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Legalise and tax prostitutes in Ghana - Lawyer tells Nana Addo

Sex workers in countries where selling or buying sex is illegal are more likely to face violence, not use condoms and contract HIV but a private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu has called on the government to legalise the trade.

Prostitutes

According to him, legalising the trade will help the government to tax the sex workers.

 He said fear of police meant sex workers had little time to negotiate services and tended to work in isolated areas.

"It's better for the government to legalise prostitution and tax the prostitutes than to allow police arrest them," he stated.

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Speaking at a workshop organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) on Thursday, May 23, 2019, Martin Kpebu stressed that most of the prostitutes are faced with socio-economic hardships hence their chosen career arresting them is tantamount to infringing on their fundamental human rights.

He argued that the Dutch government gives a grant to Ghana every year through some of the taxes they take from prostitutes and if we Ghanaians abhor the practice so much then it was better to steer clear of any grants or loans from the Dutch government.

Martin Kpebu said "If government is against the legalisation of prostitution, I don't see the need to take grants or loans from the Dutch government after it has collected taxes from prostitutes."

He also estimated that Ghana may legalise same-sex marriage in 2039.

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Though, same-sex relationships are a major taboo across many African countries, Ghana cannot stand the international force that comes with such advocacy adding that it was just a question of time, he added.

"What two adult people do in private, why is it another man’s business?" he queried.

"You think in 20 years we would not have legalized same sex marriage; we can’t stand the force. It’s just a question of time," he said.

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