Sekondi mothers worried over sexual harassment of male children in community

• Posted on January 28, 2022January 28, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Mothers in Sekondi, the administrative capital of the Western Region are not happy with what they call persistent sexual harassment of male children in the community.

Sharing their grievances, they made it known that their male children are being sexually harassed in the community, a worrying trend that is giving them sleepless night.

According to them, their community, particularly the railway area has now been invaded by sex workers which their activities have now gained a firm foundation leading to the establishment of hundreds of drinking bars and motels in the area.

Their influence is spreading across the township leading to some females in Sekondi abandoning their education or marriage to partake in the sex business since its lucrative.

A female resident of Sekondi staying at the rails speaking on the harassment noted that whenever their young male children are sent on errands, they return sobbing, explaining the reason, she made it known that the moment some of these sex workers see kids with money, they harass them for the money in exchange for sex.

She said, “When we send our male children on errands, mostly to go buy something with money, they return sobbing and empty-handed. The obvious answer they will give you after asking them a question is that, they were sexually harassed by these female sex workers because of the money.”

“They pursue these little kids with sex in exchange for the money they are given for errands. Can you imagine that, and I can tell it happens to almost every male child here so we don’t send them on errands again,”

The resident made it known the female sex workers don’t care about the ages of these boys and sometimes 10-year-olds are sexually harassed as well.

However, they indicated the activities of these individuals is now a nuisance to the community since they have sex, do drugs and fight in public spaces which they believe will influence their kids negatively and their reputation of being members of the community.

It seems there is no way out for them and the best thing they can do is to abandon the community in search of a better environment, but that will be a difficult decision, looking at their financial status and what they have established in the community.

Also, their only hope was the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) since they promised in 2021 that they were going to evacuate these sex workers from their current location since most of them are foreign nationals, particularly Nigerians and Liberians.

Since the promise, nothing has been done up to date.

By Nana Yaw Kumi