Power, Politics, Rape and Public Sensibilities

Jun 19, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – There is a view exemplified by the alleged predatory behaviour of powerful men that power, status and wealth avoid any restraint on their ability to abuse and exploit women. Former US President Donald Trump, who has been accused by at least 12 women of sexual misconduct, had famously bragged that his wealth and status permitted him to grab women by their private parts and touch them sexually without their permission. Incredibly, public knowledge of the multiple rape and sexual abuse allegations and his disrespect for women did not lose him any political support and he went on to win the presidency of the United States. He did not face accountability until very recently when a Manhattan jury found him civilly liable, in one case, for sexually abusing and defaming a female magazine writer and awarded her US$5 million in damages but did not find him that he had raped her almost thirty years ago as alleged.

I am extremely saddened and angered at the report of the alleged rape and sodomy of a 16-year-old indigenous girl by a named PPP/C Minister and applaud her bravery, amidst her pain and humiliation, in detailing her ordeal in an open letter to the President, Cabinet, diplomatic community, private sector and all Guyanese. I do not ask why she did not file a report with the police, if that is indeed what happened, because I can appreciate that the manner in which the police concluded last month’s Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire which claimed the lives of several indigenous children among them nineteen teenage girls and a 5-year old male, cannot inspire confidence in their professionalism. I am also concerned that while Trump’s accusers appear to be mature women of similar ethnicity and upwardly mobile, the accuser here is a minor, of a different ethnicity – perhaps marginalized – and in difficult social circumstances that caused her to approach the Minister for assistance. This suggests a different, and infinitely more dangerous, power dynamic that our home-grown alleged predator seeks out the weakest and most vulnerable in our society.

Her cries for help, protection and justice must be answered. No doubt the government will offer platitudes hoping to dull the sensibilities of the nation in much the same way as they have ignored the call, made by the Opposition Leader, some weeks ago for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the deadly May 21 Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire. Its recent statements of support for an investigation are not particularly comforting in light of its recent, farcical, investigative record – Presidential COI into election fraud and police investigation into Mahdia tragedy.

I urge steadfast solidarity with this brave child and the victims of the Mahdia tragedy.

Sincerely
Oscar Dolphin

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he victims of the Mahdia tragedy, Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire, predatory behaviour, private parts and touch them sexually without their permission

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