COWS HAVE BECOME THE SYMBOLS OF DOOM IN OUR CULTURE.

Cows have become the symbols of doom in our culture. 

By: Abraham Daljang Maker

They are just four-legged animals which we should have been using wisely for our equitable economic benefits and to enhance better living as pastoralists communities; instead, they have enslaved us all. The victims of this enslavement are our sisters, daughters, aunts and cousins who are being subjected to torture by greedy individuals who see their daughters and sisters as assets rather than a human being who deserve respect and dignity, what a tragedy? 

I was dumbfounded by the news of a 20-year-old girl who was killed in Yirol by her brothers for refusing to accept an arranged marriage to a man she didn’t love or perhaps she wasn’t ready to get married to any man for that matter. I first disregarded it as social media fake news until I saw it in one of the credible sources. I was sceptical about the authenticity of the news not because it couldn’t happen but because I couldn’t believe that anyone in his sanity would do such an atrocious act to his beloved sister in this 21st century and moreover on the watch of their father whom I believe should have the rights to treat his children equally. I didn’t know how to react when I verified the news from the right sources, but my thoughts were disturbed for quite sometimes,  wondering how to react and who to react to until I resolved to use this platform to air out my frustration. 

Edmund Burke once said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good man does nothing,” Putting this brilliant quote here doesn’t necessarily mean that I am a good man, but I am obliged to say something like one of the pedigrees in this patriarchal society. We are all culprits, young or old, married or single, educated or illiterate; as long as you are a male, you are unfortunately a symbol of patriarchal tyranny whether you are moderate of radical. Apart from these tragic cases of girls being executed by their parents and siblings, there are numerous cases of men who are inflicting severe torture on women physically and psychologically and this has created a trend of hatred and mistrust between male and female. 

This Yirol’s incident is one of many cases that are happening but are not brought to light. The unverified report had it that, around 2009 in the former Rumbek East, a lady was tortured to death by her brother and a cousin who suspected her to be pregnant, the poor lady succumbed to torture, and postmortem report later confirmed that the lady wasn’t pregnant in the first place. Whether justice took place in this case or not, it was a very unfortunate incident, the perpetrators should have been punished to give a stern signal to future culprits such as these men who have just committed such a serious crime in Yirol. 

 There is no justification whatsoever for anyone to torture or kill someone, are our sisters and daughters property or assets that should be sold for economic benefits? Why then are we (the Men) so brute to the extent of taking someone’s life? I have never heard of a man being killed because he has refused to marry, if you have any idea, please challenge me on that, and if there is none, how come that we (the fathers) allow our sons to act inhumanly towards daughters? 

Article 16(2), of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.” But in our society today, there is no such a thing; people are married not because they love each other but because they are made to love even when they have no desire for the person they are getting married into. The most heartbreaking thing is the issue of cross-generational marriage where a man marries a lady who is too young to be his granddaughter. Blinded by enormous bride wealth, parents force their daughters into marriages which they are not willing to freely enter to. The young men who are unable to afford such wealth usually resort to cattle raiding to satisfy the greed of his potential in-laws who expect a lot from him, thus the cycle of raiding and counter raiding becomes the norm of the day. 

My honest appeal to the duty bearer which is the government in this case is that people who commit such crime should be made to lie in the bed they have made. They must be made to pay whatever price it takes so that the blood of the victims shouldn’t be spilt in vain.  Justice must prevail without leniency because everyone has the right to life and nobody should be deprived of her life on the ground of selling her to for cows. Any man who tortures his sister should know that he has no right to take away the life of his sister in the name of bride price; no price is worth someone’s life. A real man should instead work hard and acquire decent wealth to marry rather than looking at his sister as an asset. 

To the perpetrators, what you have done is wrong and you will be punished either on this world or in the next world. To whoever will commit the same act or any related heinous act, I would like to remind you about St. Augustine’s famous dictum which goes, “Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.” Therefore, refrain from such crime because it’s wrong.