Gender Minister-designate Sarah Adwoa Safo has said that if approved to be the substantive minister, she will work to rebrand all the witch camps in the country.
She explained to the Appointments Committee of Parliament during her vetting on Wednesday February 17, that most of the women in these camps are unwilling to return home because they have formed families there.
To that end, she said, she will work to ensure that the government provides them with the necessary basic amenities to make life comfortable for them within the camps.
“If I am given the nod, what I will first do is to engage and visit some of the camps and engage these alleged witches,” the Dome Kwabenya Lawmaker said.
“I will further engage the traditional authorities and opinion leaders in these areas to get a very clear picture of what indeed ought to be done,” the former Procumbent Minister said.
She added “That is not to say that the Ministry hasn’t done anything. I chanced upon some documents which indicated that in Gambaga witches camp for instance ,there are 600 inmates. When they were engaged only one was prepared to come back home.
“So I believe in a rebranding of these camps because as far as the women of these camps are concerned they have found families in these camps and so I will engage them.
“Attempts to withdraw these women have proven difficult in the past that is why I believe that another and a novel approach to dealing with the matter will be more prudent.
“So, if they see it as homes and the ministry supports them with the necessary social amenities that is expected of a state – they are given food, they are put on LEAP, and they are given clothing – I believe that negative branding as a witches camp will be taken away and .
“I intend to go through with them some education on the need for them to also know that the abusive methods on them are not legal and they can speak out and report to the Police.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
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