Poverty is main cause of witches’ camp issues, tackle it - CHRAJ boss

The Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Joseph Whittal, has asked the government to tackle poverty among women as a way of ending the witches’ camp menace in the country.

He noted that poverty has been the main factor for the witches camp issues in Ghana aside from the age and gender dimensions.

To that end, he said pro-poor programmes must be introduced to support women empowerment in the country.

He was commenting on the lynching of a 90-year-old woman at Kafaba near Salaga in the Savannah Region on the accusation that she was a witch.

The incident happened on Thursday, July 23, 2020 in the East Gonja Municipality.

Sharing his perspective on this development in an interview with Wendy Laryea on TV3, Mr Whittal said: “Poverty is at the centre of these allegations, and age.

“And so the gender dimension, the age dimension and the poverty dimension have to be addressed.

“Is it difficult for the state of Ghana to provide homes in these communities that will pave the way for the closure of the camps?” he wondered.