The Rising Cases Of Child Sexual Abuse

Since creation, adult members of society have by nature been bestowed with the responsibility to set good example  for children to emulate.

Through time, this responsibility has been carried out from generation to generation.

Children they say are a  blessing, and  a source of joy to many a family for centuries.

Proverbs chapter 22 verse 6 says
"Train up the child the way he should go, and when he grows, he will not depart from it".  A phenomenon that is gradually gaining uncompromising notoriety and defying morality is child sexual abuse.

Unfortunately, no week passes without one hearing of child sexual abuse stories. Screaming banner headlines on front pages and on the internet have become rampant.  The most recent one was a front page headline of the August 6, edition of the Daily Graphic which reads "Man, 44 defiles daughter at gun point". 

This story was about an Electrician who is alleged to have repeatedly defiled his biological daughter for the past two years. This is indeed horrific and barbaric. Statistics from the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit, DOVVSU, reveals that child sexual abuse is on the increase, with regards to reported cases in 2013. 

It also indicates that 95 percent of the perpetrators are known to the victims, while the highest number of sexual abuse recorded in the Greater Accra region occur between family members. The Head of the Child Protection Centre of the Child Health Department at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ebenezer Badoe, has expressed alarm at the increasing number of defilement cases  reported at the centre. 

According to him, since the establishment of the centre about five  years ago, it has treated more than 150 cases, comprising physical abuse, medical neglect and sexual abuse. 

The frightening aspect is the abuse of babies between the ages
of one and three years, with some contracting vaginal warts, and others  have their private parts permanently damaged. Another worrying trend is that most of the complainants fail to appear before court to testify against the offenders. 

This state of affair, it must be noted makes it difficult for prosecutors to pursue the cases. How can some parents and guardians stoop so low to settle such  sensitive issues out of court?  

How can these children grow and impact  positively with battered psyche, mental or emotional imbalance? The Judiciary must
take a critical look at these cases and deal ruthlessly with  these inhuman elements in society.  

Should such an issue affect a judge, an MP, a DCE or a minister before justice is dispensed expeditiously? We have witnessed some of these incidents in this country a number of times already. 

Let us therefore uphold our freedom and justice mantra because it is the same blood that flows through our veins. Civil
society organisations and child activists must make more noise about the issue of sexual abuse of children.  

DOVVSU should  also do more to release victims from the shackles of fear and timidity by providing
them with the services of clinical psychologists. It is simply inconceivable for a country to seem to treat such offenders with kid gloves. 

It is time we put our act together and protect our future
leaders from these psychologically and emotionally unstable persons who always blame the devil for their action; when they are clueless as to how the devil looks like. We have come a long way as a country to entertain this socio-culturally bankrupt and evil behaviour. 

As Alan Kay puts it "the best way to predict the future is to invent it". Let us all come together to stamp out this trend from society. 

God indeed bless our homeland Ghana.

BY ABRAHAM DONKOR, A JOURNALIST