By Alex Yomah
River Gee Senator, Jonathan Sogbie, has taken issue with the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Williametta Saydee-Tarr, for not applying more energy to curb the growing wave of rape cases in the country.
Senator Sogbie expressed bitterness with Minister Saydee-Tarr, noting that she must leave from her usual comfort zone to apply energy that is often applied on other issues.
He said, he noticed that the Minister is not applying the kind of energy she applied to address scores of press conferences to condemn the Chapter-13 book released against President George Weah and the First-lady.
“The kind of energy you put in the Chapter-13 book is not the kind of energy you are using on the issue of rape. The book is condemnable though, but the rape issue is more graved than chapter 13- because our girls are dying,” he said with vigor.
The Senator said that the President of Liberia last year declared rape as National Emergency Issue, with upsurge of rape cases, he would have thought, and the Minister would have been using different vernaculars to condemn the issue of rape and stating law against rape so as to deter would-be doers.
He urged the Minister to come out of her usual comfort zone and step-out in the fight to reduce this menace dubbed “rapes”, “our kids are dying and we are angry with peak at which the news is coming on a daily basis.”
In response, Minister Saydee-Tarr who could neither confirm nor deny where her energy was applied but said, she was doing same, noting that rape is something she hates.
Responding also, Montserrado County Senator, Abraham Darius Dillon and the Minister of Health, Gender and Justice admitted that there are stronger laws to fight rape but what is troubling is government’s inability to effectively implement the law against rape.
They were responding to Senator Dillon’s question for the Minister to tell whether they needed tougher law to deter rape or there was tougher law but not been implemented.
From the response, Dillon agreed that government has been weak to fight rape cases; for instance, statutory rape is a crime committed every day and all of the hospitals have the records.
He said statutory rape is to avoid having sex with girl age-17 down. Dillon said, the law says, kids in those category whether they are willing or not, should have sex but in Liberia, almost all of the hospitals have records of kids ranging from 11-17 babies delivering babies as well.
From the Senator’s argument, for the fact that girls have not reached 18, those who impregnated them or their presumed baby fathers should be traced to be charged for rape but the Minister of Health responded otherwise.
It can be recalled that the plenary of the Liberian Senate cited the Ministers of Justice, Health, along with Gender and Children Protection to respond to inquiries by Senators on the growing surge of rape and Domestic Violence against women and children particularly across the country.
Plenary session’s decision was triggered by communication written and transmitted to the Senate by Grand Bassa County Senator, Nyonblee Lawrence in which she entreated her colleagues to invite the three Ministers to appear next week Tuesday before its full Plenary.
In the communication read in plenary, Senator Lawrence drew Senate’s attention to what she calls upsetting incidents of rape in the country, which among other things, has led to the death of many of the victims.
She added that what is even more repulsive to say the least, is the recent situation involving a 13-year-old girl who was raped to death by a 37-year-old man in Central Monrovia, and most regrettably, a three-year old-baby who was also recently raped in the Soul Clinic Community by a 17- year-old boy.
The Senator in a written letter stressed the need for preventive awareness, access to information and enforcement as possible solutions to mitigating the menace of rape in the country.
She said there is need to avert what she describes as devilish act, thereby, calling on her Colleagues to take some appropriate steps to protect women and children against further victimization by those “cold-blooded” predators and rapists.
Meanwhile, the plenary of the House of Representatives has also summoned Gender and Justice Ministries as well as the Pharmaceutical Board to inform them about government’s definite position addressing the increase of statutory rape cases across Liberia.
Following minimum deliberation on the matter, plenary mandated that both the Justice and Gender Ministers along with their deputies and the Pharmaceutical Board be made to appear before them next Thursday.
