Forget strip joints, Koinange Street, Luthuli, the sex pests in the Coast dealing with underage girls, and other areas that harbour prostitution, there is a new-fangled spot that at face value passes as a PR and Marketing agency.

Here, the girls are ‘high class’ and are known as escorts and not prostitutes, whose work is to ‘escort dignitaries’. Escorts agencies are companies that book and dispatch mainly fresh-faced young chicks and young men to a customer’s house, hotel room, or other requested location. Some agencies also provide escorts for longer durations, who may stay with the client or travel along on a holiday or business trip. It is more lucrative than street prostitution. The girls are promised milk and honey, as the pay promised ranges from Sh20,000 to Sh35,000 per week, depending on how much you can do to the client. And we mean ‘can do’ and not ‘for,’ otherwise these wicked guys promptly show one the door.

The trade is booming that even a well-known female celeb has dumped the entertainment scene for quick bucks. She has recruited a few pals and they travel all-over to exotic destinations on holiday with filthy rich men.

However, the agency does not allow the girls to say no to sex. Besides the hefty pay, the benefits that come with it include medical cover from a prestigious city hospital (maybe because of the anticipated diseases that come with such kind of a job), gym cover to look fit and be not just client friendly but flexible, and salon — so as not to ‘embarrass’ the client with one’s bad hair night.

A friend alerted me on the money-minting agency, having heard of it from her niece. She gave me directions to the place and I visited the office, posing as an interested cash-strapped model. I found them on the verge of moving office. I heard the two men present discussing a robbery at their Hurlingham office hence the arrangements to move. Most girls were out on a “training exercise”.

On the door, a company name was pasted, and inside, it resembled a normal and decent office, with every thing neatly arranged. I found a receptionist, two girls and a man of middle age and class, who appeared to be in his prime. He was the supposed Managing Director, who is also the pimp, only identified as Brian. He gave me a once over when I entered, his olfactory organs (eyes) crawling all over like a slimy snail. I had informed him over the phone that I was going to see him, so I was shocked by his next words.

“So why are you here?” he asked arrogantly. I was lost for words because he sounded scary. He then led me into his office for briefing. During the briefing, the pimp told me that one is supposed to always look pretty, and have their phone on and passport at hand, since they might be called for a client any time, and may even be asked to travel abroad.

Once the call comes, you are supposed to indicate where you are, after which you are given two hours to get ready before you are picked to leave with the client to a destination of his or her choice, all-expenses catered for. “Your job is to stay pretty around the clients, escort them to wherever they go, and entertain them naughtily whenever they want,” he gave me the job description with a mafia-like attitude, then consoled me by saying that everyone is a whore in one way or another, so I should not be scared to be judged.

He boasted of what a ‘fancy’ job he was giving me. “I am paying you to have fun, tour the world without cost and meet the high and mighty in the land. Imagine escorting Prince Charles,” he bluffed, as if the future king of England would be interested in dealing with a sleazy Nairobi pimp with a bad haircut and cheap shoes.

I asked about my security when I am out of the country but I was told it was taken care of. How, it was not indicated.

He then asked me of any wayward prowess that I possessed, and asked me to act it out in front and on him. I’m talking ‘Lewinsky-like’ stuff!

I quickly looked for an excuse and saved myself. On my way out, I consulted with other girls on safety when away with clients, especially abroad. They seemed oblivious to it; all they cared for was the money. After that, I received several texts on various days, asking me to show up in the office for jobs.

Antoinette* a student at a local private university, entered the business through referral from a friend who told her that she had heard of a place they could make ‘quick’ money. “In school, I need more money for upkeep, than my parents are willing to part with, so I don’t mind the cash at whatever the cost,” she says.

Operating days for this agency are on unofficial days, maybe due to its illegality. This day they went, was on a Sunday. Furthermore, you make a phone call to the pimp, who will pick you up, as the agency keeps shifting offices and it is not easy to locate it. They arrived at Hurlingham, and on the door of the office was the company name on a plate, but in the interior, they found a booming agency that recruits prostitutes.

Inside, there were girls who had already been chosen to start work, and they looked nothing like what you see on Koinange Street,” Antoinette tells me and describes how respectable they looked. “They were fine-looking, and appeared to be of normal background,” she notes, adding that she was astonished to see a public figure among the girls, an ex of a leading local deejay. The pimp chooses the girls himself, and once recruited, they are meant to undergo training, before they start working. According to Brian, the clients are mostly politicians from abroad and local, rich black Americans, tourists and other white business moguls; hence the girls must be trained on how they will blend with them. Training includes pole dancing, salsa, swimming, basics on foreign languages, and etiquette, among other things. After the briefing, Antoinette was not picked, and she suspects may be she was below the expected physical appearance.

After the training, the girls sign employment contracts, and await jobs. Brian, now based at a place near Yaya Centre claims that he has contracts with leading five-star hotels, whereby he provides for the girls to escort tourists around the country, and entertain them wherever they go. Another girl, Carol* whom I meet on my way out warns me against joining the agency. She is not sure of the future of the agency any more. Hence she is hesitant to sign the contract. “The contract does not outline the most important things like our pay. The terms are also improper and the agency is reluctant to talk about it,” she laments and tells me she has come to clear her name with the agency. She recounts of how the signing of the contract has been pushed from several agreed dates, deducing that may be it was due to diminishing demand by clients.

Before we part she informs me that she doubts the pay. “He forced most girls to sleep with him before hiring us (apparently to see how we will treat the clients), then made us pay Sh1,000 to sign the contract. A few of us quit, but most stayed around,” she says and rushes inside, wishing me better luck. The girls who accepted to have relations with him, are given supervision positions, to manage other girls. He also ensures that they always have prestigious clients.

The agency also has a few males signed up. This is because there are also gay clients, mostly from abroad. They nevertheless also go with a few females who contact the agency. Most models there are aged 20 to 31 and majority are students from local universities and colleges, while others are hustling youth.

There are reports of several other such bureaus in Kenya, one in Lavington. A business mogul who is known for his love for lavish life with young beauties is also said to be heading one of them. High-class prostitution is mostly found in developed countries but is catching on like a bushfire. A 2005 government survey in New Zealand (where prostitution was regulated and for most part legalised in 2003), estimated that of the 6,000 prostitutes surveyed, around 20 per cent worked for escort agencies, while 70 per cent were in massage parlours (brothels) and 10 per cent worked privately. The study apparently did not cover street prostitution.

In the movie Taken by Pierre Morel, young girls are kidnapped, then hooked to drugs and then sold to the highest bidders, usually people in corporate circles, princes, tycoons, and the likes.

Another flick is the sexually explicit British drama Secret Diary Of A Call Girl. It is the story of a beautiful escort who leads the ultimate double life. Some escort agencies in Europe entice girls with money, so as to sign up with them, while others are picked from Third World countries with promises of jobs, only to end up in such agencies as prostitutes.