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The Sierra Leone People's
Party ( SLPP) has no moral authority to question the All People's
Congress (APC) government's handling of the recent alleged rape
incidents in Sierra Leone. If it is true that these women were raped, it
is regrettable and I wish to condemn the perpetuators and call for
action against them. However, worst incidents of rape happened under the
watch of the SLPP government and the sad thing is that all the women
raped during the SLPP era never received justice.
The SLPP government failed to acknowledge the
sufferings of the women raped and the government was very heartless
towards the victims , as reported by international organizations. I am
not saying that because the SLPP's record of protecting wome's rights
was abysmal, therefore the APC should do the same or that rape is
justified under the present government.That is not what I am saying.
What I want to highlight here is the SLPP's
hypocrisy, double standards and impunity. As I am going to demonstrate,
the SLPP era saw the most brutal and ruthless sexual abuse of women and
throughout its reign ; and yet the SLPP GOVERNMENT DID NOTHING TO
ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THESE RAPES OCCURED, THAT THE VICTIMS WERE SUFFERING
AND THAT THEY NEEDED JUSTICE. TO THIS DAY, NONE OF THE RAVISHED WOMEN
HAVE RECEIVED JUSTICE. NOT A SINGLE ONE. THE VIOLATED WOMEN ARE WALKING
AROUND WITH THE PAIN, SHAME AND STIGMA.
This flagrant violation and neglect of the
rights of women by the SLPP government begs the question : Why is the
SLPP now trying to politicize the alleged rapes at their headquarters
and trying to stigmatize the APC as if they did any better during their
reign ? Is this not the height of hypocrisy for a party under whose
watch thousands of women were brutally raped to now turn around and try
to make political capital out of six alleged raped viictims in the APC
era ? Is it not the height of the worst type of double standards for a
party that failed to acknowlege thousands of rapes or provide succor and
justice for the thousands of victims to now try to make a big noise out
of six women allegedly raped recently ?
This is what is most annoying about the
SLPP.They hide their own shame and disgrace under the bushel and try to
make political capital out of other people's. WHAT A SHAME FOR THE
SO-CALLED GRAND OLD PARTY OF SIERRA LEONE ? Should not the SLPP first
try to remove the log in their eyes before talking about the mote in
other people's eyes ?
The APC Government should not sit back and let
the SLPP get away with their hypocrisy and double standards. While
providing assurance that everything was being done to address the
problems of the alleged six rape victims, the government must present
facts to the American Ambassador and the International Community to show
that the SLPP's record of protecting women against rape and providing
them justice was the most shameful in Africa.
During the reign of the SLPP, women were
subjected to Rape, sexual torture, Sexual slavery and Forced
pregnancy.While it must be acknowledged that some of these acts were
perpetuated during a war situation, the government's own forces and
sponsored militia, the Kamajors, were among the perpetuators. What did
the SLPP government do to bring its forces and Kamajors to justice ?
Are the rapists not walking free in our society ? Granted that an
amnesty was offered, should not the SLPP government have punished their
Kamajors just to send a clear message that the government did not
condone the rapes ? Yet, it was clear that the SLPP government
supported the atrocities committed by its Kamajors that included rape,
sexual torture and forced pregnancies of girls as young as 14 or 15 .
With such a disgraceful record , what gave the SLPP the moral gumption
to make all the noise we heard recently over the six women allegedly
raped ? I am not saying that they should not advocate for the women,
but the political capital they tried to make out of the issue was
hypocrisy that stank to the heavens.
The SLPP must publicly acknowledge that
thousands of women, including babies , were raped during their reign and
that the government negligently failed to do anything about it. |
