Sex-starved sailors visiting the port-city of Tema are said to be paying teenagers huge sums of money to satisfy their sexual needs. The horny high-paying clients have no problem luring many young women and girls into their arms after spending long periods on the high seas. The Spectator's investigations have revealed that when the sailors dock, the first thing they look for is 'love'. They pay between GH¢500 and GH¢1000 per night to teenagers while older prostitutes receive GH¢200 for a night or less. Now, the raging battle in the harbour city is between very young, nubile and attractive girls whose market-value is appreciably high, compared to their worn-out over 40 counterparts, some of whom have virtually turned into scarecrows from bleaching and long years of high-timing. The older 'queens of the night' have sworn to show the younger ones where power lies, and have demonstrated their ability and capacity to hold their own. On a number of occasions, they have taken the fight to the streets with the hope that the starlets will get frightened and run for cover. Incidentally, they are having a hard time getting the youngsters out of the way. Kwesi Anderson, a popular driver who specialises in carrying sailors to and from the Tema harbour to hotels and guest houses, confided in The Spectator that the phenomenon has raised a lot of concerns from older sex workers as they were fast losing market to the teenagers. He said the timely intervention of some drivers last weekend prevented some 'old timers' from attacking four teenagers at a hotel in Community 10. According to him, he picked three sailors from the Tema harbour at 6:00pm to the hotel (name withheld) where they met a group of old sex workers and were bargaining when the teenagers, numbering four, appeared on the scene. He said as soon as the sailors saw the girls who looked extremely hot and sexy, they promptly abandoned the old catches and moved to the corner where the teenagers flaunted their vital statistics. The young girls, according to the driver, had the kind of voluptuous bodies that easily turned the heads of the sailors. This, he said, infuriated the oldies who pounced on the teenagers to teach them a lesson. He said the teenagers received a few hefty slaps before they were rescued by the driver and few colleagues of his. A popular prostitute who spoke to The Spectator under anonymity said this year had not been very favourable to them as the market has slumped. She blamed the trend on the financial crunch and the rate at which teenagers were entering the profession. Ms Cynthia Arthur, a hotel attendant at Community 7, was worried at the high rate at which teenagers, some as young as 13 years, were entering the sex work, and called on the authorities to take steps to curb it. She said some of them were even students who came to the hotel in their school uniforms and changed over to designer wears and plied the trade shamelessly. She said on one occasion she confronted a girl over why she should engage in prostitution, but the girl retorted that by engaging in that, she was able to have enough for her school fees and some surplus to support the home. Mr Richard Quaye, a carpenter from Tema Manhean, who argued in favour of the profession, cited the high unemployment rate as a contributing factor, and called on government to legalise prostitution and find ways of regulating it as it is done in the developed countries. He was of the view that with proper planning, the profession can contribute a lot of revenue to the state. Source: Spectator/Ghana