa? If your 80-year-old mother at home is assaulted and raped by a well-known neighbour, would you still argue that the Bill should only focus on minors and not adults?
To those who have come face to face with rape and rapists, a long-worded technical speech by you Mheshimiwa? on why the Bill should not pass, is like watching a mute cartoon on Television. Pure hogwash! So quit the empty talk. Let the Bill Pass.
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Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1003
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 02:04 pm: |
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More, from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4950774.stm
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Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1004
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 02:07 pm: |
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...and an apology from the justice minister:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4254343.stm |
Aurora
Newbie Poster
Username: Aurora
Post Number: 2
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 11:43 am: |
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The anguish these women must endure
Makes me sad & breaks my heart.
African men are so barbaric.
I wish there is something I can do. |
Anunaki3600
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Anunaki3600
Post Number: 160
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 04:09 am: |
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The Bill is still being debated in parliment for the last two days. Most MP's are now supporting it but the Bill has to be ammended before it can be passed. The critical issues are FGM which certain communities want to continue practicing, how to describe sexual harasment, and one clause which allows a woman to bring a rape case five years after it was committed. This Bill has created a lot of discussion among both men and women. For example, certain women feel that men will stop asking them out for a date because of fear of being accused of sexual harasment. Politicians fear their opponents will use this Bill to undermine them like what's happening in South Africa (Zuma's case). |
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