Abuse of ‘witches’ not only associated with northern regions – Gender Minister

Savagery and ill treatment meted out to persons suspected or labelled witches in some parts of the country is not only associated with the Northern Region and its adjoining communities, the Gender Minister has said.

According to Cynthia Mamle Morrison, based on pieces of information and details she has gathered from all parts of the country, the menace of literal witch hunting is one which characterizes many communities in the country.

However, those associated with the northern parts of the country, more often than not, gain national attention due to the unfavourable and inhuman treatments victims are subjected to and the use of social media.

Others she said, occur on the blind side of government and the entire citizenry which are also instigated by people who call themselves ‘men of God.’

Speaking at the Gender Ministry’s meet the press, Wednesday, September 2, 2020, she said; “It is not only in the north that they lynch alleged witches, in Accra, in Cape Coast, in Kumasi, everywhere so the law should cover. Pastors also do same; you go to a church and your pastor will tell you your mother is a witch and the next is that you see the young man or woman chasing after the mother. So, it’s a nationwide thing it’s not only associated with people in the north.”

She continued, “…I believe a lot of people have died without our knowledge. We saw people with bruises, we saw people with broken limbs…”

Her reaction comes on the back of recent cases of lynching of suspected witches in the northern parts of the country.

A 90-year-old woman, Akua Denteh was lynched in Kafaba in the Gonja East District of the Northern Region after she was accused by a priestess of being a witch.

Barely a month after this, another case has been recorded at Sumpini in the West Gonja District of the Savannah region where a woman suspected to be in her 50s was nearly lynched after accusations of being a witch. She escaped death, but sustained severe cutlass wounds.