Witch beliefs in Ghana

by Feòrag

Ghana: The Ghanaian Chronicle has published an interesting article about witch beliefs in Ghana, including a interview with a soothsayer and witch-hunter.

Maku stands confidently and elegantly. She is tall and dark, with a piercing pair of eyes and a powerful voice. She covers her body with hundreds of beads, chains, trinkets, bracelets, rings and other heavy ornaments. She wears her hair in natural dreadlocks, either dangling around her waist or wrapped in headgear. Instead of drinking water from pipes, she drinks rain or stream water, which she calls holy water.

My powers were given to me from God. I don't spill human blood. I only cleanse society of evil, she stresses.

A licensed practitioner and government-accredited soothsayer, Maku says she has been practising for over 40 years. She also insists that she is a Christian. To prove it, she recites the Apostles' Creed.

Not everyone in authority approves.

Many people strongly object to Maku's suggestions. They argue that witchcraft is a state of the mind. Ebenezer S.K. Agorvor, who has been a social worker with the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development for 38 years, says soothsayers are a nuisance to society and should be jailed for stigmatizing people.

I have worked in 11 local government areas across the country, and I think it is high time the rights of witches were protected, he says. He contends that many of these soothsayers must be stopped before they cause more havoc. When it comes to soothsayers, he says, the watchman also needs to be closely watched.

A profile of a soothsayer - The Ghanaian Chronicle, 20th August 2003.