Call a rape a rape. Point. Blank. Period.
It’s not for nothing that we call them MPigs. Just when you think you’ve reached the lowest level of hell, their piggish behaviour reveals yet another degree of depravity. Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti stands accused of raping a woman he had invited to his office to discuss business. The woman says that he forced her to take an HIV test, assaulted her physically and then raped her. His responses to her accusations are inconsistent. He’s waffling and it’s plain for all to see.
This comes as a surprise because allegedly, he had a posse of aiders and abetters at the ready, including a doctor who was standing by ready to draw blood and test it for HIV. His gaggle of wrongdoers fell into formation, providing a framework for the MP – allegedly – to commit the dishonourable act. With that kind of planning and premeditation, it seemed completely out of character for the man not to have an ironclad defence.
It’s almost as if he thought he could get away with it. That no one would believe a woman’s word, over his. He is an honourable Member of Parliament, after all. Or perhaps, he didn’t think that she would have the gumption to sound the alarm.
It wouldn’t be such a stretch to imagine that maybe he just did not care about the consequences. It wasn’t too long ago that Mr Alfred Keter let us in on the badly kept secret that Members of Parliament make the law and then sit on it like a papery pile of chapatis. On that pedestal they are assured that they are always above the law. It could be that Mr Mwiti believed in all sincerity, that he is untouchable. And he may very well prove to be.
What a married woman was doing with a man other than her husband at night is immaterial. It’s infuriating that some women have actually raised their voices to condemn the victim on the basis that she should have known better. What utter nonsense. To quote a friend, women are raped for the simple reason that they are in the presence of men while having a vagina.
Shaming a victim on the basis of her marital status is disingenuous. Trying to suggest that she wouldn’t have been raped if she had met the man in the stark light of day is just plain stupid. School children have been defiled as they walk home from school in the afternoon. Should they also be blamed for somehow provoking or enticing their attackers?
When you shut out all the moral judgements and focus on the crux of the matter, the fact is that a woman was raped. Healthcare professionals have confirmed it. She has alleged that this particular MP forced her to have sex with him after beating her and having her blood drawn under extreme duress, for purposes of performing an HIV test. Whether the sexual assault happened at 10am or 10pm is neither here nor there. Her being single, married, separated or divorced has no bearing on the facts. If it did, wouldn’t we be asking the same questions of her attacker?
I’ll tell you what though; it’s tough out there for a woman. Just last week, Mrs Joyce Lay was sexually harassed by a fellow legislator while on an official trip to Japan. Not too long ago the Member of Parliament for Juja, Francis Munyua Waititu, was caught with his pants down, reportedly harassing his secretary after she refused to have sex with him. And we all remember Mrs Millie Mabona’s assertions that fellow MPs tried to undress her in Parliament precincts. And this is making no mention of the thousands of ‘ordinary’ women and girls who are sexually assaulted every day in this country.
One thing is for sure; the nakedness of our ‘august’ House has been uncovered and it is not pretty. One gets the feeling that the rot has been festering for decades, and finally the mask of propriety is slipping. If a country’s leadership is a reflection of its people then we need Jesus.
