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Prostitution should not be legalised in Uganda
On September 16, I watched ‘Girls in Risky Business,’ documentary on NBS TV about underage girls engaged in prostitution in Kampala’s brothels.
One of the sex workers interviewed in the documentary, who said being called a prostitute was vulgar and disrespectful, admitted, “It’s true sex workers work with the police for intelligence purposes,” thus confirming the story, “Kayihura gives prostitutes, boda bodas cash for spywork,” in the Daily Monitor of August 25, 2017.
The story said ‘The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen. Kale Kayihura, has doled out cash to sex workers operating in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District, tying the offer to intelligence gathering and charity. The IGP gave each sex worker at least Shs200,000 after a meeting last Sunday.’
What is most shocking about this revelation is that prostitution remains illegal in Uganda. The Penal Code Act, Article 136 states, ‘(1) Every person who knowingly lives wholly or in part on the earnings of prostitution and every person who in any place solicits or importunes for immoral purposes commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.’
This same sex worker said, “Once you are a sex worker, you are already a criminal, so you are not protected by law.” She therefore wants sex work to be decriminalised and recognised as a profession to enable prostitutes to claim their rights in the Worker’s Act. This will put them on equal footing with other women, such as the right to report sexual harassment.
I beg to differ. Prostitution might be the world’s oldest profession, but still, it should not be legalised in Uganda due to the associated effects.
Josepha Jabo,
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