I wept as I watched the lynching of the 90-year-old woman – Adukurom Queenmother

The queen mother of Abura Adukurom, Nana Afua Kuffman (II), says she wept as she watched the video of the 90-year-old Akua Denteh, as she was being lynched.

According to the queen mother, she is greatly worried together with her colleagues about the sad incident.

“The truth is that I was frightened and I cried that an old woman who has nurtured her children and lived her life, would be accused of witchcraft and beaten mercilessly to death,” she said in the local parlance, Twi.

Akua Denteh, a nonagenarian, was seen in a social media video being lynched as other people stood by.

She was allegedly accused of being a witch by one priestess for which reason she was being lynched by a mob.

The incident occurred at Kafaba in the Savannah Region on Thursday, July 23, 2020.

Speaking on Angel FM’s An?pa B?fo? morning show on Monday, she said she cried because very soon it would be their turn hence the need to be worried.

“As it stands now I’m 67 years old and my mother has reached 93 years; does that give me any right to brand her a witch and torture her in that manner,” she questioned.

As queen mothers, she said they are greatly pained and frightened by the incident and are therefore, determined to petition the president about the matter.

She believes the president would get to watch the video and must take action to prevent future occurrences.

She was worried that the incident [accusing old women as witches and further beating them to death] was becoming one too many and has the tendency to mar the reputation of Ghana to the international community.

If we do not put an end to this, although the incident happened in the Savannah Region, it can also happen in other parts of the country as well, she stated.

She called on her colleague queen mothers within the various communities to rise up and speak against such acts of violence and mob actions especially against ‘alleged witches’.

She further petitioned the media to raise awareness of the issue and educate the public to forestall similar events.

Meanwhile, several people and organisations have condemned the act and called for the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of the act.

Former Presidents John Mahama and Rawlings, have also joined the widespread condemnation.