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The Gender Ministry says it is working to provide designated sanctuaries for people marked as witches in the camps.
According to the minister, Cynthia Morrison, after touring some witch camps in the north, concluded that, contrary to the initial position of closing all “witch camps”, a more practical approach to solving the problem would be to create protective communities within that those who have been branded as witches can live safe from constant attacks.
From her tours, she discovered that these ‘camps’ serve as a refuge for some of these women.
“For some people, they voluntarily run to the shelter (camps) because they know that when they stay in their community (after being branded as witches), at night the young people will come for them,” he revealed.
Ms Morrison explained that in many of these communities, people who are ‘identified’ as witches are ostracized from their families and the communities in which they live and there is no way to accept them back into that society.
“Many of them have refused to go home out of fear. What we are going to do is give these women a safe haven and renovate the place where they are, ”she added.
The minister hinted that because some of these ‘witch camps’ have become communities for these women, the safe havens established by the government will be aimed at expanding and improving these communities by putting them into some government programs such as Media Empowerment. Life Against Poverty (LEAP), targeting the poor and vulnerable in society.
“[For] to some of them it doesn’t look like a camp. They have their own community living, farming and selling [there]. The only thing is that they have been isolated from their families ”.
Ms. Morrison added that her ministry is looking to work with law enforcement agencies to enforce the law that ensures that anyone found guilty of lynching any individual labeled a witch will be arrested and forced to face all the rigors of the law. .
His comments come after the country witnessed the gruesome murder of Akua Denteh, 90, in July this year.
Madame Akua Denteh was lynched in broad daylight in Kafaba in the East Gonja Township of the Savannah region after being accused of witchcraft by a local fetish priestess.
Although some of the perpetrators have been arrested, the case is still pending in court.
After that, an 83-year-old man named KonYan Yariban was taken hostage following an accusation of witchcraft by a group of people on August 3.
He was accused of being responsible for the death of his relative.
The 83-year-old man who was abducted in the Bunkprugu / Nakpanduri district managed to escape his captors in Togo, where he was taken to confront a witch doctor.
On August 29, Maria Ibrahim suffered serious injuries to her skull and legs after being attacked in Sumpini, in the West Gonja district of the Savanna region.
The attack allegedly took place after the Bugum fire festival, where a group of men also accused her of being a witch.
The Savannah Regional Police Command arrested Sumpini’s Dagomba chief and his linguist for their role in the attack on Maria, 50.
The two, along with three others, were detained by the police to assist in the ongoing investigations.
The Gender Minister emphasized the importance of protecting the nation’s citizens from such attacks, hence the need to establish these paradises throughout the country as a refuge for anyone who is a victim of such attacks.
