african witches Archives

April 3, 2011April 19, 2011

Chromosome-Dependent Justice: The Pervasiveness of ‘Legal’ Violence Against African Women

John 8:10: When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?”

If you have been to church once in your lifetime, you would probably be familiar with the story behind the verse quoted above. A woman was brought to Jesus to be sentenced for adultery. The men who brought the woman to Jesus emphasized that the woman was ‘caught in (the heat of) the act’, perhaps to demand a more severe sentence from Jesus, which would be death by stoning. Jesus gave the permission to go ahead with a condition: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” He then bowed down his head. When he lifted up his head some minutes later, only the woman was left standing.

Late last week, we posted an article here about a Ghanaian woman, Amina, who was sexually molested by male students of the Mensah Sarbah Hall of the University of Ghana for stealing a laptop and cell phone from one of the dormitories. Amina was stripped naked, fondled and physically maltreated by the college rogues. According to news sources, the University Police who came to the scene arrested the battered woman and put her into custody while the male accusers were let go.

This was not an isolated case of violence against women and chromosome-dependent justice but a well-rooted tradition of male aggression against vulnerable women in most African communities. The village of Gambaga in Ghana has been a sanctuary for women accused of witchcraft. These women are ostracized and exiled from society by their accusers in a disturbing narrative while the Government of Ghana and local authorities watch on. Most of these women are elderly and through decades of neglect, want and lack of medical care are going through physiological and psychiatric disturbances that require counseling and therapy. However, in the absence help, medical or behavioral, the women are beaten and threatened with death and starvation until they confess to be witches under duress. In November of 2010, we reported the atrocious murder of a 72-year-old woman, Ama Hemmah, who was suspected of witchcraft in Ghana. She was beaten, tripped naked and doused with kerosene and then set aflame by her accusers who were also self-professed spiritual healers. The Foreman for the crusade, Pastor Samuel Fletcher Sagoe, asserted Ms. Hemmah was a witch who wished to do him and his family harm. A Gallup survey in Sub-Saharan African found that the belief in witchcraft is widespread. In the Ivory Coast 95% of people surveyed personally believe in witchcraft. In Ghana, the number is 77%, in Niger 75%, Zimbabwe 63% and South African 46%, just to mention a few. Changing these beliefs is a long journey, but changing the way suspects are treated should be attainable.

The introductory Biblical story suggests that this practice is a prehistoric custom that has lived 1000s of years. In the same vein that the men at Jesus time brought only the woman who was “caught in the act”, the University of Ghana Police apprehended the accused Amina and none of the law-breaking, irresponsible college students. When a person’s chromosomes determine how the law is applied to him or her in our time, Martin Luther King would probably not complain if the color of a person’s skin does the same.

For students in higher education to strip a suspected thief naked, insert their fingers into her private parts, fondle her breast and make fun of it on video is difficult to comprehend. I expect it to carry a more severe punishment that the theft because it was an assault on the woman’s personality and the dignity of more than 50% of human population. Our society needs to realize that illegality will never solve the problem evil.

I implore you to join hands in raising a loud voice against violence towards women in our society. Amina, Ama Hemmah and any of 1000s of the women in the Gambaga Witches Sanctuary could be my sister and your mother.

If you are interested in joining to fight these evils, please send an email to info@talkafrique.com or editorial@talkafrique.com find out how you can help.

We are sending a petition to the University Authorities and other influential sources to press the University to bring the rogues to justice immediately. Please click HERE to sign the petition.

March 14, 2011March 21, 2011

The Witches of Gambaga: “If they say I am a witch then I must be a witch!”

Sokari Ekine

Synopsis:

The Witches of Gambaga is a disturbing documentary about a community of women condemned and exiled as witches to the village of Gambaga in northern Ghana. The film was produced by Nigerian feminist academic Amina Mama and Ghanian filmmaker / writer, Yaba Badoe who also directs and narrates the film. During repeated visits over a period of 5 years, Ms Badoe interviewed the women, traditional rulers and community activists in the region.

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The village of Gambaga has traditionally been a sanctuary for women accused of witchcraft where they are protected by the village Chief. Many of the women are elderly and arrive after been driven into exile by their families. Guilt is established by the arbitrary way a chicken dies following an accusation by a male or even a young child. The birds throat is cut and if it dies with it’s wings down, then the woman is a witch. In trying to understand what it means to be a witch, the film’s producer and narrator, Yaba Badoe, asks the question which goes to the heart of the film, ” [what] If witchcraft traditions are so deeply entrenched, that to be born a woman is to be born under a shadow of suspicion.?” This is contrasted with men who can also be witches but for them the practice is used in a positive way such as to protect his house or family.

The belief that some women and men have supernatural powers has existed throughout history and across the world as a way of maintaining social control and upholding patriarchal structures. But invariably it is women who have been singled out for persecution at different points in history usually when communities are facing a crisis or series of events which are unexplainable or unpredictable. To understand the naming of women as witches requires close scrutiny of the factors behind, on the one hand, the powers of Pentecostal churches and Muslim marabouts in Ghana and other parts of the continent, and on the other, the use of traditional and spiritual practices for explanations around the failure of nation states to address poverty and lack of socio-economic responsibility by governments. It is similar to cultural and religious fundamentalism that is the driving force behind homophobic laws on the continent which are also being used as political decoys. Both the charismatic churches and some local Imams feed on witchcraft as explanations of social and economic problems. The power of male authority, patriarchal traditions and the low status of women are central to this. It is pertinent to point out that although accusations of witchcraft cut across class and age, it is those women who are seen as strong and independent who are most at risk.

The Witches of Gambaga are protected by the paramount Chief, the Gambarrana and there is no doubt he benefits from their presence. They pay to stay and must pay to leave so it is in his interest to accept either a “confession” as proof of guilt or the the direction of the chicken’s death and to ensure the practice continues. But as the film points out, good and evil is never simple and change is always possible. As we see from the film, community engagement by local community activists has been central to eliminating the practice as well as trying to reintegrate accused women back into their villages. Even though this can be a slow process, it is preferable to a confrontational strategy led by outside people, especially westerners, descending on communities. Once the work has been consolidated at a very local level then it can be taken up by activists at a national level and moves towards intervention by the government and community leaders. TheWitches of Gambaga shows that there is another way to addressing traditional and religious practices which hurt women and children. Women activists are beginning to speak out against the practice and the film itself has contributed to raising awareness at national level. Changes in attitudes by local leaders can also contribute to ending the practices of accusing women of witchcraft. For example in one of the villages where the practice was prevalent, the new Chief has chosen to ignore the supernatural and instead intervene by counseling families and encouraging a change of attitude towards women in general. However despite this, Badoe points out that the Minister for Women whose constituency is in the Gabaga region, did not once visit any of the villages nor attempt in anyway to engage with community leaders and chiefs or give any support to the women.

The success of the film is due to Badoes persistent visits and her personal engagement with both the women and the Gambarrana who allows her to film the “secret” ceremony which decides on the guilt of the women. Her interviews are intimate and heart-breaking showing both the vulnerability of the women as well as their agency and strength. One young mother of two is ambivalent about her exile but at the same time focused on ensuring her children are educated by raising money to send them to school. The film thankfully lacks the “pitying” and patronising tone often found in documentaries made by non-Africans as neither the women nor the audience are treated with anything but the utmost respect. The strong feminist intervention places the women at the center and focuses only on the issue it wishes to confront and expose leaving all of those involved including the audience proud and empowered. The Witches of Gambaga has has been shown and well received by audiences in Ghana and in Burkina Faso.

Witches of Gambaga was the Winner, 2010 Black International Film Festival Best Documentary Award. Watch a trailer of the film “Witches of Gambaga” The film was also selected for special mention at this years FESPACO in Burkina Faso. Ms Badoe is also author of True Murder, a mystery novel set in England.

(Republished with the kind permission of Sokari Ekine, Black Looks)

December 3, 2010December 6, 2010

Ghana “Witch” Killing Points to a Broader Culture of Fear and Superstition

Clair MacDougall

Journalist

The brutal murder of a 72-year-old woman who was suspected of witchcraft in Ghana has been met with public outrage after a photograph showing her in a near naked state appeared on the front page of the nation’s most popular newspaper, the Daily Graphic, last week.

The photograph of Ama Hemmah, who had been doused with kerosene and set alight in the courtyard of a family home, was taken at a local hospital and showed her burnt from face to waist with scraps of clothing that barely covered her breasts melted to her skin. Many locals of Tema, the harbor city in which the murder occurred, have expressed shock and anger, but human rights activists have suggested that Hemmah’s death points to a deeper culture of fear, superstition and violence against women accused of witchcraft.

Ama Hemmah, a poor 72-year-old woman, traveled on a bus from the village of Ajumako Assasan in Ghana’s Central Region to Tema where her two sons and daughter lived. Hemmah rose early in the morning without telling anyone she had left and had not informed children she was coming to visit. At Tema, she got down from the bus and wandered around begging for food, as she often did because she was poor. Then she wandered into a house in Site 7 of the Community 1 area of the city to ask for money and food. She was accused of being possessed by the devil, beaten and then finally doused with kerosene and set alight. This is what her son, Stephen Ofosy Yeboah, a 48-year-old taxi driver remembers his mother saying as she lay in her hospital bed. Hemmah died in the Tema General Hospital the following day. Yeboah said his mother was a devout Roman Catholic and had never engaged in or been accused of witchcraft.

But Pastor Samuel Fletcher Sagoe claimed Hemmah was a witch who intended to do he and his family harm. When I met Sagoe he walked me into the room where he discovered the stranger who had been sent by the devil. He retraced his steps and said he unlocked the gates and came into his sister Emelia Opoku’s room to find Hemmah standing by the window.

Sagoe pointed to the barred window that sat behind the countless items of damp clothing strung from lines crossing the walls in the tiny room. Sagoe said he was puzzled and could not comprehend how the woman had gotten through the gate, as it was locked and far too high for her to jump over it. The pastor took Hemmah into the courtyard and questioned her about how she managed to get in then called his family and friends in to witness the strange occurrence. Police believe the interrogation went on for as long as four hours. While Sagoe said he’d never met Hemmah before, the Tema Assistant Commissioner of Police Augustine Gyening said the suspects claimed Hemmah was a known witch.

Pastor Sagoe’s account was full of inconsistencies as he claimed Hemmah said she was a messenger of the devil and spoke of flying and "spiritual things", and then alluded to Hemmah refusing to confess to witchcraft after the group had surrounded her. Sagoe also claimed he was not present when they set Hemmah ablaze but that it was his friend Samuel Ghunney, a 50-year-old photographer, who asked Sagoe’s sister Emelia Opuko for the kerosene and matches. Those involved in the incident threw water on Hemmah after she began to burn and Ghunney told police that he thought setting her ablaze would scare her rather than kill her.

Hemmah then left the house and stumbled down the road to a provisions shop where 27-year-old Deborah Pearl Adumoah, took her to the police station and the hospital.

"She was in severe pain and tears were flowing down from her eyes," said Adumoah.

Adumoah spent the day with Hemmah and sent someone to her village to track down the contact details of her children in Tema. Deborah’s voice quivered as she spoke of Hemmah’s condition before she died.

"She couldn’t speak and you could only hear her make sounds because her face had been burnt and she couldn’t move her mouth properly," said Adumoah. "It was a cruel act. She reminded me of my grandmother: cute and smallish," she added.

Police have two of the accused in custody, with the other three suspects out on bail. They are yet to establish the role that Sagoe and the other two suspects played in the attack.

While the case has attracted a great deal of attention in Ghana, belief in witchcraft and attacks on women and men accused of sorcery are not uncommon, particularly within the Northern Region of the country, home to the notorious witches camps that house women, children and sometimes men that have been exiled from their communities because they have been accused of witchcraft.

However, Canadian journalist and author of Spellbound: Inside West Africa’s Witch Camps, Karen Palmer said this particular case seemed highly unusual because there was no clear relationship between the outsider, Hemmah, and the accused. Palmer spent months interviewing accused witches in the Northern Region who had been exiled from their communities and were living in the camps.

"In my experience, I would say that most people know the women who they are accusing of witchcraft and it could be a family member, someone who lives in the same community, a co-wife or even a child accusing a parent, aunt or grandmother," said Palmer. "To attack a complete stranger is a little unusual."

Palmer added that older women in the Northern Region were often targeted because they had developed eccentricities and were no longer able to bear children, or fulfill duties such as gathering wood and water. Women are almost always accused in order to explain some misfortune such as an illness, lack of rain, a bad harvest or even something as simple as a bad dream.

But Palmer was not surprised that residents in a large urban center like Tema believed in witchcraft, as belief in sorcery is common throughout Ghana and is often fueled by preachers at large charismatic churches.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Augustine Gyening said the police department had not handled a case like this before. But, he said that many people believed in witchcraft in Tema. When I asked him whether he too believed in witchcraft he replied:

"Don’t you? There are witches in Europe." He added: "Everybody in Ghana will tell you they believe in witchcraft, but they will differ in terms of what things they attribute to witches."

But Gyening said that he and the Tema police force were appalled by the murder.

Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) issued a statement last Friday claiming the act was barbaric and reflected poorly on the nation’s human rights record. The Coordinator of the Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation in Ghana Mr. Adolf Bekoe also claimed that witchcraft accusation was becoming a major problem in the country that needed to be addressed by the government.

Palmer agreed that something needed to be done to address violence toward women accused of witchcraft but said that it was complex issue that activists and politicians had attempted to address in the 1990s but had lost the political will in part because of the difficulty of challenging these entrenched beliefs.

"In the West we look at this phenomenon and cannot understand how people could believe in witchcraft and how it could incite violence," said Palmer.

"People take this threat incredibly seriously, because from the moment Ghanaians are born they are told stories about witchcraft and it is ingrained in the culture in away it isn’t in the West."

November 26, 2010January 24, 2011

Shame, Shame Shame!!

I read with utter shock that a 72-year-old woman accused of being a witch has been burned to death in Tema, Ghana.

What frustrates me most is that one of the culprits is believed to be a pastor. This man is a disgrace to the church. I call upon true Christians to condemn so-called ‘ministers’ who make their living by feeding upon the ignorance of people rather than preaching good health, honesty, and service to the country and church. Jesus was more concerned about speaking out against the injustices of the rulers of the land and providing food to his followers than he was about casting out their devils.

The BBC reports that the suspects tortured the woman, Ama Hemmah, until she confessed to being a witch. The then doused her with kerosene (which they described as ‘anointing’ oil) and set her on fire.

This is a horrible human rights abuse and the perpetrators should be made to face the law to the letter. Witch hunting normally directed at older poor women is a common episode in some African communities. It is time that churches, educational institutions and government groups join hands to fight this evil.