The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is working tirelessly to control outmoded and harmful traditional and cultural practices inimical to the wellbeing of women and girls in the country.
According to the Deputy Gender Minister, Mrs Freda Prempeh, the Ministry required active support from the country’s development partners, traditional and religious institutions to close down all identifiable witches’ camps, and successfully reintegrating inmates into the society.
Mrs Prempeh however, lauded the police administration for the swift investigations and the arrest it had made so far in connection with the murder of the 90-year-old woman accused of witchcraft at Kafaba in the East Gonja District of the Savannah Region.
Mrs Prempeh, who is the Member of Parliament for Tano North Constituency, in an interview with the GNA at Duayaw-Nkwanta, expressed the hope that the police would speed up prosecution of the suspects involved in the incident.
“It is very unfortunate that the aged are always wrongly accused as witches. Even kids who seem to be assertive in this contemporary society of ours are branded as witches. This affects their proper upbringing and development and we will not sit unconcerned for this to continue”.
As the embodiment of the people, the Deputy Gender Minister indicated that traditional authorities, religious and opinion leaders had enormous responsibilities in helping to control the surging human rights abuses and violations among women and girls in society.
Mrs Prempeh called on the media and all stakeholders to be on the watch, and report all forms of domestic violence against women and girls to relevant institutions for the necessary action to be taken.
