More than thirty suspected juvenile sex workers have been arrested in a police crackdown on prostitution in Gulu town.
The children, who are all below sixteen years, were rounded up in the ongoing weeklong police operation in places that sex workers are suspected to be conducting their activities from in Gulu Central Business District.
The police raid has been targeting bars and discotheques which are frequented by suspected sex workers.
Denis Odoch, the Gulu District Police Commander, says the operation followed a concern from the police that a number of sex workers operating on the streets of Gulu were juveniles. He explains that the police launched an operation with the aim of finding out who the children are and to get details about their parents.
//Cue in: “This operation …”
Cue out: “…we conducted that operation.” //
John Bosco Ozelle, the Gulu Chief Criminal Investigations Officer, says that some of the suspects have appeared in court and were sent on remand while others are to be taken to court once their charges are sanctioned by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
In Gulu town, the locals have welcomed the arrests saying it was long overdue.
James Oryema, a boda-boda cyclist says prostitution is an abomination in Acholi culture and must be stopped at all costs.
// Cue in: “That act is very good…”
Cue out “…were not there” //
Oryema says prostitution was something that the locals used to hear about in stories from big cities but they are now shocked that their own children are also engaging in what he calls the foreign practice.
Jacqueline Atala, a shopkeeper who operates opposite Gulu Stanbic Bank, however, says the operation is good but that the local leadership should address the issues that are taking young children to the streets.
She says the issues include poverty and lack of parental care. She claims that some of the sex-workers say they prefer selling themselves than to die of hunger at home.
