Songtaba, a non-governmental organisation, which focuses on securing the basic rights of women and girls, has called on the government to initiate processes to abolish alleged witches’ camps in the country.
This followed research conducted on the prevalence of depression, quality of life and gender dynamics of women, who were accused of witchcraft in the Northern and North East Regions.
Findings from the research indicated that 52.7 per cent of 277 women at the four alleged witches’ camps in the north suffered depression.
It also indicated that 66.5 per cent of the women were widows and 8.6 per cent of them had an extreme low quality of life, which significantly contributed to high depression among them.
The findings further showed that 73.3% of the victims wanted to be reintegrated into their communities and the camps closed.
Meanwhile, the research recommended the need for the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to expand mental health services and periodic screening of residents of alleged witches’ camps as their living conditions increased their risk of developing mental health conditions.
It called on government and District Assemblies to allocate funding towards improving the conditions of the camps to make them more habitable.
The research was conducted by Songtaba with technical support from Ghana Somubi Dwumadie and funded by the UK aid as part of activities under the Promoting Women Mental Health Rights in Ghana Project implemented in the Northern Region.
The research findings were presented at a stakeholders’ dissemination forum in Tamale aimed at extending the research results to sensitise people on the effects of witchcraft accusations on victims.
The stakeholders included Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, representatives of the Department of Social Welfare, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, GHS and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Alhaji Saibu launched the research document as he lauded Songtaba for decent work done in highlighting the crisis of alleged witches and gave assurance of government’s continuous support in the implementation of the research recommendations.
Mr Abdul Kasiru Shani, Head of Programmes and Policy at Songtaba, who presented the research findings, said women were accused of witchcraft yet the psychosocial effects associated with the accusation were enormous, adding the research revealed interesting areas that needed attention particularly in depression and trauma.
He said the camps, which housed the alleged witches, were deplorable and not fit for human habitation, coupled with depression and poor feeding, making them feel written out of society, which did not speak well of the country as a nation, who signed onto several human right conventions to protect the rights of women.
He noted that the alleged witches needed counselling and reintegration for the time being towards the eventual closure of the camps in the longer term.
Hajia Lamnatu Adam, Executive Director of Songtaba, expressed worry over the cruel treatment given to old women, who needed more care and attention, and called on the citizenry to consider issues of alleged witches a national concern to help spread awareness on negative impacts of witchcraft accusations.
Dr Dominic Otchere from the Northern Regional Health Directorate said all structures at the household, sub-district and district levels ought to be strengthened to tackle depression as a problem in society.
He said caring for the vulnerable and aged must be prioritised, given that the categories of people were more liable to witchcraft accusations.
