A women’s right advocacy organisation, Songtaba is calling for the speedy passage of the anti-witchcraft bill into law.
If passed, the bill will among others criminalise witchcraft accusations and related offences in Ghana.
The call comes after two persons were lynched at Zakpalsi, a farming community in the Mion District in the Northern Region over suspicion of witchcraft.
Speaking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (9 May), the executive director of Songtaba, Laminatu Adam said passing the bill will save lives.
“Last week, I was at the Ministry of Gender, where we were pushing for the passage of the anti-witchcraft bill. So, we are working with development partners on that,” Laminatu said.
Listen to Laminatu Adam in the attached audio clip below:
Engagement
Meanwhile, a pre-stakeholder engagement on an anti-witchcraft bill has begun in Accra as part of efforts to build support for the passage of the bill by Parliament.
The director-general of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Prof. Amin Alhassan, said this at a regional roundtable on inclusive journalism for senior media professionals and editors in Accra .
It was on the theme: “Media response to conflict, migration and minority rights: Perspectives on community livelihood”.
It was organised by Media Platform on Environment and Climate Change and Minority Rights Group International, with support from the EU Commission.
In all, 30 media professionals from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal are participating in the roundtable discussion to build their capacity on raising awareness of conflict prevention and resolution, root causes of conflicts, their consequences, the situation of minority groups, migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs) as key elements in peacebuilding.
It is part of a two-year project dubbed “Engaging media and minorities to act for peacebuilding (EMMAP).”
Relevance
Prof. Alhassan said the bill was being championed by the Member of Parliament for the Wa East Constituency, Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw, through the private member’s bill, adding that its passage would further restore sanity and dignity to victims.
He urged journalists to put the bill on the national agenda to facilitate its passage into law.
Prof. Alhassan further said that people accused of witchcraft were often subjected to various inhumane treatment, hence the need for a law to defend and protect such people.
He also called for the transformation of witch camps instead of a total disbandment since they serve as safe havens for victims.
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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