Public Rape

Last week, i woke up to news of a public rape in Kumasi. Joy FM published on its website online a story about a certain "macho man" who raped a young woman in the full glare of some patrons of a bar! My first thought was "you must be kidding me!" Following closely on the heels of that thought was an impotent rage.The "macho man" allegedly grabbed the young lady who was in the process of boarding a bus to Accra, dragged her to the bar and raped her! This "macho man" claims the young lady is a prostitute and owed him sex for which he had already paid. He has been arraigned before court and is pleading not guilty to the crime. Now, my position is: rape is rape! it does not matter whether the person is a prostitute or not, as long as the sex was not consensual, it is rape. Yes, she is a sex worker but she has the right to refuse him sex. What bothers me is how possible it is that in this day and age, people can stand by and allow someone to rape another human being! Or are they so sadistic as to be aroused by the sight of rape?!
The "macho man", people claim, is a notorious bully who threatened to clobber anyone who tried to intervene. I personally think the bystanders basically couldn't care less about the young woman, simply because she's supposedly a sex worker and that is why they looked on whilst she was undergoing this ordeal. This is underscored by the fact that the owner of the bar has complained about the low patronage of his bar following the incident. We also do not hear Women's Right's groups speaking up. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

This incident has raised a lot of questions in my mind about human nature in general and the apathetic attitude of Ghanaians in particular. We as a people have become so apathetic about the very things that affect us. It all ties in to how we percieve ourselves, each other and the situations in which we find ourselves. If we do not care about the next person, how will we care about health care reforms and educational reforms or any kind of government policy for that matter. Think about it...