A Committee facilitating the reintegration of alleged witches and wizards camped at isolated places in the Northern Region, has revealed that reintegrating them is difficult.
The committee was constituted and sponsored by Action Aid Ghana to oversee the reintegration of the alleged witches.
[contextly_sidebar id=”2EzQqlkLbJLtCtKy5Hjp1i07K5x5SrtF”]But the Committee’s Chairman, Dr. Alhaji AlHussein Zakaria, at a news conference in Tamale revealed that the task is extremely difficult.
According to him, the deeply rooted belief in witchcraft in the Northern Region is causing public resistance to the reintegration process.
He also cited funding constraints associated with the implementation of the reintegration process fashioned out by Action Aid Ghana and its development partners.
Dr. Alhaji AlHussein chided the mass media to stop exaggerating the population of the alleged witches camped at five isolated locations in the Northern Region.
Setting the records straight, he said the most popular Gambaga camp has 72 inmates, Ngani 182, Kpatinga 41, Nabuli 33 and KUKUO 86.
He appealed to government, the donor community and development partners to provide them with clean drinking water, food, electricity, medical care, lavatories, economic livelihoods and other social amenities needed to improve their welfare.
Despite the numerous challenges, he reaffirmed the Committee’s steadfastness to promote the reintegration of 45% alleged witches and wizards at the various camps by 2021.
Dr. alhaji AlHussein Zakaria added that the Committee is determined to advocate the protection of their rights as well as training the youth to serve as change Ambassadors against the discrimination and stigmatization of the ostracized men and women.
He said the Committee will strengthen its collaboration with the mass media to deepen awareness creation on the deplorable conditions of the alleged witches and wizards.
He expressed the Committee’s determination to strengthen dialogues with religious and traditional rulers to enact local legal framework needed to properly address witchcraft allegations.
The Reintegration Committee emanated from a Regional Conference organized by Action Aid Ghana in November 2011 in Tamale on the closure of alleged witches camps.
The Committee is composed of Action Aid Ghana and its partners, Civil Society Organizations, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Domestic Violence Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), traditional authorities and the Clergy.
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana