It has been said that the inequality experienced by women in electoral politics in Sierra Leone, especially between 1863 and 2002, can be linked to the stereo typical constructions of sexuality in the country’s political platforms, where the hegemonic masculine tendency to rape is given political legitimacy. As such, the tendencies that created the necessitating conditions for women to be systemat ically excluded from mainstream politics cannot be referred to as ‘gender-blind’ predispositions of society (of men; of culture, economics, and politics). Rather, they were as engendered as they were non-dismissive of what was at stake—that is, the destruction of the rogue political economy of state governance that prospered to the detriment of the masses. My interviews with women who experienced sexualized violence in the electioneering processes between 1982 and 2002 reveal something unique about this rogue political economy. For my respondents, this reprobate economy needed the sexuality of women to be positioned as a frontier ripe for male conquest. In this embattled political space, even the powerless males were allowed to violate the bearers of the frontier bodies, the women, because doing so ofered them a space to misplace their frustrations against the powerful. On this frontier, to paraphrase Respondent Jane Doe (not her real name),4 the transformation of the temporality of episodic electoral exercises into a gender based political continuum of violence and control was sustained by the objectifca tion of the bodies of women. As one would expect to fnd in cultural pathological societies, this objectifcation was not self-imposed. It was other-imposed by men within a pathological cultural predilection to the strategic use of sexual violence to exclude women in politics. It is for this reason that I employ the cultural path ology theory of rape in evaluating the refexive statements of three women who were politically active and experienced or witnessed electoral violence in Sierra Leone between 1963 and 2002.
Mama Felicia (a pseudonym), who was politically active between 1950 and 1962 noted that:
"I was a teenager when Constance Cummings-John activism got me interested in politics. When I turned 20 (in 1950), I joined the Freetown Chapter of the West African Youth League. At 22, I was actively involved in what the men of the Bankole-Bright led political establishment in Freetown saw as "unwomanly;" "un-creole-like;" and above all, an "attempt to break ranks." You see, to these men, we were supposed to remain there; behind the scenes; as a support constituent for their political actions, frst, against the "up-line" people [referring to the people of the provinces] whom they [the Bankole Bright faction in colony politics] saw as unequals and, therefore, should not be granted equal political representation. Second, if political recognition of the "up-liners" was indeed the path the colonial masters preferred, Bankole and others were calling for a system of government that would place the Creoles in charge of government. With population distribution being the key deter minant, a Creole government was unacceptable. In anger, we [the women of Constance Cummings-John’s faction] were targeted simply because we were against Bankole’s proposal. We were prevented from using the halls of the hunting society for our meetings. I recall one fateful incident. I think it was in May 1953. We organized a meeting with the Temne Women’s Association of Freetown at 5 Westmorland Street. The aim was purely educational. To educate the ordinary Temne women (who were in attendance) about the pol itical rights and responsibility. News got to the Bankole faction, and they in turn misinformed the Ministry of Internal Afairs and the police that we were planning a protest. The police raided the meeting premises; we resisted. But force was used. About 17 women were arrested. The following day we secured bail for them. But they told us that they were sexually assaulted by some of the police ofcers. [Asked whether these complaints were reported to the colonial administration, she responded] Naturally, as a Creole woman, I was hoping that we should have sued the government for human rights violation. What the police allegedly did was against our fundamental rights to associate, and freedom from sexual violence. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Temne Women’s Association said taking the matter to court would have adverse efect on the victims. Because within their communities, a female victim of sexual violence may face victimization in the community. Men were taught to see these women as defled; cursed; and shameless disgrace to their families."
Seventy-two-year-old Aunty Zainabu (a pseudonym), politically active between 1972 and 1977:
“Before I joined politics—as a zonal committee leader [name of zone withheld on the grounds of confdentiality] of the APC party’s women’s wing—I was a trader. Few weeks before the 1973 elections, we [the women] met with the APC leadership to propose a female candidate. We were not only turned down, we were attacked and some of our members were sexually assaulted by the male supporters of the constituency where our proposed candidate was to contest the elections. These men who attacked us were also members of the APC party. This was just one example. In the lead-up to the 1978 general elections, I witnessed the rape of two of my friends from male assailants who identifed themselves as supporters of the opposition SLPP party. I escaped rape because I was having my menstruations. But what is the diference between being forcefully undressed (and beaten up) and raped (and beaten up)? The scars remained with us for the rest of our lives. In fact, the more I remember this incident, the more I feel guilty for taking part in the politics of men. They never wanted us to be among them; they only wanted us to serve them sexually whenever they—the men of all political parties at the time—needed us. We should be seen to be asking for money to go do the cooking for the men who converged for party meetings; we should not be seen to be asking for political representation. So, after that rape incident in 1978, I have never, I repeat, never regained an interest in politics. What is the use for women being in politics if women will not be counted among these elected? What is the beneft of being in politics if the counting they, the women, will be doing is how many amongst them did not sufer electoral sexual violence?”
Fifty-seven-year-old Mabinty (a pseudonym), politically active between 1978 and 1985:
"Politics in this country, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, was not for women. Joining the men on street rallies was not a simple decision. Because you can be a victim of sexual violence at any time. For me, whenever I go out for rallies. I will ensure that I go with my brothers. On two occasions I escaped being raped: in the 1978 and 1982 elections. I cannot say why men will rape women whenever there was an election. But what I can tell you is that, the women who were victims were never the same again. As the rapists, they were celebrated for the temerity for sexual violence. These rapists were protected by the politicians; they paid them monthly salaries for the protection they were ofering them, and for the service of eliminating their political opponents. [Asked if women were considered political opponents, Mabinty responded that] Women stood for something very diferent from what the men stood for. Even within the same political party, it was not uncommon for women to oppose the men on issues relating to social welfare. We wanted our children to be educated, healthy, and safe. They [the men] wanted power. They got the power they wanted. But in the end, this same power was not used to better the lives of the people of this country. What power did to those male politicians was to transform them into unrepentant rapists and thieves. [Asked what would women have done difer ently if they had this power, Mabinty responded, reading from the manifesto of the SLPP women’s wing zonal elections of 1978]: "we will ask for free edu cation for women and children;" "we will support our fellow women facing economic and social crises;" "we will call for violence-free elections;" "we will ensure that those wo violate the human rights of others are prosecuted." [Looking at me with tear-flled eyes, she continued]: You see, the majority, if not all, of the women of the SLPP and the APC were not in support of what they men were doing. We wanted an electoral system that all Sierra Leoneans, especially the women, can say was peaceful; we wanted to see a politics where the political diferences between the women were settled through non-violent means. Because by the end of the day, people will gain power and lose it, but the idea of power will remain. This idea is not just about violence. Power can also be about progress, togetherness, and peace. This is the type of power we wanted. We did not get it. We, the women, came together into groups within and outside of political parties. The goal was to look for a way to fnd this "new" kind of power that is built on progress, togetherness, and peace. The men, or at least most of them, knew this kind of power was not going to help promote the divisive politics and politics of greed they preferred. So they used acts of violence against women, discrimination against women, and poverty to distract us. All that their violence was aimed at was the politics of distraction. They wanted that space, we wanted to change it. So, our paths were meant to cross; and there can be only one winner: the male politicians or the people of Sierra Leone, whom the key women’s groups represented."
Sixty-nine-year-old Kadiatu (a pseudonym), politically active between 1996 and 2002:
"One efect of electoral rape between 1961 and 1990 was in getting the males ready for what was to come—the civil war which erupted in 1991—and what they were to do during this war: rape, maim, and kill. Yes. What happened during the war was something pre-war electoral politics taught the men. They, the male combatants, were happy with the general breakdown of law and order during the civil war years [1991–2002]. When the women, from all walks of life, began to champion the idea of a return to democracy in 1994, the women of Sierra Leone became the target. We forced the men to the April and October 1995 Bintumani I and II Conferences. We got them to agree to our demands for a free and fair elections because we believe this was the only way we can end the civil war and get justice for the thousands of women who have sufered sexual and gender-based violence. We were united against the men who were opposed to this democratic proposal; and, irrespective of their political ideological diferences, these men were united against us. They had the guns, and we had our voices. When they shoot at us during our streets protests, we shouted at them. It was shoot versus shout. In the end, our voices prevailed. Democracy returned. But it came at a cost. I was working at Marie Stopes Clinics in 1996. The elections were held between 26 and 27 February 1996 [for the frst round of presidential and parliamentary elections] and on 15 March 1996 [for the second round of the presidential elections]. I will tell you for the record that, in January we received 819 rape cases, of these 213 women and girls reported being gang raped. In February [the month of the elections] we received 1,746 reported cases of sexual assault; and in March, we received 2,422 cases, half of these reported gang-rape. These number did not include the reported cases outside of Freetown. That is, in the rebel-controlled areas, where the rebels had launched a military operation they called "Operation No Elections." I cannot tell you the correct fgures for the other cases that were reported in other clinics. But sexual violence was alarming. I resigned from my nursing work after this elections. I was broken, and how much more for the women and girls were experienced these sexual violence?"
The reports of electoral rape did not end with the rise of liberal democracy in 1996. They continued, although in reduced numbers. Sexual violence was reported during the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2018. In between these national elections, there were also by-elections (for parliament and local councils) during which sexual violence was also reported. For example, on 12 March 2009, in local council by-elections in Ward 323, Sorobema Chiefdom, Pujehun Districts, the then-ruling party, the APC, reportedly attacked supporters of the opposition party, the SLPP; the outcome was 24 reported cases of sexual violence against female supporters of both political parties. When the SLPP leadership raised the issue, its headquarters was attacked by supporters of the APC. Widespread media reporting (in print and audio-visual media) of this incident also reported the gang rape of SLPP female supporters. In an editorial (published in 2009 and reprinted in 2012) in the Sierra Leone Telegraph, it was reported that (and I quote the section in extensio):
"Several of the opposition SLPP women folks in the building, were either violently raped, sexually assaulted or mercilessly beaten. Subsequently, some of the women narrated their painful testimonies of their experiences to the Justice Bankole Thompson Commission of Inquiry. According to one of the rape victims: "we were led into a toilet room where we were raped by an unidentifed man dressed in black. Later I started bleeding profusely and passed out." According to another rape victim who testifed: "I was raped by fve men. As if that was not enough, they (APC thugs) inserted a beer pint inside my vagina. The pains became unbearable and I collapsed." Another victim said they were inside the building when a group of men entered the building for money. She went on, "we told them we don’t have money and they continued to kick and beat us and in the process fve men raped me." One of the other victims was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. She was kicked in the stomach and badly beaten. In total, six women were raped by the APC thugs, with similar testimonies, whilst a good number were sexually assaulted—either allegedly in the presence or on the instructions of Idrissa Kamara (Leather boot) and Foday of Government Wharf [leading fgures in the grassroots support base of the APC government of President Ernest Bai Koroma]. Sadly, when the Justice Bankole Thompson commission [commissioned by President Koroma to look into the political clashes] reported later in 2009, it stated that the allegations of rape were unsustainable in law [or put another way, would set a dangerous legal precedence against the incumbent and result in a win for women’s rights groups]. And this, despite the crucial medical evidence stating that their fndings were incomplete—because of the lack of laboratory facilities to conduct forensic examinations."
(Sierra Leone Telegraph 2009, paras. 18-22)
From the examples above, we see (in the frst quotation) that sexual violence was triggered by a political attempt to prevent women from bridging the tribal divide in colonial-era politics. The second quotation illustrates that women were not safe even among men who supposedly shared the same political afliation. The third quotation reveals that women were targeted because their idea of what government and governance should be (as opposed to what the men made of it) ran contrary to the destructive hegemonic pathways of power their male counterparts preferred. The fourth quotation tells us that rape was a masculinized, albeit militant, political response to women’s support for liberal democracy. Women were of the view that, with liberal democracy, political tolerance would increase and there would be a reduction in the incidence of politically motivated sexual and gender-based vio lence (in both peace and war). But, as the quotation from the Sierra Leone Telegraph demonstrates, politically motivated sexual violence is a gender-based continuum. Even when ofcial medical reports support the claims of the women victims, the decision of the Thomson Commission to reject the allegations of sexual vio lence to satisfy the incumbent government exposes the pathological character of the rape culture in Sierra Leone. The election-related sexual violence of which these interlocutors spoke, irrespective of when and where it occurred, was systemic. Thus, to these women, sexual violence, regardless of the kind of governance in place when it was perpetrated, should be understood as mere stages in a sequence of masculinized hegemonic political conditions linked together to prevent women from ever attaining equal political representation in government—at the local, regional, or national level. Their stories give readers an opportunity to explore the lives of women in Sierra Leone, a society were law and politics are tools for sustaining the culture of rape. In the fnal section below, a linear probability model (LPM) is presented to show the impact of violence, in all its forms, on women’s pol itical participation overtime.