Closing down witch camps possible - Nana Oye clashes with Gender Minister

Former Gender Minister, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo has shot down claims by the current New Patriotic Party(NPP) government that closing down the witches’ camps across the country is impossible.

There have been conversations around the identification of aged women especially in the Savannah Region and tagging them as witches.

These women are subjected to beatings which sometimes leads to their death. Prominent among these cases was that of Akua Denteh who was beaten till she fell unconscious and died.

The Gender Minister, Cynthia Mamle Morrison at a Press Briefing said it will be difficult to close down the witches camps across the country because most of the women in the camps do not want to go back home.

She indicated that the government has plans to renovate the camps and make them more habitable for persons living there.

But speaking in an interview with Accra-based Citi TV monitored by MyNewsGh.com, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo said contrary to the claims by the NPP, closing the witch camps is possible.

She indicated that the NDC has fashioned out a plan which will help end the various witch camps across the country.

The former Gender Minister said “Under NDC, on the 10th of December, we closed down the Gnagi witch camp. We collaborated with the traditional authorities, the owner of the witch camp and 50 to 60 inmates. Contrary to what the NPP government is saying today, it is doable. The witch camps can be closed down. With the CSOs, we drew up a plan, so we have a three thronged approach”.

“The first is to prevent the youth from identifying such women in the community. The second is if they get to the witch camp, they will be given humanitarian support and the third is close down the camp. So we have that plan in place and we will revitalise and activate it because this is the people’s manifesto,” she stated.