Twelve years ago, Joana Nana (not real name) from Nakpanduri in Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri District, in the North East Region of Ghana was accused of being a witch by her ex-husband, who beat her severely and poured hot water on her while she was pregnant.
He accused her of being a witch after a sorcerer had accused Joana of killing their first son who was then 10 years old.
For fear of her life, Joana fled to her mother’s house, a village close to Kpemale, but her husband followed up with the news that she had ‘eaten’ her son.
“My people believed the news to the point that nobody wanted to have anything to do with me; at the marketplace, the indigenes refused to sell to me because they claimed by adding my money to theirs will cause the collapse of their business; I could not join other women to draw water from the stream; in fact, nobody wanted to have anything to do with me except the foreigners who didn’t know,” she narrates her story.
Joana says she felt so uncomfortable and unaccepted in her community that she had to relocate to the ‘witches’ camp to seek refuge.
“I was afraid that if I do not leave the area, I would be killed one day.
At least, at the witches’ camp, I met women who also suffered my fate and so, I found a family in them…,” she added.
Joana’s story is a representation of over 700 women who have suffered the same fate and are receiving shelter at the various witchies’ camps in the Northern Region of Ghana.
In Ghana, as in many other African countries, belief in witchcraft is widespread and entrenched.
Witches and wizards are believed to possess inherent, supernatural powers that are used to create evil or misfortune. Sicknesses, the inability to have children, accidents, the loss or destruction of property, droughts, floods, and fires are among the events blamed on witches.
Across Africa – in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and the Central African Republic – women and children are targeted as witches and suffer horrific abuse.
On August 18, 2022, two persons were killed after they were branded witches in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
The two, a man and a woman were said to have been forced to take some concoctions by a chief priest upon the instructions of some community workers.
After the suspects took the concoction, the man died instantly but the woman died the next day.
It would also be recalled that in August 2020, news of the brutal murder of a 90-year-old woman, Akua Denteh, accused of witchcraft in Kafaba in East Gonja of the Northern Region hit waves across the world.
A short video showed people gathering and watching as some women hit Akua Denteh with objects and eventually set her ablaze.
This action and many others, some of which have not been reported underscore the need for effective advocacy against witch persecution and a law to protect accused persons who are often prosecuted without trial in Ghana.
Northern Regional Manager of Action Aid Ghana, Esther Boateng says, there are six ‘Witch Camps’ in the northern regions housing hundreds of women accused of witchcraft by relatives or members of their community after fleeing or being banished from their homes.
The camps include Gambaga, Kukuo, Gnani, Bonyase, Nabuli, and Kpatinga.
She reveals that the camps house at least 800 women and 500 children who are living under poor conditions and have little hope of a normal life.
“These women have fled discrimination, threats, or even mob justice after being accused of witchcraft and blamed for ‘crimes’ such as causing sickness, droughts or fires, cursing a neighbour, or even just appearing in someone’s dream.
Those who reach the camps alive are the lucky ones as many have been murdered after the accusations,” she says.
ActionAid as a leading organization in the anti-witch fight has been working in the camp since 2005 providing basic services such as food, water, shelter, and education for the victims.
Mrs. Boateng says the ultimate aim of the organization is for all the women labeled as witches able to leave the camps and be safely reintegrated into society.
Life in the witchies’ camps
The six ‘witch camps’ are located in areas within ‘ordinary’ towns or villages and all are in remote areas in the Northern and North East Regions of Ghana.
Even though the camps are not fenced, residents and indigenes are aware of where the camps’ boundaries lie.
The camps are mainly mud huts with flimsy thatched roofs.
Food supplies are inadequate and, in some camps, women have to walk several miles to collect water.
Some of the victims live with their grandchildren, mostly girls who assist them with chores.
They survive on charity from benevolent organizations or individuals to live.
More Victims
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, Francis Xavier-Sosu advocated for the implementation of a law that will criminalize any person, be it a fetish priest, sorcerer, or a chief who accuses an individual or group of witchcraft says, who has been a victim of Voodoo Practice (charms and sorcery).
“I know the emotional, psychological, and physical trauma a person goes through when accused of being a witch.
“I have also been a victim of Voodoo practice. If you look carefully at my face, you will see marks and these are Voodoo marks. They are marks from a shrine.
And these are shrines my mother and dad were all victims of through the Trokosi system.
These are all part of religious beliefs that are inimical to the human being, reduce people’s confidence, and do not promote growth in people,” he said.
Bill to criminalize the activities of witch doctors
Last year, Mr. Xavier-Sosu, joined forces with two other MPs from Pusiga, and Wa East Constituencies, Hajia Laadi Ayii Ayamba, and Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw, and with support from the Sanneh Institute, an NGO, pushed for a bill to criminalize the activities of witch doctors who pronounce judgment on innocent individuals without trial.
They introduced a Private Members’ Bill to amend the Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960 (Act 29) to prohibit the practice by any person as a witch doctor or witch finder.
The bill is expected to also proscribe the declaration, accusation, naming, or labeling of another person as a witch; to prohibit a person from employing or soliciting anyone to accuse, name, label, indicate, or declare another person as a witch and provide for related matters.
The Madina MP says, currently, the draft Bill as initiated last year (2021), is almost ready (about 95% complete).
“We are to have one final meeting to finalize discussions on some clauses in the Bill to ensure it captures the intent of Sponsors and Stakeholders to address the key issues at hand,” he said.
The Executive Director of the Sanneh Institute, Professor John Azumah, who is among the proponents of the bill condemned the act and added that the bill when passed into law, would hold such people accountable for their actions.
“Over the years, the lack of knowledge and education has resulted in some of our people being extremely vulnerable, especially the aged and uninformed, particularly old women.
Adult persons, weakened by age and reeling from senility or dementia or both, often say outrageous things, and are then intimidated, brow-beaten, and coerced into admitting to being witches; often acquiescing out of sheer frustration.
Children, who may have exhibited weird signs in one way or the other, have not been spared such accusations.
Consequently, the proponents of this bill are seeking to end cruel practices meted out to victims of these accusations,” he maintained.
Reintegration and closure of camps
Mrs. Boateng says currently, two of the camps, Bonyase and Nabuli have been closed down with members re-integrated into their societies.
“We have been engaging the chiefs and people of the areas these women come from and I must say that we are making headway.
She said with a lot of sensitization, she is optimistic that the rest of the camps would be closed down gradually.
“So far, some of the inmates have been enrolled onto the National Health insurance scheme; some are also on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), so we have made progress.”
Ghana’s constitution ensures the rights of citizens and is further supported by international laws and conventions such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to which Ghana is a signatory.
Bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) all operate at the local level to protect human rights, but many of these institutions have difficulty fulfilling their responsibilities because of a lack of technical expertise, capacity, and logistical support.
Few people, particularly in rural areas, are aware that they can seek help from these institutions when they, or their relatives, experience violence or abuse after being accused of witchcraft.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey