During a spot-check in various bars and lodges around Balaka township, children aged below 18 years were seen patronising bars and lodges, smoking Indian hemp, gambling and selling their bodies.
One teenage sex worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity said their clients are usually older men and they pay handsomely.
Alarmed with the rate at which the vice is going at the township, Balaka Civil Society organizations network called for an engagement meeting with different stakeholders including the government, police, bar and lodge owners as well as the commercial sex workers to map the way forward on how best they can together resolve the issue of teen prostitution.
Speaking in an interview, Balaka Police officer in-charge, Dan Sauteni, said as police they are tirelessly working to end the vice though there are some factors fueling the situation.
“We have been conducting patrols around the bars and lodges in order to chase the teens practicing prostitution and other illicit behaviors. However, you find out that once you chase them, they come back to the bars and lodges after a few days,” Sauteni said.
According to Sauteni, most of the children blame poverty and lack of parental care in their households as reasons for turning to prostitution.
While admitting that the situation is very bad, Sauten was quick to mention that it’s not proper to put a blame game on the girls as there should be something wrong in the communities where the girls come from.
He said: “I think there must be a social breakdown in the areas where these children are coming from. Before judging them to be on the wrong side, let’s find out ways on how best we can help them so that they should not return to the bars and lodges once we take them out.”
In her remarks, Balaka civil Society network gender chairperson, Mercy Chakoma, said the vice is a serious threat in terms of child protection and asked all the concerned stakeholders to jointly work together to make sure the vice is dealt with.
According to Chakoma, the stakeholders meeting resolved to take the matter seriously.
“We have agreed that the law should take its course. Among other things, we shall strictly make sure that bar owners are not selling alcoholic beverages to children under the age of 18. Again, anybody found in custody of kids whether in bars or lodges will face the law.” Chakoma said.
The meeting also suggested that there should be a reformatory centre at Balaka township whereby once the kids are caught in the practice, they should be kept there for guidance and counseling instead of punishing them.
Meanwhile, the civil society organizations in partnership with the police, district social welfare office and other stakeholders have planned to intensify sensitization meetings with the traditional leaders as well as parents around the district to urge them to be good custodians of their children in the villages.
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