A young man, Rufai Sumaila, his father and three others who set up a base in Pulmakom in the Pusiga District of the Upper East Region, for the purpose of identifying and exorcising ‘witches’ have been arrested by police in the Upper East Region.
Their arrest follows the petitioning of the Inspector General of Police Asante Mr James Oppong Boanuh and the Presidency by the Sanneh Institute over their activities in the area.
The petition came at a time Ghanaians are yet to get over the lynching of a 90-year-old woman, Akua Denteh, by some people in Kafaba, a Community in the East Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region.
The petition which was accompanied by a 2:41 seconds video, captured the self-styled witch doctor, Rufai Sumaila and his father torturing and beating young women who are accused of witchcraft.
According the Sanneh Institute, the key suspect who is a Senior High School drop out allegedly had mental issues and later claimed he met with dwarfs who commissioned him to practice as a witch doctor.
At his base, near the Ghana-Togo border at Widana, the self-styled witch doctor claims to use sachet water to identify ‘witches’ and for the purposes of healing.
Reacting to the arrest, Director of Sanneh Institute, Professor John Azumah said he is gladdened by the swift action in apprehending the culprits. He added that he is not enthused by the fact that it had to take a petition to the IGP and the Presidency for the occasioning of their arrest.
“I am very very gratified that the arrest has been made and I want to thank the officials who have acted so swiftly following our petition. We were able to petition high up to the IGP and Madam Angela Asante in the president’s office and they took action and we are very grateful for that. But that is not the norm. We don’t have to go up that high to border these busy officials to effect these arrest on the ground. There should be enough way on the ground to effect these arrest without having to appeal to the highest authority. So government must allow the system to be fully equipped to deal with such issues,” Prof. Azumah stressed.
He Further called for the criminalization of the identification and labeling of people as witches in Ghana.
