First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has underscored the need for traditional authorities to discard cultural practices that tag elderly women as witches and ostracise them from the mainstream of development processes.
She said aside from being discriminatory, such practices also denied women the opportunity to contribute their quota to the development of their communities.
Mrs Mahama made the call when she paid a visit to the Gambaga witches camp where she donated assorted items to the inmates for the Christmas celebration.
Alleged witches
The First Lady, who could not hold back her tears at the sight of the alleged witches at the camp, said they were old and vulnerable and, therefore, needed care and compassion from their relatives and communities.
She talked about her emotional attachment to the camp and said she felt uncomfortable anytime she recalled the situation in which the alleged witches found themselves.
She expressed the hope that the problem of wrongful accusation of elderly women as witches would be solved in the near future.
Mrs Mahama promised that her foundation would continue to partner the community and other organisations to promote the welfare of the inmates of the camp.
East Mamprusi DCE
For his part, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for East Mamprusi, Mr Adam Imoro, said the Lordina Foundation had helped to make some facilities and items available to the old women, which had made them feel a part of the larger society.
He said besides presenting the women and children with gifts, the foundation had mobilised medical officers to take care of their health needs.
Inmates
The women commended the First Lady for her concern and generosity and asked for God’s blessings for her, so that she would continue to be a source of blessing to others.
They also thanked her for helping to restore hope in them, indicating that before Mrs Mahama adopted the camp, they had lived in misery, but her continued support by way of providing their basic needs had given them the will to live, with the conviction that all was not lost.
“We thank you for what we eat and wear and where we sleep now. You renovated our homes and provided us with TV sets to be abreast of whatever goes on in Ghana and around the world,” a spokesperson for the women, Madam Ayishetu Issah, said.
She said they were very grateful to the First Lady for facilitating the establishment of a vocational school, as well as a school for their children, and prayed to God to bless her.
The Nayiri, Overlord of the Mumprugu Traditional Area, Naa Bohagu Mahami Abdulai Sherigu, also thanked Mrs Mahama for the support she had been offering to women and children generally and especially the inmates of the camp.
Background
The Gambaga witches camp has 136 inmates, 96 of whom are women and the remaining 40, grandchildren.
Eighty per cent of the women are aged 70 and above and the rest 30 and above.
