Abolishing Gambaga witches camp system, will be a hasty decision – Deptuty Minister-designate

The Deputy Minister-Designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Francisca Oteng, has said the Gambaga witches camp in the Northern Region, serves as a haven for some women who have been accused of witchcraft.

According to the Deputy-Minister Designate, the camp cannot be closed down since it would be a hasty decision as most of these women will lose that haven.

Appearing before the vetting committee of Parliament, Thursday, 15 December 2022, Ms Oteng noted that government must not be quick to abolish the witch camp system but rather engage in sensitization campaigns ahead of the abolishment to ensure a smooth integration of residents of the camp back into society.

The Deputy Minister-Designate said: “Abolishing it [witches camp] totally will be a hasty decision. Because most of the women who are there see the place as a safe haven. Some people rush to the place, because of some threats they had in their lives and, only a few of them have their family members taking them there.

“I think one thing that we can look at is, engage corporate Ghana and some individuals who will be willing to assist and support the women who are there and also as a Ministry take steps in engaging individuals’ family because the most important thing is if we want to even do the integration, we need to engage the families to accept them.”

She added: “If the families do not accept them, it becomes difficult. So that is where sensitisation also has to be done to educate people especially in those environments on some of these activities that is going on with regards to the witchcraft.”