Reggae Sumfest 2023: Kabaka Pyramid Hurls ‘Fire And Brimstone’ On Paedophiles: ‘One Thing They Can’t Legalize’

Grammy winner Kabaka Pyramid took time out during his Reggae Sumfest to hurl fire and brimstone on paedophiles in his homeland Jamaica, where the National Children’s Registry says there are between 2,000 and 3,000 sexual abuse cases reported each year.

Declaring paedophilia the root of Jamaica’s problems, the Trample Dem singer said it was not being talked about enough and that there is no place on the island or anywhere else in the world for persons who commit such sordid crimes against children.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy fi all paedophiles.  Dat a one ting dem can’t come legalize,” the Well Done artist stated.

“Caw dem have di nerve fi seh no fire naw bun.  A seh Kabaka naw bun no fire. After me sing neva gonna be a slave; mi sing No Capitalist, mi sing Warrior… but yu si one ting one ting wi naw guh tolerate inna Jamaica, an dis is di root of all problens inna Jamaica.  Yuh si di child molestation, yuh si di rapist, di paedophile dem, dat a cause too much trauma fi di yute dem an di yute dem a grow up wid confusion inna dem mind,” Kabaka stated, before belting out lyrics to his anti-paedophilia song Trample Dem.

“Come mek wi trample dem again
Dismantle dem again
Dem paedophile mi wonder how dem get so prevalent
Come mek wi trample dem again
Dismantle dem again
Yo suku mek I talk to di child molester dem

Certain ting wi nuh promote roun here
Not even joke roun here
Nuh likkle pickney u fi see and wah fi poke roun here
Nuh freaky folk roun here
Nuh tek nuh coke roun here

If dem a drift

Den u find dem body a float roun here
Nuh paedophile roun here
Cyan touch nuh child roun here
If dem go smile roun here
Dem get wi vile roun here
Nuh touch the soil roun here
We have missile roun here
Blood ago flow like river Nile roun here”

Kabaka Pyramid is right on target, as there is empirical evidence to back up his claims of rampant paedophilia in Jamaica, which has been described by experts as a “severe national problem that affects male and female with devastating personal and societal consequences”.

A qualitative study conducted by researchers at the University of Technology in Jamaica and the University of Huddersfield in the UK which was published in 2020, noted that The problem of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in Jamaica is was a scourge, which has spawned many reports and scholarly papers resulting in a body of work highlighting the cultural underpinnings of the practice and the ways in which victims are permanently traumatised.

“This prior work has led to the establishment of institutions to remove children from abusive situations and laws to deal with perpetrators. Yet, as this research report reveals, the problem still exists and is in need of greater national attention,” the researchers had explained.

Incidentally, while Kabaka was burning the eternal fire yesterday, media reports surfaced that there were “bizarre sex offence cases” taking place in some communities in Southern Trelawny, some of which were being tried in the Trelawny Circuit Court.

Among these were a father who repeatedly abducted and raped his teen daughter while videotaping the encounters and a 60-year-old who threatened to “obeah” his 12-year-old neighbour if she did not have sex with him.

Jamaica, which Kabaka’s compatriot Queen Ifrica has labelled a “Predators Paradise”, saw close to 10,000 cases of child abuse being reported in 2020 of which 20 percent or approximately 2,480 were cases of child sexual abuse.

In the first half of 2021 (January to June), 1,203 cases of sexual abuse of children were reported.  

Also, in February this year, A Clarendon councillor had raised grave concerns that gang members in Clarendon were buggering young boys as a form of initiation then using the shame associated with the abuse to keep their victims trapped in the clique.

Also, in appealing to men to leave the little girls alone, the councillor had also pointed out that “we’re seeing five-year-olds being molested by adults”.

“We are seeing too many babies that are being molested by adults and it is very distasteful,” he said.

Data from a 2016 survey on adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues in Jamaica, revealed that “almost half of all sexually active females in Jamaica between the ages of 15 and 24 years old were forced into their first sexual encounter”.

Back in 2021, Queen Ifrica had expressed empathy for survivors of sexual violence who have come forward to tell their stories, as for her it hits hard, having experienced horrific molestation and sexual abuse herself.

The Fyah Mumma, who has long been one of Jamaica’s most outspoken and strident voices against rape, child sexual abuse and other acts of debauchery, had described Jamaica as a country where predators carry out their dastardly acts on unsuspecting victims with impunity.

“We live in a predator’s paradise Anthony, where it’s OK to rape and to live a full life after and to be lauded,” she had told Television Jamaica’s Anthony Miller.