The focus has to change!

Some time ago, someone said that there was the need to ensure that our laws reflect the modern reality when Parliament passed a bill to modernize the Domestic Violence Act 2001, which sought to amend Chapter 84 to expand the scope of domestic violence to include forms of abuse inflicted through electronic and digital means and to expand the definition of emotional verbal and psychological abuse, to expressly include unwelcomed or intimidating contact and the dissemination of intimate images. Now we are seeing that there is the need to shift that focus.

In his presentation then, the prime minister pointed out that online has become very active and the breadth, depth and scope of the abuse that can take place online is far more rapid, instant and extensive than, say, the traditional forms of abuse. His focus then was that someone’s reputation, career and mental health can be destroyed with a single click. But, Mr Prime Minister again we are telling you that the killing and physical attacks on our young women with knives, cutlasses and big stones must come to the fore. Isn’t that old traditional form of violence which seems to be centre stage in 2026 worthy of serious intervention?

The 25-year-old mother that came close to being killed in broad day light on Wednesday of this week, said in local news that she was in an abusive relationship and was attacked before and was let down by the police when she called them for help. Her ex-boyfriend was even threatening and verbally abusing her children and was bold enough to ignore a restraining order! The woman who lived with her grandfather was definitely vulnerable. The question this week is –If the issue which involved children reached to restraining order status, in relation to the children, one as young as a year, where is the Child Welfare Authority in all of this?

Her life was spared only because her brothers intervened and the incident ended in the ex-boyfriend getting some serious chops with, what is said to be his own cutlass. We are not condoning ‘taking the law into one’s hand’, but it can make a difference if brothers and other relatives intervene as in the past.

How long must people put up with these seemingly institutionalised failures? This is the second known recent incident where men ignored restraining orders and seriously attacked victims.

There are those including law-men who do not believe in capital punishment as the answer even while churches preach “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” So, what then will eliminate some of these bad habits that have embedded themselves in our culture?  A video in social media, showed a young man earlier this year who was brave enough to make a post with his face exposed, calling on men to “beat up women in this New Year and even to hang them.” That video went viral, but again we ask -was he picked up and warned by police on the grounds that he was encouraging violence against women? 

Everybody is seeing the need for communities, families and people to take responsibility for the violent behaviour which has really gone too far. It is even said that we need an all-inclusive approach rooted in a genuine belief that we want to solve this problem. The young woman’s story this week which include a baby being slapped in the face, was sad enough to have people calling for the Hang-Man’s noose. The recent interview in ‘The Lady’s Room’ with the TAMCC student who was raped in 2016 on her way to college, added more sadness when we learnt that she was told in the court that the perpetrator will be jailed for 33years, only to learn that he was the man who allegedly killed the young lady at Mamma Cannes because his sentence was cut short. She revealed that she was told by the police that he said he should have killed her, yet she was not made aware that he was released from jail earlier so that she can be careful.

Mr PM remember how baffled you were over the 18-year-old girl that was killed at Tivoli after being in an abusive relationship. How is it that we are producing the kind of men that are not ashamed nor afraid of being imprisoned? This newspaper is happy that the prime minister has observed that we all have a responsibility to promote a kinder, gentler, more peaceful, more dialogue-driven society, and to challenge what has become norms that are unacceptable.

Mr Prime Minister a lot of people are of the opinion that the crux of the matter lies within the inadequate penalties for those heinous crimes.

In the past we published part of ‘a call to Action’ from a letter to the editor which stated- We must press the Government to: Enact Dangerous Offender Legislation to ensure stronger oversight of high-risk violent offenders; Implement a national Sex Offenders Registry with clear public-notification protocols; Activate the GBV Coordinating Mechanism to improve cross-agency response, prevention, and accountability; Strengthen mental-health services as an essential component of GBV and violence-prevention strategies; Scale-up programmes such as the Legal Aid and Counselling Clinic’s (LACC) Man-to-Man programme to help men stop violence, learn skills to address conflict and respond to stress, and take responsibility for their actions; Put the mechanisms and resources in place to operationalize the GBV One-Stop Center.

Mechanisms must be put in place to move from ‘candle vigil’ after the fact to seriously challenging those norms that are unacceptable!

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