New sex trade at Tema Port

Tema, Aug. 22, GNA - A Social worker has complained about a new development in Tema, where teenage girls troop to have casual sex with drivers and their mates, who come to the Tema Harbour to cart transit cargoes to the landlocked countries.

Mrs Magdalane Kauda, Municipal Social Welfare Officer, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency on Friday, explained that the men, who usually fix their sleeping beds under their articulated trucks, have sex with these girls in the open.


She said her investigations revealed that the drivers' mates pay 30,000 cedis to those girls, who allow raw sex without condom, while those who insist on the use of condoms are given 15,000 cedis, adding that a lot of the girls wait for their turn to use the beds.


Mrs Kuada noted that the 'open brothel' at the lorry park at the Black Star Line area at the port has the potential of increasing the HIV/AIDS infections among the young girls.


She, therefore, called on the Tema Traditional Council, The Tema Municipal Assembly and other anti-HIV/AIDS non-governmental organisations to vigorously step up their awareness education to protect such girls.

The social worker said in some of the East African countries where HIV/AIDS is wiping out large numbers of the population, it was such long distance drivers, who were said to have contributed to the increase.


She said it was not surprising that the HIV/AIDS prevalent rate in Tema has gone up to about 6.4 per cent, according to recent reports.


Mrs Kuala dismissed the defence put up by the girls that they have been compelled to go into prostitution because they had no job nor accommodation.