District to tackle spate of lynching and witch-hunting

District to tackle spate of lynching and witch-hunting

The Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region, in collaboration with the Bongo Traditional Council led by the Paramount chief of the Area, Naaba Baba Aleemyaarum, is mapping out strategies to deal with the lynching of innocent persons suspected to be witches and wizards. As part of measures to halt this dehumanizing practice meted out innocent citizens, the Assembly is forming justice and security sub-committees, comprising the police, Judiciary, Traditional Authorities and, some Assembly Members to educate and sensitize the people on the implications of trying people by ordeal. This sensitization process would be done in almost all the communities within the district. This was revealed by the Presiding Member of the assembly, Emmanuel Nsor- Atindana, in an interview with Radio Ghana. Mr. Nsor-Atindana, bemoaned the spate of lynching and witch-hunting in the area, which according to him are meted out to women, particularly, widows, who fall between the ages of 35 and 90. These women, he said, are the weak and vulnerable in the society alleged to have masterminded the death, incapacitation or failure of some persons in their families or communities. They are beaten, disgraced and exposed to public ridicule. Some of them, he said are sometimes banished and sent to ‘witch camps’, scattered within the three Northern Regions. He added that in some remotest part of the district, women are lynched after being accused of witchcraft, the recent being a lynching case at Gowrie Kokua.

GBC END IA/SZ