Sylvia Atieno (not her real name), a Nairobi-based sex worker hopes with the August elections around the corner, more money will be in circulation and good tidings will be inevitable. “When people have money they tend to engage and look for pleasures and that is where we are going to benefit. Politicians will splash money and we as sex workers will definitely get a share of it” says Sylvia. “I also know that many people are now back to work after the restrictions of covid and having made loses the last two years, this year will be different” added Sylvia.

But Waldah Wanjohi, a paralegal officer with Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHESP), an organization that supports the rights of sex workers in Kenya is of a different opinion. She says that sex work continues to be threatened and looked down upon as a dirty and demeaning profession. She is of the opinion that certain organizations opposed to sex work continue to receive funding that is channeled to negative publicity about sex work.

“Organizations which threaten the human rights of sex workers hold a variety of core beliefs and priorities, but share a lack of concern for the negative impacts their interventions have on the lives of sex workers,” says Waldah. “Due to the pervasive stigma and discrimination against sex workers that exist in many contexts, these groups have a considerable advantage when it comes to advancing their anti-sex work agendas” she added.

Sex workers’ rights organizations such as BHESP are not only fighting the centuries-old cultural stigmatization that has pushed sex workers to the margins of society but they are also fighting against well-funded anti-sex work organizations that have mainstreamed the use of false claims, bad research, and the silencing of sex workers’ voices throughout their work.

BHESP Executive Director Peninah Mwangi hopes that 2022 will be a year of progression for organizations that support the rights of sex workers. “Sex workers’ rights organizations, often under-resourced, are dedicating time and energy to resisting well-funded and institutionally supported groups that dismiss evidence-based research in favor of unsubstantiated ideology,” said Ms. Mwangi.

And on behalf of her organization BHESP, Ms. Mwangi wishes everyone and especially the key population a very prosperous 2022.