<<Print>>

On Thursday 23 July 2020 a 90 – year old woman, Madam Akua Denteh was beaten to death in broad daylight at Kafaba, near Salaga, a well-known slave market in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Salaga and Kafaba are in the East Gonja Municipality of the newly created Savannah Region carved out of the Northern Region.

Aftermath

The hysteria and public outcry created by the lynching of the 90 – year old woman is beyond description.

And that is indeed what it should be. The newspapers, radio, and TV stations unreservedly condemned the incident. Civil society organizations and high-profile Ghanaians including; former President Jerry John Rawlings vehemently and unreservedly condemned the incident and called for the arrest and prosecution of the persons responsible for the brutal murder of the 90 – year old woman.

Within a few days, the Minister for Gender, Women and Children in President Akufo Addo’s Government and the President of Ghana himself joined the chorus to condemn the murder and called for the arrest and prosecution of the criminals.

The Minister called the killing of the woman barbaric and told the family that all those behind the killing will be dealt with according to law.

She said further that “Through her death things will change,” and urged the perpetrators to surrender to the law enforcement agencies.

Whether or not as a result of the brutal murder of Madam Akua Dentah for allegedly being a witch, things will change, we will wait and see. The Ghana Police immediately offered GH¢2, 000.00 for information leading to the arrest of the culprits even though the evidence was streaming on social media and shown on TV.

The first arrest the police made was the chief of Kafaba. Whether the arrest was right or wrong we will get to know in due course of time.

What was the crime of this 90 – year old woman to warrant being brutally lynched in public? According to the newspaper reports a fetish priestess declared Madam Akua Denteh a witch who was behind the burning of New Patriotic Party (NPP) youth shed.

The priestess also accused the old woman for being responsible for the irregular and little rainfall in Kafaba this year. She therefore recommended the lynching of Madam Akua Denteh.

In this twenty – first century when the white man is planning the building of underground cities, tourists travels to the moon, living in submarines at the bottom of the ocean for months, flying in 500 capacity jumbo jets at a speed faster than sound, and transplanting human hearts and kidneys, the black man who is the oldest citizen of the earth, is still accusing the fair sex of being witches - an accusation which is a figment of human imagination.

The ancient Romans who lived the years before Christ (BC) erroneously believed that their god Nimbus was responsible for rainfall.

Today in the twenty first century, Africans, Ghanaians, believe that a poor 90 – year old woman, Madam Akua Denteh, was responsible for the inadequacy of rainfall in Kafaba and should be beaten to death in the public square as video cameras recorded the proceedings.

An Akan speaker may say, Owurade Nyankunpong, did we go or did we come! (In the name of Almighty God, where are we going in this twenty – first century!!).

Is Africa that backward or a few ignorant Africans want the rest of the world to believe that Africa is many many years behind the rest of the world in civilization and development?

Beliefs in Witchcraft

Belief in witchcraft and witches is a figment of human imaginations. I should rather put it this way. Today, belief in witchcraft and witches is the figment of the imagination of a few incorrigible Africans who accuse innocent African women of being witches.

Witchcraft and witches do not exist. Witchcraft and witches are ancient phenomena used against old and ugly looking women. They should not have a place in this modern world. They are nothing but a mirage.

Under President John Dramani Mahama’s Government, the Minister for Gender, Women and Children Affairs made the first attempt ever by a Minister of State to put an end to the suffering of innocent Ghanaian women accused of being witches and subjected to hooting, torture, and expulsion from their places of birth.

However the attempt was feeble and flimsy. And above all it was a nine – day wonder. What happened is this. The Minister lamented the maltreatment of women accused of being witches. She issued strong warning to the youth and all people who caused mayhem to such women. She said that henceforth the police will arrest and prosecute persons involved in causing mayhem to the women. She then ordered the closure of all Witches Homes or Witches Camps in the country.

She made sure that the Camps were closed down. But no law was made to make it an offence for calling another person a witch. A law criminalizing the calling of people witches is the panacea for saving the Ghanaian woman from the accusation of witchcraft and subjection to torture. Such a law must be draconian. The penalty for a breach of the law should include imprisonment for a second offender.

While I welcome the closure of the so-called Witches Home, (because that action brought to an end Governments’ recognition of witchcraft and witches), I totally disapproved the closure of the Homes without the enactment of a law making it an offence to call a woman a witch.

When the Homes were closed down, in the absence of the law, the so-called witches suffered. The closure of the Homes in the absence of the law made the closure look like treating symptoms instead of the disease.

Consequently, when the Minister disappeared from the scene, the incorrigible believers in witchcraft and witches and the irascible irate youth moved back into their old bad ways and caused mayhem to the poor Ghanaian women declared witches.

And as I have stated above, they had nowhere to go for safety. This led to the reopening of the Camps. What I see of this problem of so-called witches in Ghana is – when the incorrigible believers in witches and the irresponsible youth exhibit their unwarranted brutality on the so-called witches, there is always public hysteria and outcry.

The government of the day and security agencies come out with condemnations of the incidents. But after a few months, the matter is forgotten, and it is again business as usual. And when the matter raises its ugly head again Ghanaians cry over spilt milk.

In one of my most recent books, Missing Pages I attributed the continued existence of witchcraft and witches to past and present governments, the law makers, the security agencies and above all, the traditional rulers.

It is their tacit or express recognition of the twin ancient phenomena and failure to protect innocent Ghanaian women which give life to witchcraft.

In towns and villages where Traditional Rulers give protection to women accused of witchcraft, witchcraft exists only in name, like fairies, invisible and harmless to human beings.

The Executive Arm of the Government, the Parliamentary Arm of Government, the Security Services, the Media and above all, our Traditional leaders should join hands now, and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!.

It is now time to enact a law making it criminal to call, declare, accuse a woman as a witch and take physical action against her.

The writer is a venerable lawyer, politician, author and senior citizen.