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Punishment for the rapist
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IN the animal kingdom, there is nothing like rape, defilement or sexual assault. Every aspect of life is excessively democratised and so liberalised that licentious behaviour bordering on sexual aggressions is regarded as part of normal living. A nanny-goat for instance which is always sexually harassed by a bearded and moustache he-goat has no way of seeking redress. Who would listen to it?
In human society, this is not so. The human being is a social animal guided by rules, norms, conventions, morals and folk ways. As such, the human male who goes about bleating, stamping and sniffing around females like a stubborn he-goat does, is well-nigh insane. He is only fit for an animal farm.
Because human society is sane and well organised, wayward behaviour like rape, which is accepted and even commended in animal society, is regarded as a grievous offence. Defilement cannot be tolerated and a lawless society is generally detested and frowned upon.
I even hear that in a certain remote village in Sikaman, it is an offence for a man to deliberately touch the buttocks of a girl or woman. A fine of one sheep and a bottle of schnapps is the punishment for such offence. This decree is quite revolutionary!
GRATIFICATION
It is so very unfortunate that the female species of all living organisms are vulnerable to assault by their male counterparts who are perpetually seeking gratification of their sexual urges.
Females, normally referred to as the weaker sex, have had to contend with aggressive male behaviour to the very extent that at workplaces, girls and married women are targets of sexually-motivated aggression.
The worse form of aggression on women is rape, and in Sikaman today, rape is one of the leading crimes being tried at the courts and public tribunals.
Not too far back, an 80-year-old man in northern Sikaman was reportedly jailed for rape. At eighty and still raping is an incredible achievement, but on the contrary very infamous.
The media also reported on a man, married with three wives who was incarcerated for raping a girl who came to his veranda to escape the rain falling at the time.
The GNA recently reported that on January 21, three fishermen at Keta allegedly lured a 13-year-old girl into a room and “forcefully seduced her.” The case is being tried by the Volta Regional Tribunal, and one of the accused, Amenehu alias ‘Alhaji’ of Angola is at large.
The latest and perhaps the most serious is a rape case being tried by the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal. A married T.V mechanic is alleged to have raped a 3 and a half-year-old girl? The girl demonstrated to the tribunal how she was seduced.
It is not understandable why married men are mostly found in the rape business. Obviously, they were not sexually starved. They are just being wicked.
CONVICTED RAPISTS
Rape in certain societies is regarded so seriously that capital punishment is prescribed for convicted rapists. In Saudi Arabia where strict Islamic laws prevail, a convicted rapist will surely forfeit his head after the Friday prayer session.
In Iran, it would be a neck-tie death day party organised in honour of the rapist. He’ll dangle by the neck at the gallows. In China, a single shot through the back of the head is all a rapist needs to become a good fellow.
After this sort of punishment, he can never dream of raping the most provocative Madonna unless he reincarnates. Dead men don’t rape!
A news report coming from China told the story of relatives and neighbours of a rape victim who took the law into their own hands and forcibly caught and castrated the rapist and displayed his testicles in a jar. I should think that this kind of punishment is more severe than facing the firing squad.
Aside any moral considerations, however, this type of punishment look quite effective. A castrated rapist is no danger at all to organised society. Fact is that he can bark but he can’t bite. Even a strip-tease dancer can no longer arouse him. And sooner or later he will grow so fat and oily that he’d become more famous as a super-heavyweight than as a dreaded rapist.
In a certain US community, the incidence of rape in 1987 was getting so high that a debate was organised and a vote was taken in whether or not castration of rapists should be a suitable punishment.
Naturally, most of the females voted for castration, arguing that a rapist without BALLS fits so well into society. He becomes a round jolly fellow who poses no danger at all. A thousand women can sleep peacefully beside him and not risk the slightest show of aggression.
TOOTHLESS BULLDOGS
The women further referred to the Holy Bible where they claim it is written that eunuchs (castrated men) had special duties including taking charge of women. And in certain kingdoms, eunuchs are assigned to bathe the queen because they are so harmless, just like toothless bulldogs. They also referred to castrated goats as very sober and inferred from this fact that a castrated rapist would be even more sober.
On the contrary, almost all the men voted against castration. They argued that women are responsible for sexually aggressive behaviour put up by men. They contend that the lewd suggestiveness of the dressing of women and girls and the provocative way they carry themselves about induce the call for rape.
They also argued on ethical grounds that a man who is deprived of his most cherished asset-his sexual power is not proper, especially when women induce him to misbehave.
In Sikaman, one can put up such arguments that some of our ladies, disregard the decency of our culture and dress to make themselves voluptuous and attract the eye of harmless observers and rapists alike.
In any case, however, the punishment meted out to rapists, I dare say, is not deterrent enough, considering the extent of harm they cause to their victims. Some rape victims are emotionally wrecked all through their lives. Some cannot bear the disgrace if being called a rape victim.
Others even attempt to commit suicide, and some still can never get married because they become forever scared of men. They also become sexually frigid, and why should the rapist be jailed for only a few years for wrecking the life of a fellow being. I am against castration, though.
This article was first published
on Saturday, November 10, 1990.
MerariAlomele’s
Merari Alomele’s
‘
In Sikaman, one can put up such arguments that some ladies, disregard the decency of our culture and dress to make themselves voluptuous and attract the eye of harmless observers and rapists alike.
’
Your Weekend Companion
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The average modern Gold Coaster born and bred in Sikaman is an adventurous creature. Go to any part of the world and you’ll find Ghanaman diligently slugging it out either in the snow or in hot sweltering weather, earning a decent living.
Go to Guinea and see Ghanaman in the garb of a herbalist, curing the sick of various ailments. He makes the Guinean understand that not all diseases are caused by James Lucifer alias Jimmy Satan. On the contrary, most diseases are caused by kooko which can even attack the human nose and turn it upside down.
That kooko is also the cause of poverty and the internal bleeding of personal back-pocket economies. And that kooko can be cured using the chemistry underlying Sikaman herbal medicine which has been blessed by the gods of Larteh.
And before Ghanaman starts dispensing his herbal concoctions, he must attract the passing crowd with some Sıkaman-originated choreography, akin to a combination of adowa and agbadza, such that the dancer can easily dislocate a shoulder and start crying for his mother.
When the crowd is enough to form a quorum, Ghanaman must perform magic as a side-attraction, and proceed to sell his drugs. The drugs are genuinely made from potent herbs which the Pharmacy Board of Sikaman says it has no confidence in. Believe me, Ghanaian herbalists are practising in neighbouring countries like Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Benin, while we are discouraging them from practising in Sikaman.
Go to Las Palmas and see Ghanaman as a fisherman. He sails on Korean-owned boats and is forced to eat garlic and raw tuna for radiant health. The garlic is also supposed to protect him against witches. But sometimes, he is not good bedfellows with some Korean crew members, and once in a while a fight breaks out.
The typical Korean is a Kung Fu expert and before displaying a golden dragon data. He must first terrify Ghanaman with a Korean dance which consists of wild arms and leg throwing. But Ghanaman is usually not daunted. Why has he been eating cancer kenkey all years without developing cancer? It mean is a superhuman capable of countering Kun fu side-kicks to the ribs.
Anyhow Ghanaman’s most potent arsenal lies in his fists. If he is a southpaw, it mean left fist is probably insured and can cause damage. When Ghanaman lands a cassava blow and it lands on a Korean chest, it has the effect of a cruise missile. If there is no ceasefire a funeral cannot be ruled out.
Greenland
Go to Alaska and find Ghanaman there. Greenland, Iceland, Brazil, Argentina, Madagascar, everywhere and you’ll find him. He has become an international citizen and is generally lauded for his hardwork, sincerity and honesty.
However, some bad nuts are also condemned and despised.
The world and all its parts and corners are for the human race, and anyone can choose to live anywhere and earn a decent living so long as he doesn’t misconduct himself or become a social misfit and a law unto himself.
Sıkaman for instance accepts foreigners, and we are so liberal that people just come in through our borders and we welcome them with the best palmwine in town and goat light soup. Who cares about passports and visas? Our hospitality is, as it were legendary.
So we have Liberians, Nigerians, Sierra Leoneans, Togolese, Europeans, Americans, Scandinavians and Koreans in Sikaman. And some of them have misinterpreted our overzealous accommodation to mean “foolishness” and are misconducting themselves.
The newspapers carry stories of some unscrupulous Nigerians stealing, defrauding and collaborating with their Sikaman counterparts to rob people. You’ll find some good and law-abiding Liberians around but some other Liberians are in the business of fraud, robbery, money printing, money doubling, anything criminal.
Ghanaian hospitality can no longer be extended to such people. I do not think Ghanaians will be treated kindly either, when they misbehave anywhere in the world. Those who come from outside with the intention of bringing down their evil deeds and to practise them here professionally must be getting ready because Ghanaians are getting fed up with the menace.
These days, you’ll find strange people following you as soon as you emerge from a bank. If you are not careful, they’ll wrestle your briefcase from you and speed away in a waiting taxi.
Someone was just saying that many foreign criminals are flocking to Ghana because in their countries, they are enable to operate either because they are being looked for by the police for offences committed or fear instant justice at the hands of mobs. Ghanaians, it is said, are humanitarian in dealing with criminals.
Well, in some African countries, a thief who is being chased runs directly to the police station in his own interest and begs the officer at the counter to lock him up. Otherwise he’ll be lynched or be burnt to death. In Ghana, it is the opposite. The thieves run far away from the cop stations.
The criminals must reform and stay peacefully in Sikaman or quit. No court case!
This article was first published on Saturday September 5, 1998
The human condition is defined by two absolute, biological bookends: the commencement of complex cellular animation and its ultimate, irreversible cessation.
For centuries, medicine treated life and death as strictly separate states. Today, modern pathology and molecular biology reveal a more profound truth: the mechanisms that allow us to live are the exact same mechanisms that dictate how we die.
Understanding this relationship is no longer just a philosophical pursuit. It is a clinical necessity for managing public health in the 21st century.
Part I: How we live – The mechanics of animation
At its core, biological life is a continuous, high-stakes battle against entropy (the natural tendency of systems to degrade into disorder). To maintain form, consciousness, and function, the human body relies on three fundamental pillars:
1. Cellular respiration and energy production
Every second of human life is powered by the conversion of oxygen and glucose into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), the universal energy currency of our cells. This process occurs within the mitochondria.
Without a constant supply of ATP, the microscopic pumps that maintain electrical gradients across our cell membranes fail, causing cellular collapse within minutes.
2. Homeostasis: The balancing act
To survive, the internal environment of the body must remain incredibly stable, regardless of external chaos. This balancing act, known as homeostasis, regulates:
Blood pH: Strictly maintained between 7.35 and 7.45.
Core Temperature: Ideally kept around 37°C (98.6°F).
Electrolyte Balance: Precise ratios of sodium, potassium, and calcium that allow nerves to fire and muscles to contract.
3. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
The ANS acts as the invisible conductor of life, split into two complementary branches:
Part II: How we die – The path of cessation
Death is rarely a singular event; it is a progressive biological cascade. Whether caused by old age, chronic illness, or sudden trauma, the final pathways of mortality generally follow a predictable trajectory.
1. The cellular horizon: Senescence and Apoptosis
Every time a human cell divides, the protective caps at the ends of its chromosomes-telomeres-shorten. Eventually, telomeres become so depleted that the cell can no longer divide safely. It enters senescence (a state of permanent arrest) or triggers apoptosis (programmed cell death). This gradual, systemic loss of cellular renewal is the underlying engine of aging.
2. The clinical cascade of somatic death
When the body can no longer maintain homeostasis, somatic death (the death of the organism as a whole) begins. This occurs in a distinct sequence:
1
Clinical Death
Zero to four minutes
The heart stops pumping blood, and respiration ceases. While breathing and circulation have ended, the body’s tissues still contain residual oxygen and cellular energy reserves. At this stage, resuscitation is often still possible.
2
Brain Death (Infarction)
Four to six minutes
Deprived of fresh oxygenated blood, the brain’s highly sensitive neurons begin to starve. Lacking ATP, the brain cells lose their electrical charge, swell, and begin to burst. Permanent, irreversible neurological damage occurs within minutes.
3
Biological Death
Hours to days
The organs fail entirely. Without central control or blood flow, individual cells throughout the body consume their final energy reserves. Enzymes that once aided digestion begin to break down the body’s own tissues from the inside out, a process known as autolysis.
Part III: The modern collision of life and death
In the modern era, the boundary between how we live and how we die has blurred. Historically, humanity died primarily from infectious diseases and acute trauma. Today, global mortality is dominated by non-communicable, chronic lifestyle diseases.
Modern Pathology: How we live (the cause) how we die (the result)
Cardiovascular disease, chronic stress, poor diet, and lack of sleep keep the sympathetic nervous system hyper-activated, damaging blood vessels .Occlusion of coronary arteries leads to myocardial infarction (heart attack) or ischemic stroke.
Metabolic syndrome over nutrition and physical inactivity overwhelm cellular mitochondria, leading to systemic insulin resistance. Multi-organ failure, chronic kidney disease, and severe vascular complications.
Neurodegenerative Disorders Chronic systemic inflammation and sleep deprivation prevent the brain from clearing metabolic waste. Gradual loss of synaptic connections, leading to dementia and the eventual loss of basic autonomic functions.
Conclusion: The unified theory of health
Ultimately, how we live directly shapes the path of how we die. The micro-choices of daily existence-how we manage emotional stress, the quality of our rest, our communal connections, and our nutrition-either preserve the integrity of our homeostatic systems or accelerate their decline.
True medical advancement is shifting away from merely extending the final, frail stages of biological death. Instead, the focus is turning toward optimising our living years-ensuring that the intricate, beautiful machinery of human animation runs smoothly until its natural, quiet conclusion.
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
