SUNDAY NEWS Reporter recently in Morogoro, 24th October 2009.
HIVI SIVYO ALIVYOUONA MJI WA MOROGORO KASORO BAHARI MWIMBAJI MBARAKA MWINSHEHE MWARUKA MIAKA YA SABINI (1970s)
VISITORS to Morogoro might have seen or heard about an area that would have made Sodom and Gomorrah envious. The place is infamous for indecency, hooliganism, drugs and commercial sex and it is right in the heart of the sprawling and fast growing municipality.
Located adjacent to the CCM District headquarters, off Makongoro Road, the vicinity of Kahumba Park Night Club, is a hot spot for commercial sex, drug peddlers and pickpockets. In a recent survey, the ‘Sunday News’ witnessed some episodes from the ‘underworld’, totally unimaginable for an otherwise serene atmosphere that Morogoro is known for.
‘Business’ at the ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ lookalike opens at around 10 pm, when nearby shops are already closed and there is a limited movement of people. The loud sound from full blast disco music played at the night club and the Moro by Night Club nearby is a sure sign that time is ripe for the show.
Small groups, (in twos or threes) of girls wearing revealing clothes (you can correctly use the word half naked,) smoking cigarettes (could be illicit drugs), slowly emerge from footpaths and alleys, parading their bodies in a catwalk manner, the way beauty contestants do. It is quite some spectacle that would have made Noah’s condemned city yellow with envy.
"You haven’t seen the worst of it yet. The adjacent valley and all the shop corridors around here are makeshift lodges for those who have no money to pay for a room. Just wait and see when the lights at the disco go off. It’s awful,’’ said a reporter with a daily paper who preferred anonymity.
"That place is hell on earth especially on weekends and public holidays. .We can’t sleep at night because of the loud music. Who doesn’t know it? The police know it, very well,’’ said a neighbour in the vicinity.
In a telephone interview, Morogoro Regional Police Commander Thobias Andengenye said a police raid to nab loiterers and those extending business hours beyond midnight has been conducted around the area several times but with very little success. The deadline for discos and bars is 11:30 pm on weekdays and 12 midnight on weekends.
"The culprits pay a fine, yet the next day it is business as usual. It is not easy to conduct arbitrary arrests. If someone has a permanent address, they will tell you that they are just hanging out to have fun,” says the RPC.
He laments that the law does not clearly provide for what is decent and indecent dressing.
“It is the burden of proof that a crime has been committed that puts us in a very difficult situation. The law should be clear on what is right and wrong,’’ he argues.
Around this area, about four guest houses form a kind of line-up that caters for customers preferring what a local resident said is known as fasta fasta service while those who are not in a hurry can either hire a taxi or a motorcycle to some other destination.
The guest houses include High Classic Lodge, Kahumba Anex, Moro Night and Butist. A room costs between 4,000/- and 20,000/-. This does not mean the guests are exclusive for sex. The rooms are available to anybody. They are not only for the pleasure seekers.
One of the managers of the lodges admitted that indecent acts of all sorts abound around the area at night. He was however, at a loss as to what had happened to attract the attention of the media.
"Give us your advice on how to stop this business,’’ he told the ‘Sunday News.’
While the ‘Sunday News’ was conducting interviews undercover, all hell broke loose when two men clashed over a girl they both had paid for a fasta fasta service. The girl, who was drunk, shouted obscenities, saying she would go with anyone who was ready to pay her more. As she traded insults, motorcyclists had a field day, clapping and cheering, incensing the girl more.
The commotion ended when the girl refunded the first client and left with another man who must have probably raised the jackpot. Not everyone is amused by the indecent acts in the area. Many people interviewed expressed their disgust.
"It is really shameful, especially to parents, guardians, government authorities and the upright youths. What lessons are we teaching our children? Tanzanian culture has been dealt a very heavy blow,’’ lamented the owner of a nearby shop.
As the ladies of the twilight were busy looking for hookers outside, more was happening inside the night club. Stage dancers were giving the best of their performance. They are striptease show of sorts. The audience cheered wildly as a stage show dancer almost stripped off all her clothes.
"The show goes on up to 3 am every night. We get monthly salaries. Our shows have got nothing to do with commercial sex,’’ one young male dancer told the ‘Sunday News,’ during an interlude which allowed him an opportunity to sip a free soda.
The night revellers in the area represented a race rainbow. There were Tanzanians of Asian origin and the Maasai. As the night wore on, two Indians who had been pacing up and down the street spotted their prey and after some minutes of negotiations, probably over price, walked away with a fairly beautiful girl who had managed to fetch a colleague and link her up with the customers.
In a relaxed mood, one of the ‘sister-dos’, Rose (not her real name) said she had no problem with men as they were so generous that she could pocket up to 250,000/- per night on a good day.
"I’m very happy. I hire a room in a lodging house. When I bring a customer, he pays for it and the receptionist refunds me later. On top of the room charge, the man pays for my service. In good business days, I can handle four or five men," she quipped.
Rose said further that the taxi drivers and ‘boda boda’ cyclists have got her handset number. They too bring customers to her, under a special arrangement that they overcharge them.
"When the driver or cyclist is overpaid, the extra money is mine. I’m the one who chooses where to go. I go back to the driver later and he gives me my share. This is business. And in business you must be creative,’’ she said as she sipped a soda I had offered her.
When asked whether she takes precautions, or whether she had tested for HIV/AIDS, Rose was a little surprised and wanted to know why.
“Why should I care? This is a job like any other. If the worst happens, I will die like all other human beings,” she told the ‘Sunday News.’
A local researcher, Dr Fuko Kitenge of KIHEHEREU, a herbal research unit on HIV/AIDS, warned that AIDS is ravaging Morogoro Municipality and he believes that it is a time bomb, waiting to explode.
“The night clubs contribute to the problem but there are many seminars and workshops being held in this town. These bring in many visitors who spend a number of days here. The HIV/AIDS threat here is real. I receive new patients daily. When you ask them whether they have any idea how they contracted it, they always say it was some guy who came for a seminar or at the clubs.”
A senior CCM official who spoke on condition that his name remain anonymous told the ‘Sunday News’ that the party was concerned over the dirty business. Last June there was a police swoop but the sex trade did not end because the demand for services of the call girls is always there.
“To wipe out this business, we need joint efforts with the police, journalists, HIV/AIDS and gender activists. Warning bill boards could also play a useful role,’’ said the politician.
When approached for comment, the Morogoro Regional CCM Youth Chairperson, Latifa Ganzel, said the person who knows most about the business is the one involved in it. “If you have a bar, do you ask your customers their background?” said Ms Ganzel.
It seems a pity that the politicians have their heads buried in their political dossiers. The Morogoro sex industry is vast and blatant in the way it goes about seeking trade and indulging its customers.
MAONI YANGU
Ulipokuwa Mji kasoro bahari, Morogoro uliheshimika kwa kutoa wacheza soka mahodari na kusifia maji yaliyotiririka kutoka milima ya Uluguru iliyopo katika TAO LA MILIMA YA MASHARIKI (THE EASTERN ARC MOUNTAINS).
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