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Fighting
Superstition in Africa
Building on
organizing work undertaken by Norm Allen on behalf of the Council and, more
recently, as director of transnational outreach for the Center for Inquiry,
recently the Center launched its anti-superstition campaign in Africa. In this
piece, Leo Igwe reflects on the significance of the
campaign.
By Leo Igwe
I wonder which date would have been more appropriate for the launch of CFI’s
African anti-superstition campaign than May 28—the same day the trial of ten
persons accused of the ritual killing of albinos commenced in Burundi—or which
country would have been more suitable to host this historic event than Ghana.
The West African State of Ghana, like other African countries, is a deeply
superstitious society. Ghana is not just widely known for its vibrant democracy
and emerging economy but also its mélange of religious and superstitious
beliefs, which have held the country back and down, hampering its growth and
development.
Ghana is also popular for its witch camp situated in Gambaga in the Northern region. The camp is a sanctuary
where women alleged to be witches seek refuge from attack and persecution.
Ghana’s witch camp is the first of its kind; in fact, it is only in Ghana and
Nigeria that witch camps are known to exist in Africa. Unlike in Ghana, most of
those accused of bewitching their neighbors in other African countries do not
make it to a refuge camp alive. They are hunted down,
killed with clubs or machetes, lynched, or made to die a slow and painful
death.
To brand somebody a witch is to pass a death sentence on her.
Yes I mean her, not him, because in most cases women are the victims.
Some have inquired why we always talk about witches and not
wizards. The answer is that witchcraft is largely a patriarchal tool for the
oppression, domination and marginalization of women. There is a gender factor
in the whole idea, belief and practice of witchcraft—just one of many problems
with this ancient superstition. But women are not the only victims. Children
and the elderly have also been targeted by witch hunters. In Nigeria’s Cross
River and Akwa Ibom states,
thousands of children branded witches and wizards were tortured, exiled and
abandoned by family members.
Similar cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic
of Congo and Angola. These so-called witch children have been scapegoated and blamed for the poverty, misery and
frustration their families suffer in their poor and sometimes war-torn
countries. In Edo state in Southern Nigeria, at least ten elderly persons
accused of witchcraft died in 2004 after they were forced to drink “magical”
potions. In Kenya, aged people have been targeted in a deadly witch hunt that
is sweeping the nation’s Kisii region. In most parts
of Africa people regard the gray hairs, red eyes, and wrinkled skin of the aged
as bewitching features, and identify them with evil.
While witch attacks are often carried out by mobs and gangs,
in Gambia it is the state that is executing the witch hunts. In February, the
Gambian security officials and some witch doctors from Guinea abducted more
than 1,000 persons and took them to a secret location where they were tortured
and forced to drink “magical” concoctions. Some died after taking the potions
while others had serious health complications.
Apart from witchcraft, juju and charms, ritual sacrifice and
traditional medicine are other superstitious beliefs that undermine African
development and progress. Most Africans believe that charms are potent and
effective. They believe charms can protect them from harm, diseases, accidents
and death, or that charms can enhance their success. Many African football
teams use charms for their matches, yet no African team has ever won a world
cup. One of the major causes of accidents on African roads is that drivers do
not care to put their vehicles in good order or obey traffic rules because they
believe their charms will protect them from any road mishap. African traders
and politicians believe juju and charms will help them succeed in their businesses
or in elections.
Africans believe that ritual sacrifice—not education, not
research and development—will help them excel in any trade, position or
profession. Africans believe that wealth and success cannot be achieved without
some form of ritual sacrifice. Prosperity is always associated with the occult,
and in most cases the sacrifices are performed with human body parts—especially
the private organs, the head, eyes, intestines, tongue and breast. In
Swaziland, ritualists target children for sacrifice.
In some countries, they target people with disabilities, albinos or hunchbacked
persons for sacrifice. In Tanzania and Burundi, at least 50 albinos have been
killed by suspected ritualists. In these countries,
people believe that the body parts of albinos can be used to produce magical
potions for prosperity or good fortune.
Yes on May 28 the trial of 10 persons accused of killing
albinos commenced in Burundi. And this was the same day CFI flagged off its
anti superstition campaign in Accra Ghana. It is a start, but for Africa to
combat superstition based atrocities and irrationalism, it needs both law and
logic; the continent needs to employ both legislative and educational measures
to tackle these dark and destructive forces and enth
Leo Igwe is the chairman of
the Center for Inquiry/Nigeria.
The
Chickasaw Plum - Volume VI - Number 8 - August 2009
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