Child Prostitution High In Cape Coast

The Cape Coast municipality noted for its tourist attraction has also become a centre of child prostitution.
Girls as young as 11 and 17 could often be seen hanging in and around the Cape Coast Castle and drinking spots around it dressed in 'provocative' styles to attract customers who mostly are tourists visiting the municipality.

Others patronising their services are students of some secondary schools and other institutions in the municipality who are openly seen bargaining with the girls for sex.

The students from the secondary schools particularly remove their shirts and wear 'T' shirts to outwit school authorities.

The girls charge rates between ¢5,000 to ¢20,000.

A girl who only gave her name as Rose, aged 13, said some of the boys refuse to pay her after she had satisfied them but said she cannot stop the business since it was her source of livelihood.

She said, she had been compelled to carry on such an act to support herself since what she earns from petty trading in the day was not enough.

A securityman at the Cape Coast castle on Saturday night was seen sacking some of the girls about 11p.m.

When asked by this reporter, he said, "My brother, the way people have been sleeping with the kids here is not good at all."

He alleged that both matured and small boys including some tourists take advantage of the poverty level in the area to exploit the girls.

A resident of the town, Madam Grace Whyte, told the 'Spectator' that the act constituted a disgrace to the entire Cape Coast community.

She said "I was once insulted by a teenager when I tried to advise her to desist from the act of practising prostitution when I saw her in an uncompromising position with a man."

She made a passionate appeal to the Oguaa Traditional Council, the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly, the Regional Co-ordinating Council and the Regional Police Command to ensure that sanity prevailed in the town.