Towns and trading centres in Migori county are experiencing an influx of commercial sex workers who are out to prey on tobacco farmers.
Tobacco buying companies opened their markets last month and farmers have been receiving payments for their produce every week, most of which allegedly end in bars and lodgings.
A spot check found out that most bars in towns and centres like Migori, Isebania, Kehancha, Ikerege, Ntimaru and Nyabohanse were enjoying increased business following the large cash flow from farmers.
This has attracted commercial sex workers, some as young as 15 years old, from areas like Nairobi and Mwanza in Tanzania.
One girl who only identified herself as Maimuna from Mwanza said she recently came to Isebania on invitation by her friend to do some serious business.
“My friend told me the tobacco markets are opened, business is quite paying and they are truly reaping,” she said in regard to the commercial sex trade.
Some of the workers confided that they were earning up to Sh10, 000 per day from gullible farmers, most of whom have stopped going home.
Following the illegal business, there have been fears of a possible rise in HIV infection rate and divorce cases as some men engaged in unprotected sexual escapades.
Bishop Alloyce Onyango from Oyani Friends Church asked local officials from the national government administration and the police to launch a crackdown on the commercial sex workers to control the potential spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the region.
“Sex trade is illegal in Kenya and those engaging in it should be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.
He also pleaded to farmers to spend their money wisely instead of wasting it in bars at the expense of their families.
Some mothers claimed that they had not seen their husbands for the last two weeks after they took their produce to markets. Cases of husbands neglecting their families after selling their tobacco crops are not new in the area every buying season.
The problem has led to divorce cases in the past and even isolated incidents of death with infuriated wives opting to commit suicide.
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