Pressure is mounting on the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly to demolish two major brothels being used by sex traffickers to accommodate their victims for sexual exploitation.
Bula spot and Little Ben brothels have become commercial sex hubs in Koforidua the Eastern Regional capital.
The facilities are rented out to sex traffickers who traffick young Nigerian girls to sexually exploit them.
City authorities have failed to demolish the illegal facilities over the years even though, the brothel in the Little Ben area is located near railway lines that belong to Ghana Railways Authority while Bula Spot has illegally converted its facility to a brothel.
Calls to demolish the brothels come after an investigation conducted by A senior Journalist based in Koforidua uncovered a serious sex trafficking menace involving both Ghana and Nigerian traffickers.
Owners of Bula Spot and Little Ben shoes in Koforidua, Eastern Region of Ghana have been identified and accused of aiding the sex trafficking of young Nigerian girls to Ghana with the tacit conversation of the places to brothels.
Economic hardship worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic is fueling the rise in sex trafficking cases in the sub-region particularly from Nigeria to Ghana.
Young female Nigerians are being trafficked to Ghana for sexual exploitation through a conspiracy of some Ghanaian and Nigerian traffickers under the guise of securing decent and well-paid jobs for them in Ghana.
Ghana’s Eastern Regional capital Koforidua and some major cities in Ghana have been flooded by these sex trafficked victims from Nigeria.
Investigation into the illicit activity by a senior journalist based in Koforidua Obed Kojo Ansah reveals that owners of these two places have been cashing in every year from the sex trafficking activities as they rent out the facilities to the traffickers to accommodate their victims and used the same for their sex exploitation venture.
Girls with ages as low as 16 years are trafficked to these two brothels under the guise of working in restaurants, hotels, and shopping malls among others only to be forced into prostitution upon arrival.
Depending on the agent’s arrangement, on average, they are sexually exploited for at least three to four months to repay all travel expenses and other costs before being given the freedom to operate on their own. For others, you work for them as long as you are with them in Ghana.
The victims are confined in these brothels and policed by bouncers hired by the traffickers.
The bouncers escort any of the victims whenever granted permission to go out for something pressing. This is to prevent them from escaping or speaking to anyone.
The victims are forced to sleep during the daytime and work at night when clients solicit sexual intercourse in exchange for cash.
These trafficked girls sexually satisfy their clients at varied fees ranging from Ghc30 per round of sexual intercourse.
“For sleep, give me Ghc300 but short is Ghc30 cedis,” one of the trafficked girls said.
The traffickers do not allow the victims to be taken away by clients however one may be allowed under special arrangement after paying at least Ghc300 plus Ghc50 for a bouncer who will police the victim to wherever she will be taken to within Koforidua.
The investigation started Wednesday, March 23, 2022. At 11:00 pm, whilst many legitimate workers are asleep, these trafficked girls are awake standing in front of the brothel in the Little Ben area while others are at the B-Foster traffic light enticing men to patronize their sexual services.
One of the trafficked girls, Traijel, told me she arrived in Ghana three weeks ago through an agent who said she had secured a job for her only to be forced into prostitution.
She has taken to drinking alcohol and smoking cigarette to enable her to sleep with at least five men per night.
I was told some of the victims unable to endure the ordeal of sexual exploitation manages once in a while escape.
Akosua Dadzie was introduced to me by one of the victims as her “madam” to wit a trafficker who received her in Ghana.
Akosua Dadzie, a Ghanaian told me, she has four of these trafficked girls working for her for four months before she grants them independence.
Akosua Dadzie is not a resident of Koforidua but rather from Accra.
The following conversation ensued.
Journalist: I want to take one of your girls away; I don’t feel comfortable to have slept with her here at the brothel. But she said she wouldn’t go unless I speak to you
Akosua (Trafficker): The fair girl?
Journalist: Yes, Traijel
Akosua: Yes she is one of my four girls but I beg you don’t be angry. That is the instructions I have given to them. she is a stranger she doesn’t know anywhere. I have warned them not to go out with any clients. They don’t know anywhere. I don’t know anywhere
Journalist: Really?
Akosua: Yes, I don’t know anywhere. I am from Accra. I rent these places I want to take one of your girls away; I don’t feel comfortable having sex with her here at the brothel. But she said she wouldn’t go unless I speak to you.
Akosua: The girls work for me. They are four (4). The rest are not my girls.
Journalist: I need a special exemption. So what is the arrangement? I want to take her outside.
Akosua: Outside will be difficult
Finally, Ghc300 plus Ghc50 for the bouncer to guard the victim at the hotel and bring her back to the brothel was agreed on.
She said, “Many married men come here to patronize their service. They mostly sleep with them here. The place is not ghetto room”.
Akosua welcomed my proposal to traffic some girls from the village to her for commercial sex exploitation.
“I like the bad girls more because they know much about sex. When they come they will serve for four months. After which they will be independent”
Trafficked Nigeria Girl impregnated, infected with HIV thrown away.
The investigations uncovered the harrowing condition of a trafficked Nigerian girl, Somtooma (not her real name)
Her National Health Insurance card indicates she was born on September 5, 2001.
The 20-year-old girl was trafficked to Ghana and forced into commercial sex activity however got impregnated, infected with HIV, and thrown out to the streets.
A Good Samaritan Ibrahim Amavor who claims to be an Islamic radio preacher on Bryt FM went to the rescue of then hunger-stricken six months old pregnant victim.
“It came to a point every evening whenever I’m going to town from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm, I saw this girl sitting in the traffic on a bench for two weeks wearing the same dress so it kicked my heart to get closer to her. When I got closed to her I started to interview Her to find out what was his problem but I noticed he was pregnant…..she told me doesn’t have any place later she told me they are living in one house behind Normal technical. She told me she was hungry so I brought her home and gave her food so she stayed with me for a while up to 9:30 pm when I escorted her to go home. The following day I went to the house to look for her then they told me she is no more living there. A week after, she called me at 9:30pm and said she was a total 2” Amevor narrated.
He continued, “At the time I met her she was 6 months to 7 months Pregnant… I asked her where her antenatal card was she told me she doesn’t have one. I sent her to the Alata chief but he was very sick so they directed me to the Ebo chairman. I went there but he told me he can’t handle it so he gave me a number to call and see the representative of the Nigeria Ambassador in the Eastern region so I went to him I explained everything to him with the girl as well and he told me that I should go that he will see us later after discussing the matter in a meeting But he never showed up.
Ibrahim Amevor further said “I consulted one of my legal practitioners and she told me to report to the police so I reported and wrote my statement. She gave us her mother’s number to call her but when we called the mother in Nigeria the mother sounded like a poor helpless woman. According to the girl if you reach Lagos you will take another bus and spend the night before you reach her hometown.
On April 31, 2022, the victim gave birth through Cesarean delivery at the Eastern Regional Hospital but suffered severe puerperal psychosis which has made her mentally unstable.
“They admitted us almost one week at the hospital then they discharged us, even the medical bill was a problem but some benevolent people they helped. After a week she started behaving strangely so I sent her to the hospital but the problem things are not easy what to eat even very difficult. Social welfare couldn’t help us when we went to them”
Ibrahim Amevor wants the Nigerian High commissioner to Ghana to help rescue and reintegrate many of such sex-trafficked girls in Koforidua into their families in Nigeria.
“I am appealing to the Nigeria High Commissioner that many things are happening on the ground. Through this interview I want him to come in so that the child can go back to his family. Many things are happening on the ground he can commission some people to come on the ground and see things by themselves before it gets out of hand. Some women have taken it upon themselves to do no job but to traffic this young girl. These girls are not from the cities in Nigeria they are from typical villages”
The Eastern Regional Vice-Chairman of the Association of Nigerians, Christian Ofor narrated that one of the trafficked girls recently escaped but the Koforidua District Police Command failed to take her statement hence the victims stormed out of the police station and went to Accra.
He wants the Ghana Police Service to arrest the kingpins involved in trafficking young girls from Nigeria to Ghana.
The 2005 Human Trafficking Act amended in 2009, criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking.
The Human Trafficking Act prescribes penalties of a minimum of five years’ imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and, concerning sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.
According to the US Department of State, the government of Ghana maintained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.
However, the 2015 regulations for this Act, which are non-discretionary and have the force of law, provided specific guidance on sentencing depending on the circumstances; in general, the term is not less than five years’ imprisonment and not more than 25 years’ imprisonment, but if a parent, guardian, or another person with parental responsibilities facilitates or engages in trafficking, they are liable to a fine, five to 10 years’ imprisonment, or both. By allowing for a fine instead of imprisonment, these penalties were not commensurate with those for other serious crimes, such as rape.
Ghana investigated 87 trafficking cases, including 63 labor trafficking and 24 sex trafficking cases, in 2020, compared with investigating 137 cases in 2019.
The government initiated prosecutions of 18 alleged labor traffickers and continued prosecutions of four alleged labor traffickers, compared with prosecutions of 37 defendants in 2019. Additionally, the government prosecuted four defendants for exploitative child labor using the Children’s Act of 1998, compared with five in 2019; in some cases, the government prosecuted trafficking cases under the Children’s Act when there was insufficient evidence of trafficking.
The US Department of State report indicated that government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials allegedly complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, official corruption and complicity in trafficking remained concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year.
Observers alleged that traffickers operated with the support or acquiescence of law enforcement or justice officials and that some government officials interfered in law enforcement proceedings.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Kojo Ansah
