Conviction of rape-gang expose the ugly side of imported and misapplied culture

by Benson Agoha

The case of these young men, collectively taking turns on a teenage girl has shocked many of us.  The gang who have been handed various jail sentences passed around girls as young as 13 for sex - according to media reports.

While doing so may not be totally novel, doing so on the basis of a particular tradition gives cause for worry.

Reports say, the African men, of Somali origin, were convinced they were doing the right thing and even convinced their victim to so believe, telling her that it was common for men to share girlfriends commonly in their native land.

It maybe one for which the Somalian representatives may very well be expected to speak out, for if this claim is wrong, those boys have clearly used dubious means to take sexual advantage of an under-age child.

Even if it is true, some form of re-education needs be given to people from lands with similar cultures and traditions. They must understand that what is done in one land, is not necessarily to be repeated in another.

Convicted for gang-rape:  claimed it was traditional in Somali land.

Even if the victim had been an adult, it is doubtful if the law would have been silent over such practice.

It is similar to an ugly experience of forcing one to `sleep with somebody' as a pre-condition for favours, and even worse so if such conditions are ordered by custodians of spiritual mediums.

In my 2010 article "SEXUAL THERAPY AS A CONDITION FOR SPIRITUAL SOLUTION" published in my Blog UNMASKED, I explained the danger in the uncontrolled use of sex as condition for getting around issues.

When a culture is fraught with sexual perversion something is seriously wrong and even if we don't exist in the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah, sexual profligacy still possess the same consequences as it did in ancient times.

And for all our pride about being modern, classical and more advanced than our ancestors, not even humans have managed to change that.

But it is not just sexual perversion, as even spiritual perversion has negative consequences. When custodians of spirituality manage to convince us to live more by their dictates than by the respect for the rule of law, we run the risk of contravening the law and paying a price for it. But where do the spiritualists end up? They go free because they always play safe, even when they are leading us astray.

Let not my people perish for lack of knowledge, leave alien cultures and traditions where they belong.