Of sex, money and power relations

The case against two male members of Kisii County Assembly reportedly caught red handed with underage school girls raises the flag on the moral bankruptcy of our leaders and society at large.

Though they deserve fair trial, meaning they should not be adjudged guilty until proven so, the fact that the drama played out in public glare as wananchi threatened to lynch them, points at the seriousness of the problem.

The children came from, and those familiar with Swahili should have something about this school’s name, Nduru Secondary, and they were reportedly seen not just in a lodging, but later changing clothes in the vehicle the MCA’s were using.

There is an incestuous relationship between poverty and the lowering or raising of the moral bar. How? The rich use money like nectar to attract the poor who follow its scent like bees.

Let us assume the girls are from poor families and the MCA’s helped them directly (with the knowledge of their parents, community and school) through ward funds, or indirectly, through token contribution from their fat salaries and allowances.

But as they say in any endeavour, it is good to start with the end in mind and so may be, the MCA’s did what farmers do; fattening the ram before slaughter.

We do not as of now know what exactly transpired, or even if the escapade was ‘consummated’, albeit with minors and in an exploitative rather than symbiotic relationship akin to that of consenting adults.

We just know that there was a fight in court about police filing what one parent termed a ‘weak’ charge sheet. Now, this is a loaded statement for those who know how our country’s prosecution system works.

These MCA’s may be proven innocent or the parents of the girls may eventually be talked to to settle the matter outside court; which is not a strange thing because that is how lowly we often treat our children, but this is a wake-up call to all of us; a call to scrutinise our conscience.

The bigger question we should be asking is; how low have we sunk as a society? I just read of a Governor in some corner of the Rift Valley who has found an easier way to deal with his amorous spirit. He ‘supports’ and befriends widows!

Then there are leaders, in public and private offices, who help poor girls get odd jobs here and there, but not before they jump into their hired beds. Others are even orphans who have no one to look up to.

There are also the poor girls in some universities who, and there is no hard proof so far, sleep with lecturers to get good exam grades.

In some offices, the big men have known and untouchable mistresses whose area of excellence (or is it exhaling) only the boss knows.

Yet the ‘user’ and the ‘usee’ pretend merit is at work, and ignore the cynicism around them. But it is also true some men soar their career ladder like eagles because they happen to provide some extra-curricular ‘day-care’ for some female bosses.

Then there are the rich women who enchant and entrap young boys with niceties of this world so that they become their sex machines – running not on fuel or electricity but a cocktail of medical and natural aphrodisiacs, as well as intoxicants that churn testosterones and ‘mute’ that inner voice in us psychologists call ‘conscience’.

Then there are those devoid of either a moral fibre or are naturally criminal and savage, engaging in rape and other forms of molestation.

They could be men or women (a court here was once challenged to look at whether a man can be raped by a woman) and the violation painfully ends in murder or permanent incapacitation either physically or psychologically.

This use of sex as a weapon of exploitation or even growth in a competitive pool is likewise discernible in civil war where rape and dispossession is wanton. We need not go further than our dark age of post-election violence.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have been talking about sexual exploitation here on the basis of power and money.

I have deliberately kept off those who have commercialised sex as an economic lifeline even though at times sociologists tell us they are also victims of economic alienation and discriminatory power and wealth distribution in society.

However, one thing we forget and which should make us furious is that the victims are mainly our mothers, sisters and daughters.

That is why we should not only be very angry, but also factor morality as an ingredient of giving your vote. We do not have to be as infallible as angels to do this; we just have to be decent, sensitive and civil human beings.

Finally, mutual rather than ‘purchased’ or ‘coerced’ trysts are forever more fulfilling and dignifying.

The opposite I need not say it here.