CHEATED BY MY PARENTS

As a growing child I have always taken pride and solace in the biblical saying when God asked us that which parent would hand a stone to the child when the child asks of bread. I have had this belief that with the exception of some few demented parents, no one would willingly like to cause harm to their children. Especially coming from a family where the children are very much protected from harm and danger. I therefore stretched this belief to include teachers and school authorities who serve as parents substitute whenever we are entrusted in their care. And so I was not surprised to hear the Dean of Students in my school use a term that was quite unfamiliar to me to aptly describe his role and duty in the school. “I am the locus parenti in this school and as such I am I here to seek for your best interest and welfare. I believe there are Deans of Students in all our universities.

And so the case of Amina is rather an unfortunate situation looking at the human rights angle and all, but I believe there are other angles which most people are turning a blind eye to. When the incident of molestation appeared on the net, I read with interest when it was reported that Amina had jumped bail thrice. To the best of my knowledge when a person is being given a bail, people sign on their behalf as some kind of guarantee. So when Amina jumped bail the first time, what happened to the “guarantor”? Why was Amina given bail the second and third time she was arrested? Obviously the police failed in their duty to protect the students but was there any complicity in this kind of irresponsibility?

When the incident happened, we heard many human rights and female activist condemning the act and asking for sanctions from the university authorities. So the question comes to mind that if it was a male who had been treated in this manner, would we have experienced this kind of sharp reaction from the gender activist? In as much as I don't condone the said act, I attach myself to the sayings that “if the state and authorities fail to protect us, we would learn to protect ourselves”

As most of us are aware, the authorities of the university referred the case to the police because criminal acts had been committed. So why the rush to mete out sanctions even when the case is in court? Why are the students being made to face some form of double jeopardy? In all this we have stared in amazement the deafening silence of the Legon SRC. Yet we are made to believe they represent students. With all the legal tussles that surround their election one would have thought, when issues like this crop up they would have been more vociferous than anyone else. And so if they are not fighting to serve the interest of students what are they fighting for? Money to enrich their pockets?

In all this, the university authorities have failed to tell us measures they are putting place to forestall future occurrence and all they are doing is a face saving exercise to keep their blotted image intact. And so we are left with no other option but to fume to ourselves that “WE HAVE BEEN CHEATED BY OUR PARENTS WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT US FROM BEING CHEATED”

authored by: Owura Kuffuor
columnist
ghanagossip.com