You know the one thing I have come to understand about power... It is that power does not always come with a government position, a title or a big office......
sometimes power is held by a person who knows that somebody else depends on them, and then decides to use that opportunity to make life difficult for that person.
See ehn.... that kind of abuse can be very frustrating because the person doing it often believes that nothing can be done about it..... now think about a lecturer who knows that a student needs grades to graduate, instead of doing their job fairly, the lecturer starts demanding money favours or even things that have nothing to do with academics, the student knows that this is wrong, but the student is afraid to speak up because the lecturer has the power to fail that him or her.....
Or you think about an employer who refuses to pay workers their salaries on time, insults them constantly and threatens to sack anyone who dares to defile him, these workers have families to feed and responsibilities to handle so they keep quiet and they endure things that they would never accept if they had another option....
All these are examples of how people can abuse power without holding any political office, what makes it worse is that sometimes the people around them know exactly what is happening .. but choose to over look, some are afraid of becoming the victim while others believe that as long as the abuse does not affect them personally the abuse is not their problem.
That is where we get it wrong...
When we keep quiet every time someone uses their position to intimidate others ..... we make it easier for that person to continue, today the problem is somebody, tomorrow it could be ours...
So how do we hold such people accountable?
First we need to stop treating people as if they are above correction, being a boss, lecturer, landlord, community leader or even a respected family member ...,.. that does not give anyone the right to mistreat others, respect should not mean obedience.
Secondly we need to create ways for people to report abuse, it is not enough to tell victims to speak up when they have reasons to fear retaliation, there should be trusted reporting channels, proper investigations and consequences for people who misuse their positions.
We also need to learn to support victims instead of immediately questioning them or blaming them for what has happened, because allegations should be investigated fairly but nobody should have to fight an entire community just to be heard.
Another important thing is action, one person speaking up can easily be ignored, but when people come together, and document wrongdoing, share evidence responsibly and demand answers through the right channels it, becomes harder to sweep the matter under the carpet.
Please accountability should not depend on whether we like the victim or dislike the person being accused, If we only condemn abuse when it is committed by someone we already dislike then we are not really standing for justice, we are just simply protecting our interests.
For me the goal is not to destroy people because they have made mistakes, the goal is to make sure that nobody can repeatedly harm others and escape responsibility simply because that person has influence, money, connections or authority.
At the end of the day, power should be a responsibility, not a weapon....
A society becomes safer when people understand that having authority, over someone does not mean owning that persons dignity, perhaps real change begins when we stop asking, 'Who are you to question this person?'. Start asking, 'Why should anyone be afraid to question them?'
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