When the law becomes a weapon against women in Sierra Leone – Op ed

Zainab Tunkara Clarkson:

There is nothing more dangerous than a man in power who believes he is above the law — except perhaps one who is the law.

In Africa today, a Justice of the law (Sierra Leone’s Appeals Court Judge Momoh Jah Stevens) allegedly stands accused of threatening to imprison his girlfriend and mother of his child for daring to hold him accountable. (Photo above: Author – Zainab Tunkara).

This is not justice. This is tyranny dressed in robes.

What we see here is not a domestic quarrel; it is a textbook case of coercive control and abuse of power. The scales of justice are tipped violently when a man charged with upholding the law uses that very law to silence and terrorize a woman.

It is patriarchy at its most insidious: a system that enables powerful men to punish women simply for demanding responsibility.

And yet, how many women face this same reality without the world ever hearing their names? How many are trapped in relationships where leaving means risking not only heartbreak, but imprisonment, ostracism, or worse?

This case underscores the urgent need for accountability within our institutions. Judges, Barristers, Justices Lawyers, and all public officials must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest.

When power is unchecked, it erodes not just the lives of women caught in abusive dynamics, but the very credibility of the justice system itself.

Silence is complicity. If society tolerates this misuse of power, it sends a dangerous message: that authority is a shield for abuse, and women’s voices can be crushed beneath it.

We must demand better — for the woman at the heart of this story, and for the integrity of justice itself.

The credibility of any justice system rests on its ability to hold even its own to account. If a Justice can threaten a woman with prison for challenging him, then the institution he represents is already corrupted. The law becomes not a shield for the vulnerable, but a sword for the powerful.

This sadly reflects broader systemic issues of patriarchy and gender inequality, where women often lack the protection and resources to challenge men in positions of power. The combination of legal threats, societal stigma, and the woman’s vulnerable position can trap her in a cycle where seeking justice feels impossible.

This underscores the urgent need for stronger accountability mechanisms, protection for survivors of abuse, and reforms that prevent those in authority from weaponizing their positions against intimate partners.

This cannot stand. Women’s voices cannot continue to be crushed under the weight of male authority and institutional complicity.

Accountability must start at the top, and it must be relentless. Because when justice is weaponized against the very people it is meant to protect, it ceases to be justice at all.

Editor’s note

Following this Op ed by author – Zainab Tunkara published in the Sierra Leone Telegraph, and social media protests by other women’s rights campaigners, the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone yesterday suspended Appeals Court Judge – Justice Momoh Jah Stevens – who is being accused by a 21 year old lady of impregnating her, pending investigations.

Sierra Leone’s Appeals Court Judge suspended pending investigations