Stemming the tide of sexual violence.

I have just listened to an extremely disturbing interview conducted by CNN with a rapist in Alaska. Alaska by the way has just emerged as being the State with the most incidents of rape and sex related violence.

The interviewee did mention that he only raped women when he was drunk and was not in full possession of his senses. He really spoke as though he deserved everyone's sympathy. I mean he had to deal with the inconvenience of the afterthought that he just raped someone. Entirely forgetting that somewhere some poor lady has just been permanently damaged for life. To me that sounded just cynical given the fact that it seemed any time he feels an itch he just proceeds to drink some spirit and latch unto his next victim.   

I just wondered if he has thought about another way of living his life without ruining the lives of countless victims for ever.

Possibly he could submit himself to be castrated, or sent to prison where some big fat sweaty ex-drug dealer rapes him three times a week, or get psychological help, or stop drinking. I mean there are loads of options he could pick from. Violently attacking and raping some poor lady cannot be in anyway a solution to appease his grotesque appetite when he is drunk.

Many societies have made the situation worse by trivialising the issue of rape and sexual violence. Third world countries stigmatise victims for having been raped. First world countries have reached a state of evolution on this matter such that people are now using the crime of rape for a wide range of factors. For every misplaced judgement, for every wrongful accusation, for every denial of justice this monster that is rape would continue to wreck havoc in our homes and society. 

Lets' kick it out. Show respect. No is No. No to date rape. Consent not coercion. Tenderness not violence. 

rape is a monster and you could leave yourself at its mercy if you do not take precautions for your well-being. All it would give you are the companionship of it's foot soldiers; depression, sadness, suicide, psychological trauma, stunted development and darkness. Having said this there are a lot of occasions where you inadvertently fall prey to it. In this situation find help. ASAP. If you don't it would fester on your psyche and could completely take control of you. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to keep walking. Find someone to talk to.

Let it out. 

Combating impunity.

Deterrent in every aspect of life is always preferable to punishment. It saves everyone a lot of time, resources and emotional stress. Saying that, it is only too obvious that much more should be invested in having a credible deterrent system in place in order to stem corruption, theft, graft and other forms of negative activities that plague our societies today. 

Screaming and whining about corruption is and never could be the answer. It is just like standing underneath a leaky roof and complaining about getting wet. You try to mop up and keep towelling yourself dry over and over again. All the while you are still standing underneath the leaky roof which you have made no effort to fix and no effort to step away from underneath it. 

You would save infinitely more by just fixing the hole in the roof and moving on with your life. In a lot of third world countries corruption has become not just a monumental setback but it is also damaging the chances of the coming generation. Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan and Cameroon are a few examples. 

People in authority are constantly being accused of theft and bribery. Fact is they have the access and there is little or no deterrent in place to dissuade them. Making it difficult for politicians to steal should be a first step. Due process should be adhered to. Which is why in a few of these countries a variety of schemes have been put in place to ensure people become aware of proceedings and their duties. Although these schemes and processes like a whole lot of ventures before them have been warped and abused to benefit sitting politicians, I still do believe that they should be given a chance to work and a lot more effort should be put into them. 

Having said this the Nigerian Aviation ministry comes to mind. The checks and balances which were put in place to ensure the smooth running of the due process scheme did catch out the Aviation Minister. To the chagrin of many Nigerians and people who mean well for progress she is still a sitting minister. 

The Ministry of Finance has been feeding the populace with bogus figures and stats and hoping we would be too dumb to check and double check. The Petroleum Ministry has failed time and time again to remit funds from sale of crude to the Central bank and to cap it all up no one seems to know exactly what the President is doing or what his plans are for the development of the country.

This is a huge setback for the Nigerian state. A huge setback in the sense that one factor that can ruin any society, any institution, any organization is impunity. It is sad to say but the present Nigerian President is actually effectively promoting impunity by not taking action against his Minister. At this point his government has lost credibility hence all it has got to run up to the next election is just goodwill and the lack of appetite for anarchy from the populace.

All the same, we must support the present government as best we could to enable us exit this very dangerous period in our development.