Amma Darko portrays Baby T as a victim of social injustice. The premature death of Baby T is clearly an avoidable one.
It is the injustices in the society which this girl came to meet that bring about her sad end.
There are many instances of social injustice which have conspired to end the life of Baby T.
The failure of fathers to perform the duties they owe their children.
Young girls like Baby T never asked to be brought into this world. The men who brought them into the world should have done much better for Baby T and her like.
In a society where men can just procreate and then consider that to be the end of their fatherly responsibility, Baby T’s fate becomes the norm rather than the exception.
Why should Baby T drop out of school in Class Two? Shouldn’t the young Baby T have remained in school? It is society that denies Baby T the opportunity to attend school, complete and grow into a strong, young woman like Kabria or Dina.
But for an unjust society, Baby T could have as well reached the levels that Naa Yomo’s children attained.
Heartless men ruined Baby T’s life
It is because society continues to produce and condone the actions of irresponsible males like Nii Kpakpo and Onko that young girls continue to suffer sexual violence and premature death.
Child exploitation rings are allowed to operate freely
The child-prostitution networks controlled and run by Maami Broni, Mama Abidjan and their like are incapable of giving adequate protection to the girls they recruit and exploit. It thus becomes almost impossible to prevent the fate of a girl like Baby T.
It is society that has failed Baby T. After she had been defiled and then raped, Baby T lay wounded both physically and psychologically. All that this little girl craves at this moment is family and community support.
Sad to say, such support never came.
Maa Tsuru, her hapless mother, fails her. Maa Tsuru, instead of reporting Nii Kpakpo and Onko to the authorities, only compounds Baby T’s woes by selling her into prostitution.
State institutions also turn a blind eye to the plight of the Baby Ts of the Ghanaian society. Lack of needed government support for vital institutions like the police is a big problem. So also is the indifferent attitude exhibited by the staff of such institutions.
Even in death, there is little hope for justice for the murdered Baby T. The police, and in fact, the whole institution of government demonstrates a total lack of interest in the investigations.
Just as many others like her, Baby T’s body is doomed to be buried in a mass grave at a rubbish dump. Society does not care.
These are the social conditions that create a room for child molesters like Kpakpo and Onko to destroy the lives of very young, innocent girls.
And these are the conditions that make it easy for street thugs of Poison’s nature to violently attack vulnerable girls with impunity.
These then are the social injustices that have come together to destroy Baby T.
Is there any hope for other potential victims?
Maybe yes.
The novelist points to Kabria and Dina’s MUTE, Ms Kamame’s PPAG and Sylv Po’s Harvest FM as being the best hope for vulnerable girls in the unjust Ghanaian society.
These are non-state players very much interested in providing support for victims of social injustice. They also work tirelessly to create better opportunities for the female population.
These non-governmental organizations may lack the needed resources and support. But it is in them that we can see some hope for girls so they don’t suffer Baby T’s fate.
Thank you.
Ralph Nyadzi is the Director of Studies at Cegast Academy. He is a qualified English tutor with decades of experience behind him. Since 2001, he has successfully coached thousands of High School General Arts WASSCE candidates in English, Literature and related subjects. He combines his expertise with a passion for lifelong learning to guide learners from varying backgrounds to achieve their educational goals. Ralph shares lessons from his blogging journey on BloggingtotheMax. He lives with River, his pet cat, in the Central Region of Ghana.
