By Septimus Senessie in Kono
The Chairman of a coalition of child rights organisations in Kono says the rape of young girls “rapidly increased” in July and August this year. Musa Swarray of the Child Rights Coalition (CRC) comprising nine organisations says that in July and Augustthe figures increased in the district by 59% from the previous 35% in January to June. This means that so far this year the number of reported cases of rape has increased by 94% almost doubling last year’s. Swarray was speaking to Politico in a feisty and angry mood after his coalition had championed the prosecution of five rape cases in just one week allegedly involving girls aged between eight to 13 years, and men 50 years and older. The coalition members include World Vision Sierra Leone, IRC, Street Child, Concerns for Vulnerable Children, among others. “This is an alarming situation”, Swarray said, adding that it was much grimmer in remote areas of the district where police and civil society hardly have a presence. He said that it was “worrisome for the future of our girls” and that these were just the minute cases from” places within our reach”. He expressed disappointment over some parents and stakeholders in the habit of accepting home settlements of rape cases with “useless men who are bent on destroying the future of their children.” He praised the Koidu City Council for providing them moral and financial support to carry out their operations in the district, and “importantly in exposing foolish and useless men who follow their own children, grand and great-grandchildren for sexual desires.” He alleged that the Social Welfare Ministry was not doing enough to support them on that regard. The Line Manager at the Family Support Unit, Tankoro police division showed figures to Politico in their small and crammed office. They show that 45% of all the cases received at their department were rape-related. Sergeant Tamba Lebbie Kembay said they included child sexual penetrations, abductions, indecent assaults and other sexual abuse on young girls. “There has never been a single day in a month without three to four reports of rape on teenagers on my table makings it extremely alarming” he said. He expressed dissatisfaction that most of those cases were often lost in the magistrate court because victims’ parents would connive with the predator for an out-of-court settlement and they victims would fail to show up in a court for prosecution. This, he went on, had prompted the magistrates to throw the cases out for want of a witness. Kembay lamented that child marriage and teenage pregnancy were also on the increase in the nine chiefdoms under their jurisdictions. He expressed disappointment over some traditional authorities for settling such matters in their local courts and the parents for compromising the matter with perpetrators for “a few Leones”. Mobility and personnel constraints among other factors were also highlighted by the FSU sergeant which he said were undermining the “efficiency and effectiveness of our operations in tracking down perpetrators and bringing them to book.” Sergeant Sahr Samuel Jimmy of the FSU Motehma police Division in the same district also confirmed the increase in the numbers of sexual offences against children some as young as seven years old in the five chiefdoms in their operational area. He said that about half of the cases reported to him during the rainy season school holidays in July-August were rape and abuse on young girls with some seven years old. He described the situation as “a cause for concerns to all meaningful citizens.” Sergeant Jimmy blamed it on “poverty and poor parentage”. The Social Welfare Ministry in Kono say they are constrained financially and logistically to cover the entire fourteen chiefdoms especially with the poor road network. Notwithstanding that, the Social Development Officer, Mabinty Mansary said that they had sent two of their staff to both Motehma and Tankoro police divisions to help them with the investigation of all social matters including rape. (C) Politico 19/08/13
