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18.06.2008 Regional News

MPs: AMA must demolish ‘soldier bar’, other brothels

18.06.2008 LISTEN
By The Statesman

The Greater Accra Region alone is said to be housing about 125 brothels in which girl prostitutes who fall within the ages of 12 and 16 conduct brisk businesses at night.

These girls are said to be servicing about 20 male clients per night at a charge of GH¢3.00 for every three minutes spent at one of the most notorious brothels known as the 'Soldier Bar'. A similar practice is also going on at other places in the capital city of Accra.

These brothels, according to Theresa Tagoe, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister who made a statement on Child Prostitution on the floor of Parliament yesterday, are located at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Abeka, Lapaz, Kasoa (in the Central Region), New Town and other areas.

It is against this backdrop that Members of Parliamentare calling on the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to team up with relevant agencies to immediately demolish the 'Soldier Bar'.

In addition, the MPs also want all other identifiable brothels and edifices that house such young prostitutes in all parts of the country demolished, to ensure that the growing canker of child prostitution is nipped in the bud.

Throwing more light on the activities, Ms Tagoe indicated that "these girls are required to pay GH¢2.00 to proprietors of such brothels and keep the rest of their daily income to themselves".

This, she said, came to light when the Parliamentary Caucus on Population visited the 'Soldier Bar' to get first-hand information about activities of child prostitutes at the place.

"Mr. Speaker, the place operates as a lorry park and a brothel. A tour of the place revealed that it has 12 cubicles with no windows, but has mattresses".

She wondered why it has taken so long for AMA to demolish the place since according to her, the Assembly had marked out the area for demolishing long before their visit.

"Mr Speaker, it would be very much appreciated if the Chief Executive of AMA would initiate appropriate actions through its relevant agencies to have the structure demolished with immediate effect". The issue of child prostitution is becoming a social canker which is eating into the moral fiber of the Ghanaian society", she added.

The Legislators also called on parents to take the upbringing of their children seriously and impart decent and essential values into them during their formative years so that they will not depart from it when they grow up.

According to her, early exposure to pornographic materials also contributes to child prostitution in the sense that vulnerable, gullible children will try to practice almost whatever they see in movies and in the newspapers.

To ensure that this practice is reduced to the barest minimum or stopped entirely, she called for the proper enforcement of Act 560 - the Children's Act - passed in 1998, and urged district assemblies to set up committees on children to monitor and direct them when they go wayward.

This, she stressed, would ensure that children who are into such practices and risk contracting HIV\AIDS, are saved, as they form the "window of hope" that is often described by the Ghana AIDS Commission.

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