Ghana's 'witches' refuse to go home

GAMBAGA, Ghana -- More than 100 women, branded as "witches" by their communities, recently were set free from a camp where many have lived for most of their adult lives.

However, instead of stepping out and enjoying their new freedom, the women, ranging in age between 30 and 75, have refused to go home.

"We will not go anywhere. We are safe here," says Assana, who is more than 70 and is the leader of the women. She has been at the 'witches' village in Gambaga for more than 30 years after being chased out of her home village "for being responsible for the death of a child".

Assana came to Gambaga, because the Rana (chief) is reported to have powers to cleanse anybody with "such evil powers".

"You can see I am not preventing any of them from leaving. I did not go for them. They came to seek refuge under my powers and I welcomed them," says Chief Gambagarana Wuni.

For more than 100 years, Gambaga has been the refuge for women declared witches by their communities in the northern regions of Ghana and parts of neighbouring Burkina Faso. These women are accused of causing death, the impotence of their husbands, and some have even been blamed for outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, meningitis, measles, and tuberculosis.

To escape being beaten to death by their communities -- a traditional form of punishment often meted out to women who are declared "witches" -- the women come to Gambaga on their own or they are brought by relatives.

During the cerebral-spinal meningitis (CSM) outbreak two years ago, for example, five elderly women were beaten to death by youth who accused them of using witchcraft to cause the disease. This incident prompted President Jerry Rawlings to warn of dire consequences for perpetrators of "such barbaric acts".

Ghana's Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Ama Benyiwa-Doe, has said that although the government can stop the practice of women being labelled as witches by law, "we want to use education and persuasion to end the practice".

Such traditional practices as only accusing women of witchcraft, she added, are an abuse of women's human rights. Rights groups, like the International Federation of Women Lawyers, have also called for an end to the practice.

While the Ghanaian media has portrayed Gambagarana as "super witch catcher who has the women under his spell and working in his fields", he has denied the accusations, and claims that he only "de-witches" the women. "I inherited this power from my father, who got it from his own father, who were all chiefs."

Chief Von Salifu, regional head of the Commission on Arts and Culture says there are many "witches'" homes in northern Ghana. Gambaga and Bimbilla, near the eastern border with Togo, are the two largest ones.

He adds that the women in Gambaga are not held against their will.

According to members of the Presbyterian Church who work in the area, the women are free to move in Gambaga town and some of the younger women have even married men from the area. A church official, who declined to be named, says the women are afraid to return to their communities because people still hold grudges against them.