In an effort to put an end to cross-generation sex, hotel managers are set to join the drive to put a stop to the vice.

Many mature individuals lure mainly school-going teenagers to hotels and lodges as a way of persuading them into giving in to their sexual advances.

A campaign dubbed ‘Sinigurisha’, literally meaning ‘I am not for sale’ is soon to embark on its second phase, and hoteliers will be taking it up under the flagship of the Private Sector Federation, (PSF).

"Being a business person does not permit anyone to facilitate the abuse of young children’s right because you are after money. It will instead harm your business in the long-run,” the PSF CEO, Roger Munyampenda, told hotel managers in a meeting Tuesday.

Munyampenda added that if all people who operate hotels, bars, restaurants, motels and guest houses join the drive, the vice will be greatly curtailed.

Also present at the meeting was the minister of youth Protais Mitali, who reminded the hoteliers of their responsibility to protect the young.

"Girls between 20 and 24 are five times more likely to be infected with HIV than their brothers of the same age, according to statistics. This is because they indulge in sex with men at least 10 year their senior,” Mitali said.

He said that currently, a law banning children under 18 from going to bars and other entertainment places, unless in company of their parents or guardians, was  before parliament.

The minister commended hoteliers who register all their clients before they give them rooms and those who inform security organs about grown-ups who bring teenagers to their facilities.

Ali Guinness Rwabigwi, a hotel operator, said that it was difficult in most cases to ascertain the relationship of teenagers and their companions.

The meeting was organized by the PSF in partnership with the National AIDS Control Commission (CNLS), PSI and USAID.

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