By JOSEPH MASHA

County Commissioner directs police officers to conduct raids in bars and villas in order to tame prostitution

Police in Kilifi raided a nightclub at Mtwapa and arrested a caucasian man and eight girls who had stripped naked to entertain patrons.

Kilifi County Commissioner Erastus Ekidor said the raid followed numerous complaints from locals that nightclub owners in the town are exploiting minors.

Ekidor said police officers led by Mtwapa OCS conducted the raid and stumbled upon very young strippers, naked and entertaining guests.

“I had ordered police officers to conduct impromptu raids on bars and night clubs operating in Mtwapa to flush out those involved in illicit trade and they managed to arrest eight young girls and one foreigner,” said Ekidor adding that the police are interrogating those arrested and are in the process of identifying whether the club identified as ‘Bahnhof’ is licensed.

In his Madaraka Day speech, the Commissioner had ordered police officers to conduct raids on the area nightclubs, bars and villas in a move aimed to tame prostitution that is reportedly on the rise.

“There are a number of issues we would want to know from the arrested girls, and whether the foreigner is in the country legally and if so, what is the nature of his visa,” said Ekidor.

He reiterated that the Government will not condone and protect people engaged in illicit activities like exposing young girls to prostitution.

Governor Amason Kingi said his Government will inspect premises operating as villas to establish whether they are registered or not. Kingi noted that some villas operate like hotels yet they are not licensed to operate as such.

He said some of the villas have not been remitting any taxes to the county and said all those found to be operating without the necessary licenses will be closed down.

“It has come to our notice that some people, mostly those from foreign countries are operating villas which offer services of hotels and yet, they have not been licensed to operate that line of business. We are going to crack the whip on them,” said Kingi.

The governor said his government will not tolerate traders who evade payment of taxes and that those found will have their license revoked.