/By
Macdonald Ayang Okumb/
Some weeks ago, there was an intriguing news
report published in a Buea-based English language newspaper (The Post).
It was not about a strange phenomenon in Cameroon though; but the vociferous
and blatant revelations in the article were, to say the least, shocking and
embarrassing.
The report was based on revelations made by a
certain Belinda Etombi, a worker at the Buea Regional Hospital, that the Director
of the said hospital, Dr. George Enow Orock, was persistently forcing her into
an erotic relationship. Etombi said her resistance to her boss’ request only
earned her hatred and molestation. The story sent tongues wagging in the South
West Regional capital and even beyond.
When a group of journalists approached the Medic at
the hospital days after the report was published to get his reaction, as
professional journalism ethics would warrant, he rather almost engaged them in a physical
fight and chased them away in savage fury.
My interest here, however, is not to give details of
the one-page newspaper report, ascertain the veracity of the story or talk
about the triviality of the Doctor’s rants and hostility towards the
journalists. Rather, I seek to lambaste such ignominious attitude portrayed by
some of our ‘big men’ in society who ought to act as exemplars to us of the
younger generation.
We have heard several stories in public offices
where bosses bait their female staffs with, at times, petty favours in exchange
for canal knowledge. And when they conciensciously hesitate to heed to such
advances, they suddenly become victims of crimes they have not committed.
I don’t know why this is so common in health
institutions. The other day, a friend of mind was telling how his fiancée who
works as a nurse in a hospital in Bafut, North West Region, is crying everyday for a transfer
because the hospital boss wants to have sex with her against her will.
This criminal tendency of bosses forcing their
collaborators into unwanted sex is not least common in our secondary schools
and universities where some teachers and lecturers are bent on failing female
students who refuse to ‘comply’ to satisfy their vaulting libidos. Another
friend who’s a student at the department of Law in the University of Buea was
sharing with me sometime ago how a lecturer was victimisng her for reasons that
she turned down a dating request from the married don.
No doubt; it is against the backdrop of this vexing
reality that some of Cameroon's sharp critics in the likes of Prof. Jean Emmanuel Pondi and late Charles Ateba
Eyene have written extensively and have fronted several campaigns against ‘Sexually
Transmitted Marks’ in schools as well as ‘Sexually Transmitted Favours and
Promotions’ in Public offices. These are all practices that erode and
contravene man’s right moral sense and put the integrity of our elite class to
question. That’s why another Cameroonian like Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle is
not wrong when he often deplores in media interviews that the rate of moral
decadence in Cameroon is so alarming that there is need for us to turn back to
God.
We cannot forget so soon the dishonor that the
immediate past Director of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, Frenchman Dominique
Strauss- Khan, was dragged into a few years ago. Only a small attempt to coerce
an African girl into sex in his New York hotel room became a blown up scandal
which political pundits hold, greatly compromised his chances of becoming the
next President of France after Nicolas Sarcozy, like he had been tipped to.
Women have the right to their womanhood no matter
the circumstances in which they find themselves. That’s why Feminists and other
advocates of women’s rights would undoubtedly take great exceptions to such
subtle form of sexploitation. I am told that in some western communities,
simply touching the butts or boobs of a woman without her consent could land
you in serious trouble. Elsewhere in Middle East countries where stricter
morality laws exist, a mere amorous look at a woman not yours, constitutes a
sex offense, talk less of a deliberate wink at her.
My writing should not be seen as some hectoring
moralism. In other words, my intention is not to tutor anyone on lessons of
morality. But if truly, we have to built a sane society; one of fine and
refined men who can make our emergence as strong African nation by 2035 possible, then I think that acts
such as these from those who appear in the public eye as role models, should be
denounced in the strongest of terms. Such acts not only smack of the extent of
the moral depravity of some of our parents but also, they set a dangerous
precedence for their children who are looking forward to a saner and more
democratic country. For Sudanese businessman, Mo Ibrahim once said and I quote:
“intimidation, harassment and violence should have no place in a sane and
democratic society.”
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