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| Juliana Azumah Mensah, Minister for Women, Children's Affairs |
The Northern Regional Coordinator of the Domestic
Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, ASP
Emmanuel Holortu says, even though the proposed disbandment of the six alleged
witch camps in the region by government and other stakeholders is good, he warns
that it will be disastrous if it is done in a hasty manner.
According to
him, it would be very difficult to ensure the safety of these aged women when they
are reintegrated into the communities they originally hailed from, because they
are likely to be lynched or killed by the same people who accused and chased
them out of the communities.
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| Madam Fati Al-hassan |
Speaking at a
day’s capacity building workshop in Tamale the Northern Regional capital of
Ghana, ASP Holortu said that victims of witchcraft allegations need to be
sensitized to understand that they don’t need to go back to their original
communities to live normal lives, but could rely on support from government and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to live anywhere in Ghana for their own
safety and comfort.
Executive
Director of Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation Fati Al-hassan who also joined the
call by the DOVVSU Coordinator, said there must be in place pragmatic measures
to ensure that any disbandment of the camps become successful and not further worsen
the plight of inmates or create problems for the country’s image locally and
internationally.
She proposed
serious sensitization of the communities, youth, religious and traditional
leaders as well as the security agencies to understand that witchcraft
allegations or accusations are criminal and anyone or group of persons who
accuses someone of witchcraft should be made to face the full rigours of the
law.
Madam Fati
encouraged the media to join the crusade against witchcraft allegations by
constantly reporting on such issues rather than focusing too much on political
reporting which often spark insults and vilifications that were likely to jeopardize
the peace and stability of the country.
The Gender
Advocate and retired journalist also admonished women to be wary of people or
in-laws who use witchcraft allegations to disinherit them of their late
husband’s property. She advised them to always safeguard their inheritance first
whenever such allegations crop up before they even think of clearing their name
of the allegations leveled against them.
Under the theme:
“Protecting
Women Against Witchcraft Is a Civil Responsibility: Witchcraft Allegation Is
Criminal”, the workshop was organised by Network for Women’s Rights in
Ghana (NETRIGHT) and Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation with funding from the
African Women’s Development Fund.
It was organized
for members of the Anti-Witchcraft Allegation Campaign Coalition (AWACC) and
sought to sensitise the group, strengthen them, give them new dimension of the
issues of witchcraft allegations and build cohesion amongst themselves as
advocates to be able to reduce the incidence of witchcraft allegations.
It was also to
identify ways by which the Coalition could support the alleged witches to make a
living by collaborating with any organization, foreign mission or government to
provide these women with livelihood support programmes.
AWACC was formed
in the year 2000 by a number of local civil society organizations and
individuals to contribute towards addressing the issue of witchcraft
allegations. The Coalition is a local gender and human rights advocacy
initiative made up of forty-three individuals, local NGOs, community based
organisations and women groups based in the three regions of the North, Upper
West, Upper East and Northern Regions.
Its objectives
among others, are to stop the false witchcraft accusations and human rights
violations of victims, create awareness and sensitise the public at large of
the inhuman treatment meted out to women accused of practicing witchcraft,
create alliance with human rights and women’s rights organizations, to collate
data and other information on the subject of witchcraft accusations, work with
collaborators to get outcast women reintegrated into their homes, make
witchcraft accusations issues a national issue and get legislators/policymakers
to support the campaign and in the long run, abolish the camps/homes gradually.
Undisputedly,
majority of Africans have strange beliefs that they associate with witchcraft,
wizardry or sorcery. For instance, they belief witches and wizards fly in the
night, walk upside down, eat human flesh, torture people out of envy, inflict
people with incurable ailments, kill their enemies, turn to vampire bats, spark
fire during night out, stall the progress of one’s business or academic
performance, cause bareness, impotency, madness, among others.
The belief in
witchcraft or wizardry is also widely known to exist in every indigenous Ghanaian
community, and particularly deep-rooted in the Northern Region. The abhorrent
attitude of most residents toward suspected witches and wizards has led to the
creation of what many call witch camps. This is because, victims of witchcraft
who are largely elderly women, face penalties such as lynching or banishing from
their community members and relatives who out of sheer ignorance and
unnecessary anger, accuse them of spiritually killing a relative or causing
misfortunes in their families or communities.
Currently, there
are six alleged witch camps dotted around remote communities in the Northern
Region which serve as habitats or refuge to about four thousand aged women
including their children and grandchildren. These camps include Gnani and
Kpatinga (Yendi Municipality), Kukuo (Nanumba North District), Gambaga (East
Mamprusi District), Bonyase (Central Gonja District) and Nabuli (Gushegu
District).
These women and
their children live in varying degrees of discomfort and penury. Some do not
have access to safe drinking water and are compelled to walk miles in the
blistering heat during the harmattan season to fetch water. Others perform hard
labour in the fields of nearby villagers in exchange for a bowl of cereal or
tubers of yam. Those who are fortunate, have families that cater for them and
occasionally send them food. Others are neglected by their families and left to
fend for themselves, or rely on the benevolence of neighbours and other NGOs that
provide them with aid.
Zangbalun Bomahe-Naa
Alhassan Issahaku Amadu – Northern Regional Population Officer, observed that the
continuing celebration of witchcraft allegations in poverty-ridden Northern
Ghana is further weakening the cohesiveness of social and family networks, increasing
the illiteracy and school dropout levels, reducing the social value of
grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunties and children. “To whom much is given,
much is expected. Our reward for women for us being born by women should be positive,
not negative”, he preached.
According to
him, more women are accused of witchcraft because they are feeble, deemed
unpleasant (awkward in old age), socially less empowered, verbalization of
nagging issues, socialized to accept what men decide, over dependency on men
for livelihood, low level of education, less assertive, lack of power or
ignorant to seek legal redress, among others.
Zangbalun Bomahe-Naa
Alhassan proposed fostering quality female education, engaging women in key
positions at the Local and Central Government levels, improving livelihood
sources of women to reduce their “male dependency syndrome” as well as active
involvement of women in other forms of decision making processes so as to deal
with the phenomenon. Adding, he said “There must be judicious application of
National laws and local traditional norms on witchcraft allegation and related
issues whilst abolishing alleged witches’ camps and integrate the in-mates into
the larger society.”
He also
emphasised on community sensitizations/advocacy, community durbars, radio
discussions and jingles, video shows, focus group discussions, media
engagement, expanding and supporting existing anti-witchcraft coalitions, integration
of issues of witchcraft allegation into the country’s educational curricular among
others as a way of educating the populace on the phenomenon.
The Northern
Regional Population Officer called on Ghanaians to desist from lynching people
most especially women accused of witchcraft. “In fact, don’t accuse them. You
have the moral obligation to prevent helpless women from being accused of
witchcraft and treated badly”, he maintained.
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