body-container-line-1

Kan Dapaah’s Leaked Tape and Male Hegemony in the Ghanaian Society

By Joshua A-Engtara
Article Kan Dapaah
JAN 29, 2020 LISTEN
Kan Dapaah

The proliferation of mobile phones and other recording devices has ushered in a new era of secret recordings and the leaking of same. It would seem everybody is on espionage mission on their fellow human beings whether for good reasons or otherwise. The nation has witnessed several such leakages coming from people that victims of leaked tapes thought they could trust. The phenomenon has resulted in a number of people losing their jobs and suffering perpetual character damage and isolation. The effect on their victims, therefore, cannot be underestimated.

The recently leaked tape involving the minister in charge of national security Mr. Kan Dapaah has brought to fore an interesting angle that should not pass without scrutiny.

Unlike other leaks that were greeted with certain levels of interest and public discussions on the propriety of the actions of the victims of the leaked tapes, the recent leak has rather seemingly courted public anger towards the person behind it. The same public that was vociferous in advancing moral theories bothering the actions of the victims, has either gone silent or are remarkably united against the perpetrator of the leakage.

The apparent unanimity in condemning the lady involved instead of discussing the scandal that broke, beats my imagination. It was a rare occasion when the nation seemed united for a common course where party colour did not matter at all.

What is important in all this is the underlying motivation for the unwavering solidarity.

Make no mistake; the support gained traction not because people felt leaking tapes is morally or legally wrong, but it threatens the very foundation of the clandestine erotic engagements of the male folk. The leak enforced the perception that most men, especially those better placed engage in extra-marital affairs. This unsurprisingly made men and beneficiaries of marriage vows violations by men feel uncomfortable and edgy in the typical fashion of old women feeling uncomfortable when dry bones are mentioned.

Men in a typical African society want to exert their authority and domineering traits on women. Most men consider women as commodities that can be used to satisfy a certain need. They want to be free and unhindered in harnessing this commodity and any attempt to rock the boat makes them feel threatened. For a woman to push a man to the wall in the manner that Chantelle did, is considered unthinkable and too much to take.

Most men who have been vocal on this matter felt humiliated by “a woman” who, by their estimation should be submissive and not that daring to release a video on one of the most powerful men in the country. They personally and collectively felt the need to act before the horses bolt from the stable.

Mr. Kan Dapaah or anybody for that matter should never be under the illusion that he is widely loved or his lustful engagement is being justified. In fact, in all the discussions, there was a subtle admission that what men are doing is not right. The support however was due to the fact that they are scared they could become the next victim if something was not done. There was the need to send a strong signal to other ‘queens’ that they will not succeed if they attempt to adopt that method to get at their amorous partners going forward. They were careful not to present their arguments in a manner that exposes their true intentions. Strenuous efforts were therefore made to present the nation with a ruse that takes our eyes off the ball.

The leaking of the tape which was allegedly recorded 8 months ago but got delayed due to efforts to kill it, brings to fore the penchant of preponderance of men to rip apart their holy matrimony for lustful reasons. The discussions which should have been on the blatant failure of men to stay committed to their wives were shrewdly shifted to a setup. The reality is that when people are going to be trapped, an assessment of their weaknesses is done and if ascertained, exploited. In the normal scheme of things, a 66-year-old man with diminished sexual desires should not have that as his weakness.

It is more worrying that somebody with a lot of experience in security matters owing to his current position and having served as the minister of interior from 2006 to 2008 failed to build a firewall around himself to prevent infiltration but left a loose end to be exploited by a ‘queen’.

On most of the social media platforms, a crusade was set in motion presumably by men to stop people from subjecting the act to thorough analysis. They quickly put together audio-visuals and texts and splashed them on the main platforms urging people not to laugh when they see their fellow man fall. How genius it was! Obviously, a lot of people may have shied away from commenting on the matter because they themselves couldn’t pass the test. Men who commented were quickly reminded that we are all in it together and that their turn could come.

While it was a good moral education and a reminder that we all have weaknesses and in fact, skeletons, it also educates us to learn from situations like that. I am just wondering how much Mr. Kan Dapaah learned from past leaks since a lot of such happened in the past, prominent among them being the Bill Clinton – Monica Lewinsky affair which came to light in 1998. Shouldn’t learning result in a change in behavior? How are we all going to learn from what has happened if every attempt is made to shelve discussions? Does discussing a matter mean the victim is being laughed at?

It beats my imagination that the minister would issue a statement subsequently that sought to justify what happened as being part of a security operation when he had foreknowledge of the tape which had been used behind the scene to get him removed as a minister before everybody else got to see it and which was rejected by the president as investigations concluded that it was a trap. How do you expect a discerning population to accept this blatant red herring as a reason for what happened? I am further perplexed that the chartered accountant turned minister of national security could not detect the red lights when there was every indication from the recording that the ‘Queen’ was up to something mischievous. It was obvious that she was goading and prodding him into shame.

Granted that it was a trap, there are various reasons why people are recorded and such tapes leaked. Nothing happens without a reason. However, if in the past the reasons for such leakages were never on the front burner, why are we now forced to discuss the reason rather than discussing the moral decadence contained in it? Men must not be allowed to always have their way much less when the way is not there. If what happened involved the wife of Mr. Albert Kan Dapaah or any female minister, only God knows how she would have been trolled on social media and on the radio and TV stations that have since avoided the issue. Since the issue broke, media men have been digging into the past of Chantelle Kujawu relative to her sex life but none is doing same about Mr. Albert Kan Dapaah who probably was not doing it for the first time. It must not seem that men have the right to engage in extra-marital affairs and if anything went wrong, women should be blamed.

The subtle attempt to fight women in this matter is embarrassing and profoundly despicable. Women cannot be treated as though they were second-class citizens who must accept everything that a man does.

It must be stated unequivocally that the intention here is neither to endorse the actions of women who refuse to be self-reliant and morally upright but are determined to be rich whether by hook or crook nor is It intended at pushing anybody to the limits of moral exclusion since I do not have the capacity to do so, but rather to expose the pervasive hypocrisy in the Ghanaian society.

When men throw marital vows and caution out of the window, they must be prepared when slay queens also bare their fangs and seek their pound of flesh. After all, we all lack scruple.

By Joshua A-Engtara
Bongo / Upper East Region
0507464122

body-container-line