The Member of Parliament, Afadzato South Constituency in the Volta Region, Angela Oforiwaa Alorwu –Tay, has called on government to work towards abolishing witch camps in the country.
According to her, it’s an abomination to operate or to even allow these camps in 21st Century Ghana.
The MP, in press statement to mark International Women’s Day, said: “such facilities deprive women of their rights to develop fully and freely, and ends depriving their children of education, good health and proper sanitation.”
She stated that, about 1,000 women who find themselves in the about six witch camps located at Boyansi, Gambaga, Gnani, Kpatinga, Kokuo and Naabuli are innocent widows who have been wrongly accused of murders they didn’t commit.
Madam Angela noted: “successive leaders have spoken repeatedly about their commitments to get these women re-integrated so as to disband the camps, but sadly, it’s been a lot of talk. It’s about time leadership walked the talk.”
She appealed to President Akufo-Addo and the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection to use the day to give the women of Ghana what she believed will be “the most priceless gift we will be extremely happy to have, a roadmap to re-integrate the women in these witch camps and a systemic disbanding of the camps, never to be resurrected again”.
“These women don’t belong in these camps and we need to have all hands-on deck to get them out as soon as possible,” she emphasised.
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on the 8th of March every year around the world.[3] It is a focal point in the movement for women’s rights.
A witch camp is a settlement where women suspected of being witches can flee for safety, usually in order to avoid being lynched by neighbours.
Witch camps exist solely in Ghana, where there are at least six of them, housing a total of around 1000 women. Such camps can be found at Bonyasi, Gambaga, Gnani, Kpatinga, Kukuo and Naabuli, all in Northern Ghana.
Some of the camps are thought to have been set up over 100 years ago.
Many women in such camps are widows and it is thought that relatives accused them of witchcraft in order to take control of their husbands’ possessions.
Many women also are mentally ill, a little understood problem in Ghana. In one camp in Gambaga, the women are given protection by the local chieftain and in return, pay him and work in his fields.
Story filed by Edzorna Francis Mensah.
