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.
When passed into law, it will criminalise witchcraft accusations and related offences in the country.
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 on April 5, 2023.
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).”
It is being funded by the EU with the objective “to raise public awareness of the interconnections between conflict, migration and minority exclusion to help build and consolidate sustainable peace in the participating countries.
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 total disbandment since they serve as safe havens for victims.
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Witchcraft
Witchcraft is any act of magic, casting spells, sorcery, voodoo or black magic with the intention to help or harm other persons.
Although there are legal provisions that deal with assault, murder and many others, witchcraft accusations seem to be an economically viable avenue for some groups of people.
Stakeholders, including some civil society organisations working on human rights, have insisted that enacting a specific law to proscribe witchcraft accusations was the best alternative to curb the cruelty being perpetuated against persons accused or suspected of the act.
Role of media
The Executive Director of MPEC, Ama Kudom-Agyemang, also bemoaned the plight of minority groups in the country and called for efforts to help address their challenges.
She urged the media to continue to amplify the voices of under-served populations, including alleged witches.
“The media have a big voice and that is why we want to build their capacity to use such voice to champion the needs and rights of the minority in society,” she said.
Minority groups are persons in society who face marginalisation and discrimination in their daily lives.