THE discussion lasted only ten minutes. Mr Philip Sampson, Eunice’s father, had asked to see him, and he was led to the sitting room for the first time. Mr Sampson indicated that he should sit down.

‘Yes, Kakraba. I know that you have been, er, friends with Eunice for some months now, and naturally, as her father, I thought it would be important to meet you, and to reach an understanding with you on, er, some basic issues. So, I hear you are a graduate in building technology. Now, tell me about what you do’.

‘Okay. I worked with the Electricity Company for two years after National Service. During that time I interacted with some lawyers and land surveyors on our project sites, so I suggested to some of them that we take some dilapidated buildings in some parts of Accra, rehabilitate them and find new owners. Soon after starting that I got a job as Project Manager with a group of development agencies who are executing projects in the Northern Region, so I have been balancing the two positions’.

‘I see. That sounds like a bold step. So is it going well, financially?’

‘Well, sir, I absolutely enjoy what I’m doing now. Financially, I would only say that I am a work in progress. A lot of what I’m doing now involves some risk taking, as it involves trust issues with land and property owners.

I am partnering with prominent lawyers and land surveyors, so I am not taking any serious risks. So currently I am doing okay financially, but it will take me some time before I reach the level where I can say I am comfortable financially.’

‘Okay. Now tell me about your parents’.

‘My father was an Agricultural Extension Officer, so we spent some time at several locations with him. He is now enjoying his retirement. And my mother is a retired nurse. I have three elder sisters, all married’.

‘So you live with your parents?’

‘Yes and no. My dad built his home on one acre at Pokuase, so he gave me one plot, and I have done a three-bedroom house, where I live’.

‘Okay, fine. Thanks for the answers. You see, in addition to my position socially, I spent many years in the diplomatic service, so I’m sure you will understand that I need to ensure that my kids, especially my daughters, maintain suitable relationships. For now I think it is fine that you and Eunice are friends. I’m sure you understand what I mean’.

‘Yes sir. I understand perfectly well.’

‘Great, okay, that would be all.’

Kakraba stood up, bowed and said thank you to Mr Sampson, and walked to the garden where his girlfriend Eunice, her mother Mrs Elaine Sampson and her two elder sisters, Yvonne and Emma, were seated, busily discussing some dresses being offered for sale online.

‘So,’ Mrs Elaine asked him, ‘you and Daddy had a good discussion?’

‘Yes, Ma. We certainly did. I really appreciate Dad for the discussion. It was really good.’

‘Great. Although he has met you here on quite a number of occasions, I think it is good that you have met for a chat.’

‘Yes indeed, Ma, and I really appreciate it. So Eunice, I will be on my way. I will call.’

Eunice led him to his car, and after driving off he exhaled and shook his head. Although he had long concluded that Eunice’s family were so snobbish that a future relationship with her would be problematic, this discussion, or was it interrogation, had virtually cancelled any likelihood.

Mr Sampson just told him, in no uncertain terms, that the Sampson family was so prominent and socially connected that a union between his daughter and him was undesirable.

He had a good relationship with Eunice. They shared some beautiful moments together, and often went out to entertainment joints, often with her three friends Marian, Patricia and Amanda. But Kakraba was often uncomfortable with their preferences.

Eunice regularly spoke about her family’s experiences during her father’s postings in Europe and Asia, and her three friends were always discussing the latest fashion trends, always noting the importance of placing themselves among the best-dressed ladies in town.

Eunice, her mother and siblings had indicated in several ways that he did not quite fit into their social standing. They had only said a mild ‘thank you’ when he brought them a goat or sheep and a generous amount of foodstuffs from the north every month.

But Kakraba did not really take it to heart, because they were quite inexpensive up north. Moreover, he always went to the food market and arranged with the truck drivers for a big package which was picked up by his buddy Paa John and delivered to his family and a few others, including the Sampsons.

By Ekow de Heer

THESE days wives are very careful when recruiting house helps who are also called maids or maidservants.

In the past, such recruitment exercise took into consideration that a maid must be beautiful enough to brighten the home and to impress visitors with her charming smile and good shape. In a nutshell, the more beautiful the maid, the higher the status of the family.

Wives soon came to realise that the beautiful servants were causing too many problems for comfort. The beautiful maids with their swinging waists and provocative curves made their husbands restless. Susceptible husbands suffered from romantic jitters and could not sit still.

The men just could not help admiring the darling maids. Some just couldn’t keep their eyes off them and swallowed saliva in yearning.

In probably four out of five cases, husbands could not resist the devil’s temptation. It all happened when the wives travelled to a funeral or a crusade.

The longer the crusade, the better. 

Unwilling maids were influenced with money, threat of dismissal or “common raps” and they condescended to allow their masters taste the forbidden fruit. 

Some maids, in the process, overthrew their madams and announced their take-over in dawn broadcasts.

Appetite

Wives have become wiser in recent years and now recruit maids they think their husbands wouldn’t have appetite for. But in some cases, they have misfired. When a husband is a typical he-goat and looks like one, he goes after everything that wears a skirt. The shape and beauty do not really matter so long as a skirt is involved.

In any case, a beautiful maid is more likely to cause a domestic upheaval than a plain one, and wives note that point accordingly.

I think with the Children’s Bill, wives can rejoice. They can employ maids below 16 years (the age of consent) so that it would be illegal for their husbands to go sniffing after them. But with the Children’s Bill, there are too many problems inherent.

Today, some girls aged 14 look 17 because of their precocious development as a result of good nutrition or as a product of their peculiar physiological and anatomical make-up. And believe me, some of these young girls inflate their ages deliberately to make themselves marketable in today’s world of sugar daddies and love in exchange for money.

To worsen the problem, some parents do not know the ages of their kids. They just bring forth the laughingly naughty kids and keep no records. “I gave birth to Kwadwo 18 days after the fifth earth tremor hit Sikaman,” a confused father would say.

So Kwadwo or Abena or anybody for that matter can just look into the mirror, study her (or his) face carefully and decide that she must be 16, also because her buttocks resemble that of a 16 year old girl next block.

The law says that girls aged 16 can be courted and taken to bed so long as they consent to it. On the other hand, they cannot get married at 16. So, the law allows a young teenager to have sex and get pregnant at 16 but prevents her from getting married at that age. adzeei!

The law further embarrassed itself by saying that a girl of 16 can marry, after all, so long, as parents of both parties lend their consent to it. So what exactly is this law saying?

That although you are not supposed to get married in effect, parents can influence their 16 year olds to marry even when they are not physically deem it fit?  In effect, parents can influence their 16 and emotionally matured for it?

The law must be definitive. If it allows teenagers get pregnant at 16, then the marriage age to have sex should be at 16, meaning that they can legitimately automatically be 16 because ideally, it is only married people who are supposed to get pregnant and bring forth babies.

So if the marriageable age is legally 18, then the age of consent must be 18. Short and simple!! The present law implies that a girl who gets pregnant at 16 has to wait for two years to get married (if her parents do not sanction it). So by 18, the child is two years old with no legitimate father, and the father might have married an older girl and gone off.

Teenage prostitutes

Now, let’s forget about marriageable girls and concentrate on young teenagers who are getting addicted to alcohol. The beer bars allow in girls as young as 14 to sit down and drink anything from raw akpeteshie to large-sized Guinness, otherwise known as “odeeku.”

A girl of 16 can swallow four bottles of Guinness after laying foundation with three tots of gin. And she walks straight and steady. They are the sort of girls who are now fully enshrined in the trade of prostitution. 

And you know what? The old prostitutes are not happy with their intrusion. The young teenagers have all the equipment to attract higher bids – “bobby stands”, flexible waist, curves, beauty, style and hip. 

So they are taking the bread out of the mouths of the old gang. And the oldies are now using macho to get the youngsters off. In fact, they are beating them and organising men to rape them.

To counteract this, the young girls are heading for mallams to get protection. The battle is joined. Sikaman Palava is investigating.

This article was first published on Saturday August 8, 1998