It was on one of the television stations that I first saw the shocking and distasteful news. I wondered then if the public flogging of two supposedly young love birds of the opposite sex, tied to a pole with no chance of escape, was happening here in 21 Century Ghana.

It was real. It happened right here in our Republic to be specific in Wa in the Upper West Region.  Shamefully, people actually gathered and stood around to watch fellow human beings being reduced to inhumanity and they were happy videoing the disgusting act.

The “crime” of the two, as narrated by the television reporter, was that they were allegedly involved in sexual acts which they themselves recorded on video. Though that is becoming a regrettable trend one keeps hearing about among some youth, the disgust expressed in this article is on the public flogging of the two.

Video

Somewhere along the line, after the act, the young lady is said to have demanded some amount of money from the man she had had sex with. When he insisted that he did not have that kind of money, she then threatened to release the video to the public.

According to the reporter, when news of the video was made public, the Chief of the town summoned the two to his palace for questioning. They were consequently sent to the palace by some of the youth of the town but met the absence of the chief. 

At that point, a section of the youth tied them up in front of the palace and began to flog them. Their reason for flogging was that the two had disgraced the Moslem faith practised by about 80 per cent of the population in Wa, the people and particularly, the youth of the town.

It was alleged that initially, the perpetrators of the heinous crime against humanity, contemplated giving them one hundred lashes each. However, they decided to give them 20 lashes instead and leave them to go and “sin” no more.

Come to think of it, since when did our communities turn this barbaric and inhumane? It was so difficult watching the video on television with the two tied to a pole and being flogged mercilessly.

Public flogging

For two young adults who consented to have sex in private and not at a bus stop, a marketplace, a park or any other public place in broad daylight to disturb public peace, was their consensual sexual engagement an offence to warrant public flogging? 

The kind of open flogging they received is what one would rather have expected any community to give to a murderer or a child rapist. This is far from suggesting that public flogging should be the punishment for a crime such as murder or rape. The law should rather take its course at all times.

The lawlessness in our communities gets compounded every day and reduced to cold-heartedness, sometimes bordering on criminality. It did not use to be the case.

As if we do not have enough problems to focus energy and resources on as a country. Barbaric tendencies coupled with indiscipline at its highest where certain groups of citizens think they are the holiest than thou and the machos of machos should not be countenanced.

Civilisation includes accommodating, tolerating, and respecting others for peaceful community living. It is not a show of the upper hand.

It is totally unacceptable for other people’s human rights to be so much trampled upon. Was there no one around at the time to have stopped the perpetrators? 

Did no one see the whole act as lawless and injustice? We are becoming too passive and care less about the “community-care” of life that some of us grew up knowing. Could no one call the police for law and order to prevail?

When a police officer from the town was interviewed on television, he said when the news of the public flogging got to them; they dispatched a team to the crime scene. Unfortunately, when they got there, the crowd had dispersed and the two victims had been released.

Fortunately, this matter has been followed through and some ring leaders have apparently been arrested. If the police used the video evidence to pick up the perpetrators then that is a plus. Initially, I was against those who stood aloof videoing the scene but on second thought, their video evidence has come in very handy. 

On the other hand, if the arrest was through volunteered information from a member of the public, that is even more superb. That is the kind of assistance the police continue to solicit from us. Hopefully, some prosecutions will follow soon.

This is one crime that perpetrators should not be left off the hook. Some scapegoats should be made as a deterrent for anyone who may think they have more rights than others and take the law into their own hands.

 It is time to preserve our civility as citizens of one nation.

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The writer can be contacted via email: vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com