Source: allAfrica.com
A women advocacy group under the banner “Women against Human Trafficking (WAHT), has revealed that prostitution is on the increase in Monrovia and its surroundings, and is calling on government and her international partners to urgently address in order to stop the spread of the deadly disease.
The Acting National Executive Director of WAHT, Madam Katherine Thompson in an exclusive interview with the Analyst yesterday, said Liberian girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen were to a high degree engaged in commercial sex, selling themselves for LD$50, LD$75 and LD$100.
She further disclosed that the sex trade was taking place in various streets corners of Monrovia, including Carey, Gurley, Mechlin, and Lynch streets, something according to her is worrisome, and that if no concrete measures are taken against the unwholesome act, she opined, Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy stands the risk of being undermined, thus placing the country at risk.
The women activist said the issue of under age children, most of them students from various schools in Monrovia and its surrounding, she intoned, are in the hobbit of wearing their school uniforms visibly in the streets corners carrying on the immoral practice on a daily basis.
Madam Thompson among other things also claimed that most of the students in the hobbit often times put their parents under false impression that they are going to school every day, but only to realize that are heavily engaged in prostitution in the various street corners.
When quizzed as to how the women advocacy group got the information about the alarming rate of the sex trade, she indicated that her organization (WAHT), has in recent months dispatched a monitoring team in those places named and following those observations on the information gathered, she indicated, WHAT then established that the practice was too rampart and really exist and was on the increase in those communities.
She alleged that most females under age were topping the list of those engaged in the act. According to her, the hallows always meet by 5pm daily on the down flow of the Ministry of Education, Amanita Gas Station, Mechlin Street, including a local motel on Carey Street which she failed to name.
Quoting one of the prostitutes only identified as Decontee, Madam Thompson claimed that the little girl, whose age is 16, told her that it was the sex trade that at most time help her to continue her education and if she did not engage in the act, she stands the risk to suffer to the highest degree and may not even have the finance to go to school.
The WAHT boss disclosed that most of the underage females she met repeated similar scenarios of not having any body to cater to them; something she said was largely responsible for their involvement in commercial sex.
As a result of the alarming rate of the act, the WAHT executive disclosed that her organization was putting into place a mechanism that will help to take the underage females from the streets and put stop to sex commercialization, something according to her places girls children on high risk of attracting the HIV/AIDS virus and other sexually transmittal diseases.
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Everyone is a genius
Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – A Einstein
Drawing the line in Liberia
Crimes sponsored, committed, or masterminded by handful of individuals cannot be blamed upon an entire nationality. In this case, Liberians! The need for post-war justice is a step toward lasting peace, stability and prosperity for Liberia. Liberia needs a war crimes tribunal or some credible legal forum that is capable of dealing with atrocities perpetrated against defenseless men, women and children during the country's brutal war. Without justice, peace shall remain elusive and investment in Liberia will not produce the intended results. - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Men with unhealthy characters should not champion any noble cause
They pretend to advocate the cause of the people when their deeds in the dark mirror nothing else but EVIL!!
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.
If Liberia must move forward ...
If Liberia must move forward in order to claim its place as a civilized nation amongst world community of nations, come 2017 elections, Liberians must critically review the events of the past with honesty and objectivity. They must make a new commitment to seek lasting solutions. The track records of those who are presenting themselves as candidates for the position of "President of the Republic of Liberia" must be well examined. Liberians must be fair to themselves because results from the 2011 elections will determine the future of Liberia’s unborn generations to come - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia's greatest problem!
While it is true that an individual may be held responsible for corruption and mismanagement of funds in government, the lack of proper system to work with may as well impede the process of ethical, managerial, and financial accountability - Bernard Gbayee Goah
What do I think should be done?
The situation in Liberia is Compound Complex and cannot be fixed unless the entire system of government is reinvented.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Any attempt to institute the system mentioned above in the absence of rule of law is meaningless, and more detrimental to Liberia as a whole - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia's Natural Resources
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia needs a proper system
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Solving problems in the absence of war talks
As political instability continues to increase in Africa, it has become abundantly clear that military intervention as a primary remedy to peace is not a durable solution. Such intervention only increases insecurity and massive economic hardship. An existing example which could be a valuable lesson for Liberia is Great Britain, and the US war on terror for the purpose of global security. The use of arms whether in peace keeping, occupation, or invasion as a primary means of solving problem has yield only little results. Military intervention by any country as the only solution to problem solving will result into massive military spending, economic hardship, more fear, and animosity as well as increase insecurity. The alternative is learning how to solve problems in the absence of war talks. The objective of such alternative must be to provide real sustainable human security which cannot be achieved through military arm intervention, or aggression. In order to achieve results that will make the peaceful coexistence of all mankind possible, there must be a common ground for the stories of all sides to be heard. I believe there are always three sides to every story: Their side of the story, Our side of the story, and The truth – Bernard Gbayee Goah