Witchcraft accusation dehumanizes people – Asamoah Boateng

Minister-designate for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has described witchcraft accusations as dehumanizing.

He said it is unfortunate that the vulnerable in our society are mostly the people tagged with such disturbing identity.

“I was a former local government minster. I visited one of those sites in Gambaga, and I noticed that it dehumanizes people,” he stressed.

According to him, although there is a need for sensitization and education to tackle the challenge, much of the responsibility falls on traditional authorities to clean up traditional practices and customs.

“It calls for a lot of sensitizations, but the traditional authorities have the responsibility under the Chieftaincy Act to try and take out all these archaic practices and customs that may not be relevant to our modern development,”

The minister-designate was responding to a question on whether he will support a private member bill that seeks to criminalize witchcraft accusations, after he appeared before the Parliament’s Appointments Committee to be vetted on Monday, February 20, 2013.

Responding to the question, he said he will work closely with the traditional authorities, and with ministries like local government, culture and tourism and collaborate with my colleagues to bring a lot of sensitizations to the situation.

You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV below:



PI/OGB