Sodom and Gomorrah have resurfaced in the heart of West Africa. What was once whispered in corners, whispered in shame -the silent sodomy- has escalated to brazen gang sodomy. What was once hidden in darkness now operates in broad daylight. The sexual violation of our children—our boys and girls—has become Liberia’s national disgrace, and our collective silence has become their perpetual suffering.
By Fanta Kamara, MBA, contributing writer
For too long, we have ignored this dark reality and YES, boys are victims too. The sexual assault of male children has been hidden behind shame, taboo, and societal denial. But the evidence can no longer be ignored.
Let me be unequivocal: Rape is the number one reported violent crime in Liberia. Not theft. Not robbery. Not assault. The sexual violation of human beings, and overwhelmingly, the sexual violation of children. This is not my opinion. This is documented by the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization, the U.S. State Department – OSAC, and our own Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. In 2024 -3381 cases was reported, a 20% increase from 2023, and 2025, the numbers projected to exceed 3,500 reported cases of sexual violence. That translates to 9+ children violated every single day. 9. And these are only the cases that make it to documentation, international partners report only 12% of cases are recorded at best. How many more suffer in silence because the justice system has already told them: there is no justice here?
The Numbers That Should Haunt Us
Eighty-three percent (83%) of sexual violence victims in Liberia are under the age of twenty (20). Thirty-nine percent (39%) are under twelve. One (1) in ten (10) victims is under five years old. These are not statistics from a war zone—though one might be forgiven for thinking so, given that the World Health Organization estimated between 61% and 77% of women and girls in Liberia were raped during our civil war. Let me remind you, that war ended over two decades ago. Yet sexual violence still permeates all levels of our society. We have normalized the abnormal. We have institutionalized the abhorrent. What is the EXCUSE!
And the perpetrators? Eighty-five percent (85%) of them are known to the victims. They are not strangers lurking in shadows. They are neighbors. Teachers. Family members. And increasingly, disturbingly, they are government officials—the very individuals entrusted with protecting our children.
When Predators Wear Official Badges
In January 2026, Peter Bon Jallah, a senior official of the National Security Agency was arrested in connection with the gang sodomy of a fifteen-year-old boy. The boy being a community footballer was lured to his home for football and cleats (football shoes). Peter the pedophile, along with two of his companions, kidnapped, drugged and ganged sodomized, the
young boy. Let that sink in. Gang sodomy. A child. A government security official. The child was discovered by community dwellers on the beach in sinkor, unconscious, bleeding profusely, and is still reported to be fighting for dear life at the JFK hospital, while his mother withers in utter devastation, begging the public for support and pampers, because the hospital cannot provide adequate amounts for the family. What type of system is this, where are we, Dystopia? Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. In August 2025, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports J. Bryant McGill was accused of allegedly raping a fourteen-year-old girl. Medical evidence documented the assault. And how was it handled at the time? Suspension. Not arrest. Suspension. He was sent home while the investigation proceeded, and months later, authorities announced the DNA results from Rwanda—where the samples was sent because Liberia does not have DNA machines (according to the LNP)—came back “inconclusive.”
Inconclusive. How convenient. What was the chain of custody? Who handled that evidence from the moment it left Liberia to the moment it arrived in Rwanda? How can the public trust results when our own government has demonstrated neither the capacity nor the apparent will to process evidence domestically?
In 2021, the Liberia National Police unveiled DNA / Forensic testing equipment with great fanfare. In February 2021, WomenVoicesNewspaper reported “The Government of Liberia (GoL) through Minister of Health, Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah has disclosed that the GoL has brought in the country Liberia’s first DNA machine, as was promised by President George Weah during the launch of government’s road map in addressing Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV)”. In September of 2021, Liberia.UN.Org reported, “The Spotlight Initiative, jointly implemented by the Government of Liberia and the United Nations with funding from the European Union, has procured DNA machines and forensic equipment to aid the gathering of scientific evidence to prosecute suspected sexual offenders in Liberia.”. Two independent reporting of DNA Machines being procured, arriving in country, received. – Where are they?
In 2026, Police officials publicly state they need “help from friendly nations” to process DNA samples. In 2026, Liberia, a sovereign nation must call around to Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and international partners, begging them to process evidence in rape cases against our own children.
What happened to the DNA machines that the Weah administration reportedly ordered, and the ones donated by The Spotlight Initiative? Where are they? Who is accountable?
Well, the tale gets even more salacious. The current administrations’ LNP claims they never received inventory on DNA machines. Meanwhile, children continue to be violated, and evidence continues to degrade, disappear, or deliver conveniently “inconclusive” results.
The pattern is clear. In 2020, Police Officer Emmanuel Wesley raped a fifteen-year-old girl while she was in his custody. In 2023, Sergeant Joseph Targeddine of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency sexually assaulted a sixteen-year-old girl. In 2025, Ministry of Agriculture official Sando S. Kromah was caught in the very act of assaulting a fourteen-year-old. Caught. In. The. Act.
Two systems of justice operate in Liberia. One for the connected. One for everyone else. When an ordinary citizen is accused of the mundane, they are flogged, dragged and arrested. When a government official is accused, they are “suspended pending investigation.” When an ordinary citizen’s case goes to court, they face the full weight of a system designed to crush them. When
a government official’s case is examined, evidence mysteriously becomes inconclusive, witnesses disappear, and memories conveniently fade.
A Justice System Designed to Fail
Two percent (2%). That is our conviction rate for sexual violence crimes. Ninety-eight(98) out of every, one hundred (100) perpetrators walk free. This is not justice. This is a permission slip for predators.
Court E—the specialized sexual violence court—exists in only three(3) of Liberia’s fifteen counties. What of the children in the other twelve counties, River Gee, Sinoe, Lofa, Gbarpolu, Rivercess, Grand Cape Mount, what about the children in Grand Bassa, Maryland, Grand Kru, Margibi, Grand Gedeh, Bomi, are they not worthy, are they underserving? What of those survivors, in all rural Liberia who must travel impossible distances, at impossible costs, to seek impossible justice? “Bring your money first”—that is what survivors hear when they approach the system. Pay to file. Pay to investigate. Pay to prosecute. Pay, pay, pay, and even then, justice is not guaranteed. It is not even likely.
Considering Our DNA machines have magically disappeared, in a country where rape is the number one violent crime, we cannot process the most critical evidence. We must beg, cry and crawl, send samples to Rwanda, to Sierra Leone, to wherever will take them, with one ECOWAS rejection after the next, and then wait weeks or months for results—if they come at all.
As research indicated DNA machines were indeed procured in the name of the Liberian people, So, I ask again on behalf of the Liberian people, Where are they OUR DNA MACHINES? Who signed for them? Where is the inventory? These are not rhetorical questions. These are questions that demand answers, because every day without functioning forensic capability, is another day that rapists walk free and the innocent are imprisoned.
The Cost of Justice vs. The Cost of Impunity
Let us examine what functional DNA analysis equipment actually costs: • Entry-level forensic DNA systems: $5,000 – $15,000
• Mid-range automated DNA extraction systems: $30,000 – $70,000 • Advanced forensic DNA analyzers: $50,000 – $200,000
For the cost of one government official’s luxury vehicle, we could equip multiple counties with functional DNA testing capabilities. For a fraction of what is spent on travel allowances and sitting fees, we could process evidence and deliver justice to survivors. President Joseph Boakai’s motorcade upgrade, including new luxury vehicles, has been reported to total about US $1.1 million. In the legislative, each lawmaker’s vehicle provision is set around US $45,000, totaling roughly US $2.9 million– US $3.2 million for 73 representatives.
Ghana has DNA machines. Kenya has DNA machines. Nigeria has DNA machines. We have
EXCUSES.
How do we justify prioritizing fancy vehicles, overseas travel and lavish lifestyles over the forensic equipment needed to bring a child rapists to justice?
The above quotes are not astronomical sums for a government, considering the previous DNA machines disappeared into oblivion. These machines, with training, consumables, and installation—could be operational for far under $500,000.
Yet we cannot find this money. Where is our priority? We can find money for everything else, not half a million dollars at most, to swiftly address crimes against children. Don’t even think about making it a budget problem, save your saliva. This is a values problem. This is a statement about what we truly prioritize as a nation. And the statement is damning, disgraceful.
Where Is the Outrage?
I must ask: Where are the mothers and fathers? Where are the older brothers, the older sisters? Where are the uncles and aunties? Where are the neighbors who know exactly which man in their community has wandering eyes and predatory hands? Where is the outrage?
Where are the women’s groups who speak so eloquently at conferences but fall silent after a few days? Where are the civil society organizations who issue statements for one day, maybe two, then return to business as usual? You talk about these issues. You hold workshops. You collect donor funds. Where is your unwavering demand for accountability? Where is the sustained outrage for children who are being violated, traumatized, and destroyed? Where is the march on Capitol Hill demanding action, the Women in White, lying at the Mansion doorsteps? Where are the religious leaders calling for national repentance, churches and mosque, pastors and imams, where are you?
We talk. We post on social media. We shake our heads. And then we move on—until the next child is violated, and the cycle repeats.
And to the lawyers of Liberia, your silence is deafening. Everyone wants to attend law school in this country. We have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of licensed attorneys. Law school has become a social club, a place to network, to associate, to build connections that protect each other, friends, out of the circle, and you’re out of luck. For the select 1 or 2 who have spoken up, such as counselor Gongloe, we applaud you, but it’s not enough. Where are the rest of you when an eight-year-old needs representation, or a toddler, a young boy? Where are you when a survivor cannot afford to pay for justice? You will take cases that pay. You will represent the powerful. But the poor? The marginalized? The children who have no voice? Shame on you! Your degrees mean nothing if they do not serve the most vulnerable among us. You took an oath, uphold it!
The World Is Watching—And Acting
While Liberia sleeps, other nations have awakened to the urgency of protecting children from sexual predators. Nigeria’s Kaduna State has enacted surgical castration for those who rape children under fourteen, followed by the death penalty. Madagascar in 2024 enacted surgical castration for rape of children under 10; chemical castration for victims aged 10-17 and life imprisonment.
South Korea mandates chemical castration for convicted child molesters. Indonesia, Pakistan, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Moldova—all have implemented chemical castration laws for sexual offenders against children. In the Great United States, states including California, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, and Montana, along with 3 others, have authorized chemical castration as a condition for release or parole of sex offenders.
These nations have declared, in law and in practice: The violation of children will be met with the most severe consequences. What has Liberia declared? What message does our two percent conviction rate send? What message does “suspension pending investigation” send? We tell predators: You are safe here. Your connections will protect you. Your victims will be silenced. Carry on.
Is This Ritualistic?
We must confront an uncomfortable question: Is this epidemic simply criminal behavior, or is something more sinister at work? The targeting of the marginalized and impoverished. The protection of perpetrators in positions of power. The systematic failure of every institution designed to provide justice. Is there a network? A club? A ritual practice that demands the violation of innocents? These questions would seem paranoid in a functioning society. But Liberia is not a functioning society when it comes to protecting children, rather is a society of the perverted and deranged. And when dysfunction is this complete, this consistent, this impervious to reform—we must ask whether it is dysfunction at all, or design.
Our Demands—Non-Negotiable
To President Joseph Boakai and the Government of Liberia:
- DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY Declare a national state of emergency on sexual violence against children. Not a press conference. Not a statement. An emergency declaration with corresponding resources, personnel, and accountability mechanisms. This is not optional. This is the minimum threshold of moral governance.
- BUY NEW DNA MACHINES. TODAY. Immediately fund, equip, and operationalize forensic DNA processing capabilities in Liberia. No more sending evidence to other countries. No more months of waiting. No more “begging other countries” to derive justice. Every major hospital should have rape kit processing capability within six months, free of charge, not ‘free bring small thing’, FREE.
- ESTABLISH COURT E IN ALL 15 COUNTIES. Justice should not depend on postal codes. Every Liberian child deserves access to a specialized sexual offense court.
- ENACT HARSHER PENALTIES. as other nations have, capital punishment (death penalty) and/or chemical, and surgical castration for those who rape and sodomize children under 15, with overwhelming evidence. Sexual violence against children is a violation of human rights.
- ARREST ALL ACCUSED IMMEDIATELY. Automatic termination and arrest, not suspension for any government official accused of sexual violence against a child, pending investigation. No exceptions. No political considerations. No protection for the connected. Investigations must be swift. Release the innocent, prosecute the guilty.
- PROSECUTE JUDICIAL CORRUPTION. Any official who demands payment from a survivor’s family must be prosecuted publicly and immediately.
To Every Liberian
This is a critical moment in the life of our nation. We stand at a crossroads between civilization and barbarism. We cannot call ourselves a civilized people if we cannot protect the most vulnerable among us. We cannot claim to be building a future if we allow that future, our children, to be devoured by predators, PEDOPHILES, who operate with impunity.
If you know a predator in your community, find the courage to inform law enforcement and the appropriate authorities. Your silence makes you complicit. If you witness suspicious behavior, SPEAK UP. If you hear a child’s cry for help, ACT. No more looking the other way. No more “that’s not my business.” It is your business. It is all of our business. It could be your child.
To the international community, to UNICEF, to the African Union, to every child advocacy organization with presence in Liberia: Lend your voices. Amplify this message. Hold our government accountable. Your partnerships and your funding come with moral obligations. Exercise them.
To every aspiring politician eyeing 2029: Let this be your litmus test. If protecting children is not your priority, you are unfit for office. Period.
The gross perversion must end. The demented, satanic, sadistic, pedophilic acts that have become normalized in our society must be rejected with the full force of our collective outrage. This is where we draw the line. This is where we say: NO MORE.
The devouring of our children ends here. As was once abolished, Destroyed by God Almighty, Sodom and Gomorrah is not welcome Here!
Let us not intellectualize this. Let us not hold another conference or workshop or stakeholder meeting. Let us DEMAND SWIFT ACTION.
For our children. For Liberia. For our very soul as a Nation.
~With Deepest Love for Country~
Fanta Kamara, MBA | A Concerned Citizen| Generation Liberia (GenL)
The post THE PEDOPHILIAC WAR ON OUR CHILDREN MUST END NOW: WE REJECT SODOM AND GOMORRAH appeared first on FrontPageAfrica.
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