By IPS Correspondents
NAIROBI, Dec 23 2003 (IPS)

Sex workers in Kenya have demanded recognition of their profession to enable them to operate in a free climate – devoid of fear.

By legitimising the trade, which is currently illegal in Kenya, the government will be able to regulate the activities of the sex workers, they argue.

“The players will not need to hide anymore. Their numbers will be made known to the government, which will be able to control the trade, which has been practised undercover. The government will also earn revenue from it,” spokesperson for ‘Female Commercial Sex Workers’ (CSWs), Gladwell Wanjiru (not her real name), told IPS in an exclusive interview.

“We cannot say the law has been effective against prostitution because it’s practised widely by Kenyans from all walks of life – day and night. In fact, we’re cheating ourselves because we cannot eliminate it. Prostitution is there to stay and it’s high time we accepted it,” Wanjiru told IPS from Nairobi’s busy Koinange Street, where she was waiting for a client.

The street, also known as K-street, bubbles with half-naked girls and women peddling sex at night.

Another sex worker, who gave her name only as Miriam, says their union, if registered, will champion and safeguard their interests and protect them from arrogant male clients who do not “want to go by our rules”.

“Most of us demand use of condom and due to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, majority of clients agree. But there are others who insist that they do not want condom, because they say they don’t enjoy sex with condoms. They promise to pay more if they do it without protection and sometimes they get physical if we refuse,” Miriam explains.

“The union can fight against such behaviours,” she adds. Sex workers charge between 6.7 dollars and 66.7 dollars depending on race of client, duration and type of service.

According to Wanjiru, the more than 30 members of the proposed union are planning a meeting with Kenya’s women legislators to fight for them in parliament.

The demands for a union come in the wake of a crackdown by police on sex workers along Koinange Street on Dec.12. Two cabinet ministers and a legislator were allegedly netted with half-naked women in their cars.

The three officials were video-taped before police pounced on them. They were captured signalling the girls and ushering them into their cars.

In the swoop, over 100 girls, most of them college and university students, were seized and arrested, while the three officials walked away scot-free, eliciting uproar among women legislators.

“We do not want double standards when it comes to commercial sex. Why arrest women and set the men free? The police should arrest both without any discrimination,” the legislators were quoted as saying in a local newspaper.

Critics say the law surrounding prostitution is biased against women.

“The Penal Code suggests that only the woman is considered the prostitute. Even if both man and woman are caught prostituting, it is only the woman who will be charged and not the man. That is why in the recent crackdown, all the girls were arrested but the men were left to walk away freely,” observes Joyce Majiwa, chairperson of the Kenya Chapter of the Federation of Women Lawyers.

She criticises Kenya’s criminal law, amended in July this year, for failing to define clearly what constitutes prostitution. “Under this law, offences against morality were amended extensively, but not on prostitution. It should have been able to make it possible for both men and women implicated in prostitution to be charged equally,” she says.

In Kenya, the law does not criminalise prostitution but criminalises living on earnings of prostitution. In this case, it is the woman who becomes victim, not the man.

The double standards provided by law surrounding prostitution may have added pressure to sex workers to demand legislation of the trade. According to human rights campaigners, the sex workers are justified to call for such action.

“Their demand fits perfectly well within the current international movement that suggests accepting prostitution as a form of commercial engagement. There are several countries where sex workers are demanding recognition of their services,” notes Mbugua Mureithi, a human rights lawyer based in Nairobi.

However, it might not be easy for their demand to be granted.

“To legalise prostitution here will be a very tall order given that Kenya is a highly religious country and has a conservative mind. Also the general perception is that the practise is immoral and illegal,” remarks Mureithi.

Some human rights campaigners contend that legalising prostitution may not be the answer. Addressing the root cause is.

Speaking on her personal capacity, Wambui Kimathi of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, says, “None of the ladies is out there because they have chosen to. The problem is poverty.”

Official statistics indicate that more than 56 percent of Kenyans live below the poverty line of a dollar a day.

“Some Kenyans feel that legalising the trade holds water. This will set the record straight because there are so many illegal brothels in the country, which pose as massage parlours. This is still prostitution. Why pretend it is not there, while we all know it is widespread?” wonders Adam Monda, a university graduate.

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