Inside SEPTEMBER 7, 2020 edited

Inside SEPTEMBER 7, 2020.qxp_Layout 1 06/09/2020 21:57 Page 6
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DAILY HERITAGE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2020
Brutal lynching of Akua Denteh; Enact
laws to criminalize witch-labelling
BY ABUNDANT ROBERT K.
AWOLUGUTU
ON THURSDAY,
July 23, 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
•Madam Akua Denteh being lynched
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
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.
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 socalled
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.
GNA