The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said that women who continue to be accused of witchcraft in Ghana are those who have no forms of wealth or inheritance.
Describing the practice of elderly women being described as witches in some parts of the country as discriminatory, he explained that there is hardly any case of rich women ever being tagged witches.
He added that this cannot continue, and as such, no reason, whether cultural or not, should be made, or even accepted, as a justification for these actions.
“Mr Speaker, what is said is that you can see that this is clear discrimination against elderly people who are in the vulnerable category. Mr. Speaker, in this country, if you are elderly and you are rich; if she’s a rich woman who has some inheritance her children can have, she is never declared a witch.
“But once you are poor, once you don’t have money, you don’t have property, you are very vulnerable, then you are immediately classified a witch and you are thrown into witches’ camps. Mr. Speaker, this cannot continue and we cannot accept any cultural justification for that,” he explained.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was speaking on the floor of parliament on Thursday, June 15, 2023, as the world marked World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
The global theme for this year’s commemoration was Closing the Circle: Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Older Age – Policy, Law and Evidence-based Responses.