Sex workers want bars’ time extended
Sex workers, under the banner of Female Sex Workers Association (FSWA), Thursday marched to Lilongwe City Civic Offices, where the presented a petition in which they asked the government to allow drinking joints to operate from 2pm to mid-night from Monday to Thursday.
They further asked the government to allow the drinking joints to operate without time limitations on weekends because the places are their ‘offices’.
“From Friday to Sunday, the places should be opened and closed as usual [without limitations] while all Covid preventive measures are [being] observed. Otherwise, we might die of hunger and we expect more defaulters on ART [antiretroviral therapy] as there is a need to have food taking ART,” the petition reads.
They presented the petition to Lilongwe City Council (LCC) officials but addressed it to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) as well as Presidential Taskforce on Covid members.
FSWA Executive Director Zinenani Majawa said sex work was mostly done at night, when clients are free from their everyday activities.
LCC Chief Administrative Officer Hudson Khuphanga indicated that the petition would be presented to OPC officials.
As one way of controlling the spread of coronavirus in public places, the government ordered that all drinking joints should be opening from 2pm to 8pm.
Mathews Kasanda is a journalist who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Malawi (The Polytechnic).
In 2015, Media Institute of Southern Africa awarded him the Best Print Media Education Journalist of the Year accolade.
He joined Times Group Newsroom in September 2019.
