Sex workers in Mombasa took to the streets on Tuesday in a demonstration against insecurity and police harassment.
They said male clients have sexually assaulted and murdered their colleagues.
The group marched through the town waving placards saying "sex workers are human" and
"sex workers do not discriminate".
The marched from
Uhuru Gardens along Moi Avenue
to the office of the county commissioner in a demand for the government to intervene and arrest those involved.
"The
government
needs to protect our rights," one said.
The sex workers accused police of illegal arrests and persistent sexual and physical assaults.
At least three sex workers have been murdered in Mombasa in the last month.
/ELKANA JACOB
Police are yet to arrest suspects involved in the killing of the three, whose bodies were found in different areas with deep wounds.
Martha Simiyu, 23, was found dead
in a guest room at the popular Casablanca club two weeks ago.
Simiyu, who has been described as a quiet person, is said to have been drinking with an unidentified man the evening before she died.
Her colleagues said they last saw her entering the club with a man believed to have been her killer.
Police found unused condoms in the room.
In a petition to the government,
Coast Sex Workers Alliance
said it was a pity that no arrests have been made in connection to the deaths of Simiyu and the two others.
COSWA director Benta Joseph demanded proper investigations saying they will take matters into their own hands should this not be the case.
“For how long should we be attacked before the state intervenes? When shall we put a stop to this inhumanity? We are your sisters, mothers and wives,” she said.
Joseph said no one from the club had been arrested. Several people were interrogated and then released.
Esther Nelima, a social worker attached to the alliance, said Mombasa has 10,500 sex workers who are harassed and even killed by both male and female clients.
She said some are as young as 16 while the oldest is 68.
/ELKANA JACOB
Regarding the challenges sex workers face, Nelima
said the killings were just a tip of the iceberg.
She said some are
raped, sodomised and senselessly beaten by their clients and left to die.
“These women undergo torture. It is time we stood up for them as they are also human beings,” she added.
In 2016, hundreds of sex workers held a demonstration in Nakuru town and demanded a proper investigation into the murder of their colleague.
They paralysed business along Kenyatta Avenue following the killing of Grace Wangari who was found at a lodging in Tumaini building.
The demonstrators asked police to ensure the "serial killer", whom they said was behind the deaths of eight other women, is brought to book.
Daisy Achieng', the chairperson of the Smart Ladies group, said Wangari was a 28-year-old.
“We demand protection from our county government. We cannot be holding members' funerals every now and then. We are tired of the killings,” she said.
Also see:
Reporting by NANCY AGUTU, @NancyAgutu; CALVINS ONSARIGO and MALEMBA MKONGO; @malemba_mkongo.
