THE POLITICAL Science Students Association of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (POSSA-KNUST) has made a donation to inmates of the Gambaga Witches Camp in the Northern region.
The items valued at GH�500 included assorted drinks, biscuits, toiletries, clothing and money.
The patron of POSSA-KNUST, Haminu Dramani who led the group of nearly 60 students noted that as future politicians, they deemed it a duty to extend a hand of generosity to the inmates considering their plight.
According to him, merely being accused of witchcraft was not enough reason for the condemnation inmates received from their respective families which had compelled them to seek refuge at the camp.
Dramani who is also a lecturer and an exams officer at KNUST urged families to desist from persecuting women presumed to be witches saying it separates mothers from their children and promotes juvenile delinquency in society.
Gambarana Wuni Yahyah, Chief at the witches� camp debunked the assertion that the inmates were being maltreated at the facility.
He said he provided shelter for the women as their lives were in danger in their various homes and towns. He added that the inmates were not from Gambaga but other nearby towns.
He explained that when the women are accused of being witches in their various towns, they are attacked and sometimes tortured until they confess to being witches, leading to the killing of some of them.
Wuni Yahyah averred that the lucky ones are able to escape and run to the camp for safety where he also performs a ritual using slaughtered fowls.
�If the fowl dies on its back then it confirms the woman is a witch but if it dies on its side then she is innocent,� he explained.
According to him, those found to be possessed with witchcraft go through exorcism and are rendered powerless so far as they dwell in the camp.
Chief Yahyah said he then takes care of the women as his wives by providing them with food produced from his farm and even contracting teachers to organize evening classes for them.
He emphasized that the women were not outcasts in Gambaga but part of the society and went about farming and selling just like other community members did.
A woman known to be the queen mother at the camp told DAILY GUIDE she ended up there after a child in her hometown accused her of being a witch because she had seen her in her dreams. She added that she had to run for her life since the whole town was about to descend on her.
Another woman said she had nowhere to run for safety except the camp after her nephew accused her of having a hand in his illness.
Both women admitted to be witches because the rituals found them guilty but denied ever eating human flesh.
They said, �We came to meet witchcraft which is satanic in the world but what we have never engaged in is to put human beings in a pot and boil them to eat.�
When asked if they would like to go back to their various towns since their witchcraft powers had been cast out, they answered in the negative saying they could not bear the stigmatization, insults and embarrassment their own people would unleash on them.
For his part, Isaac Frimpong, President of POSSA-KNUST, who spoke on behalf of the students, advised the women to live a stress-free life and avoid being intimidated by their past lives.
He further advised them not to allow themselves to be tagged as witches but rather engage in economic activities to make a decent living to add value to society.
The students also interacted with the women and encouraged them to put the past behind them.
They later took an educational tour to the Mole National Park, Larebanga Mosque, mystic stone, the ancestral wall and other interesting places in the Northern region.
<<Print>>