You patronise our services, so stop harassing and extorting us – Commercial Sex Workers to Police

Sex workers at Tema Newtown U-Compound have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Tema Newtown police command’s illegal extortion of money from them.

The aggrieved sex workers alleged that the police broke into their rooms without provocation last evening and arrested six of their colleagues, who are still in police custody.

They also alleged that the police forcefully break into people’s rooms, arrest them, and demand GHC500 each on bail terms, a practice that has been in place for some time.

According to the sex workers, they have been in the town for the past 60 years without breaking any laws and see no reason why the police would try to harass them with extortion.

They say that the majority of them rely on this labour to support their children and families; thus, they are urging the release of their colleagues and urging authorities to intervene to stop the police extortion.

When reminded that commercial sex work was banned in Ghana, they told journalists that, although it was illegal, certain police officers, military personnel, and top officials used their services.

The queen mother of the sex workers (name withheld) said that “some of the community’s police and naval officers use their services, so it’s a surprise that they arrest them from time to time. As a result, she advocated for the legalisation of the profession to protect them from further harassment”.

One other commercial sex worker said, “What is illegal? What about armed robbery? I am speaking on behalf of the others because they are afraid to speak. It is too much. The harassment is too much. Nobody is feeding us. Nobody can feed me. I have a son, bad I have to feed him, and he is going to SHS. I am not a small girl”.