Sex sells. Everyone knows that. In Kenya, soliciting for sex and living off the earnings of sex trade is illegal. Yet still, many men and women have been indulging themselves in full-time prostitution, some due to poverty (According to UNICEF, "Many families see the sex industry as the only way of putting food on the table"), others are plain greedy whilst others are engaging in serious fun. There is even sex tourism, which is thriving at our coastal resorts.

*In this story the term CSW is used to refer to 'Commercial Sex Workers.

If you've ever found an occasion to sample Nairobi's Red Light District you may have probably noted that it could be one of the busiest, and that's a big deal if you think about it. Nairobi has close to 8,000 CSWs working every night, still not forgetting that some brothels are open during the day. Let's say each worker attracts 3 to 5 clients. This means that there are between 24,000 and 40, 000 transactional sex activities every night. In the down town low-budget red light district zones, men part with a cool KES 400 (KES 100 for a room and KES 300 for 'action') for every 'intimate action'. In simple math, that's between KES 9,600,000 and 16,000,000 each night. By the year end, that would be between KES 3.5 billion and KES 5.84 billion, untaxed. That's on the lower end. Not factoring in things like, payday and peak hours and/or weekends.

In the high-end red light zones, 'gentlemen' pay a minimum of KES 2,000 for a single dose of action. More income can come in since in some cases, some 'gentlemen' are forced to pay some sort of ransom. This happens when a CSW notes that her client is unfairly experiencing intense pleasure and announces a 'brief service intermission' thus she withdraws the supply and demands to be added more cash before proceeding.

Now the Kenyan coast is right at the heart of this. According to UNICEF 10,000 to 15,000 girls operate in the coastal regions of Malindi, Mombasa, Kalifi and Diani. We can only imagine the loads of cash that circulate in Mombasa, given the large number of moneyed tourists who pay even up to KES 20,000 for a night of fun. Taking KES 2,000 as the lower limit and still assuming that a coastal CSW services one client in a day, that would translate to KES 20 million and KES 7.3 billion in a year. Still, that is income but it's untaxed. Were it taxed...

Earlier this year in February, City Council of Nairobi Mayor Aladwa found himself in some sort of a mess, for what was alleged to be an attempt to legalise the activities of CSWs.Aladwa was prospecting to tax this services,in return to offering secure zones for them to merchandise their services without being harassed by police and council askaris. Sue Maisha is a Nairobi prostitute building a brand and she says, "when council askaris arrest you, you have to fork out KES 500 to be let free. It’s lesser than the KES 3,000 the judge will fine you if charged with prostitution".

Clearly the twilight economy is a multi-billion sector. Taking what would be the annual gatherings in coast and Nairobi, we would have generated a minimum of KES 10.3 billion and an upper limit of KES 20.44 billion. This means that on a good year, this sector would beat KCB Bank Group which made the largest profits of all companies last year, raking in KES 15.129 billion. Also please take note, the figure could be even bigger, given that we have overlooked what other towns within republic like Nakuru, Kisumu, and Kakamega would bring in. Then the notorious highway towns like Salama, Voi and Mtito Andei as well as the border towns of Malaba, Busia and Namanga.