The Member of Parliament for the Sawla- Tuna- Kalba constituency, Hon. Andrew Dari Chiwitey has informed listeners of Yagbon radio local program ” Jaanuor buur” that Parliament of Ghana has passed the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2022, to criminalise the accusation of witchcraft.
By this amendment, the practice by any person as a witch doctor or witch finder has also been outlawed.
Led by the MP for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, the Private Members Bill formed part of the broad policy measures to deal with attacks and human rights violations arising out of witchcraft accusations.
Other co-sponsors of the Bill include MP for Pusiga, Hajia Laadi Ayii Ayamba; Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw; MP for Wa East, Helen Adjoa Ntoso, Krachi West, and Betty Nana Efua Krosbi Mensah, MP, Afram Plains North.
The MP said the need for the new law was ignited following the lynching and subsequent death of 90-year-old Akua Denteh at Kafaba in the East Gonja Municipality in the Savannah Region on accusation of witchcraft on July 23, 2020.
“It then became evident that action had to be taken since the incident raised a matter of serious public interest.
“The Bill is, therefore, meant to deter persons who may want to accuse or harm others of being alleged witches,” the MP told host Chipo Kwaku.
He noted that though accusation of witchcraft was widespread across Africa, only Ghana has witch camps; a phenomenon which has come with stigma and human right abuses.
He said that report t in 2021stated that , “the number of inmates in the five prominent witch camps in Ghana, namely the Gnani Camp, Kukuo Camp, Gushegu Camp, Gambaga Camp and Kpatinga Camp totalled 539.
“Out of this number, the females constituted 498, representing 92 per cent and the males were 41. The inmates were all vulnerable persons, consisting of older women, single mothers, widows and unmarried women.”
The inhumane treatments they are subjected to on suspicion of witchcraft, the MP said violates their rights under the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other treaties Ghana has signed on to.
That right, lawmaker noted , has been reinforced by the 1992 Constitution which also provides for the prohibition of all forms of practices that are dehumanising or are injurious to the physical and mental well-being of a person.
“Accusation of witchcraft is undoubtedly, a setback to the efforts to achieve the tenets of international human rights treaties which Ghana has ratified, including the Universal Declaration on Human Rights; Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women,” he said.
Laid in Parliament on March 31, 2023, the Bill enjoyed unanimous support from both Majority and Minority sides of the House.
Source: yagbonradioonline
