Skills training held for ‘Gambaga witches’

Seventy-two out of the 150 inmates of the alleged witches camp at Gambaga in the East Mamprusi District in the Northern Region have been reintegrated with their families since 2010.

The alleged witches who have been reintegrated are now self-employed, since they have been given training in vocational skills and start-up capitals to begin their own businesses.

This came to light when the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Otiko Afisa Djaba, paid a working visit to the camp at Gambaga last week as part of a three-day working visit to the Northern Region.

Reintegration of alleged witches

The reintegration exercise, initiated by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana under its “Presby Go Home” project, is aimed at building the capacity of the inmates to become self-employed to enable them to live on their own when they are reintegrated with their families.

The Project Manager of “Presby Go Home”, Mr Sampson Laar, made this known to the minister during her visit.

Madam Djaba, who was accompanied by some officials from her ministry and some agencies and departments under the ministry, on behalf of the government donated cartons of soap, bags of rice, sardines and other items to the inmates of the camp.

Closing down of witches’ camp

In a brief remark, Madam Djaba gave an assurance that her ministry was going to liaise with the traditional authorities and family members of the inmates to come up with a programme that would help reintegrate the rest of the inmates with their families and close down the camp.

She stated that the programme for the inmates was to empower them with employable skills to enable them to live on their own when reintegrated into their families.

She noted that most of the problems faced by the inmates’ resulted from old age and, therefore, urged the public to desist from discriminating against elderly women and branding them witches, saying it was against the laws of the country to accuse or infringe on the rights of persons without any cause.

Witches camps

In the Northern Region, there are six witches camps at Leli-Dabari, Kpantinga and Nabuli, all in the Gushegu District, with a total population of 196 inmates; the Gnani camp in Yendi, with 64 inmates; Gambaga, 78 inmates, and the Kukuo camp in Wulensi in the Nanumba South District, with a population of 132 inmates.

In 2015, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, with the support of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs), was able to close down the Bonyase witches camp in the Central Gonja District after reintegrating the inmates with their families.

The Gambaga witches camp is considered the oldest in the region, having been in existence for a century now.