General News of Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Source: The Mirror

Prostitutes take over nightlife in twin-city

There have been increased activities in the operations of both child and adult prostitutes in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis, as nightlife picks up in the twin-city.

Following this development, prostitutes have taken over the Axim Road, which lies within the precincts of the Vienna City establishment and Shippers Roundabout in Takoradi and various parts of Sekondi.

In fact, many street corners and entertainment and social centres have been taken over by these child and adult prostitutes who ostensibly go in for expatriate workers in the oil and gas industry.

The adults in the profession operate at very busy places in the metropolis from 9 p.m. till the early hours of the morning while the young ones patronise various nightclubs to look for clients.

The prostitutes are also in the business of nurturing homosexuals. The adults recruit the young ones first as homosexuals.

A prostitute told The Mirror that majority of their members were students while others came from neighbouring West African countries, as well as ‘spoilt’ children and those from broken homes in the metropolis.

“Sometimes we are compelled to sack the young ones from our territories because they threaten our market,” she said.

The students are said to travel from Cape Coast to the twin-city where there is great demand for their services.

Another prostitute (name withheld), who spoke to The Mirror for a fee of GH¢30, two cans of beer and an energy drink (being cost for the time spent in talking to this reporter), said she had a tall list of wants and that she was left with no option but to go into prostitution.

Dressed in a short blue-black straight dress, she said she and her three friends were students from an institution in Kumasi and had rented a single room where the three of them stayed to do business.

She said their clients were mostly expatriate workers who paid them well and that “in most cases they tell us that they want what she calls “threesome” (a situation in which one man takes on two women)

“And that is what the expatriates like,” she said.

She said some of their clients had their numbers and vice-versa and so, they called each other when the need arose.

In Sekondi, the activities get brisk mostly on Thursdays when the city hosts a musical concert dubbed: “Star night bash.”

There is also European-Town where girls between the ages of 15 and 17 could be spotted in obscure corners in their attempt to catch the attention of prospective clients.

For as low as GH¢4, these girls are prepared to willingly follow any man who expresses interest in them.

Conscious of the bad publicity prostitution has attracted for the twin-city, some senior citizens in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis have formed a committee on child prostitution to help check the practice.

The committee members have also called on the police to help save the situation.

When The Mirror contacted the Western Regional Police Command, it confirmed the report and said its intelligence had identified some areas that they would be working on.