Accra, July 26, GNA – Former President Jerry John Rawlings has called for a serious investigation and arrest of all who were involved in the “cruel and barbaric lynching of a 90-year-old woman accused of being a witch, in Kafaba, near Salaga”.
The former President said, he was appalled by the violence meted out to frail Akua Denteh, who was accused in an uncivilized manner of being a witch by a fetish priestess and subsequently subjected to lashes and beatings on Thursday, July 23.
A statement issued by Mr Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, Director of Communications of the Office the former President, which was copied to the Ghana News Agency on Sunday noted that the former President Rawlings said all the security agencies should take the matter seriously and ensure that it was thoroughly investigated, all the assailants apprehended and prosecuted and the appropriate judicial punishment meted out to them.
“The police and other investigative agencies as well as the Attorney-General’s Department must ensure that this matter is thoroughly investigated and appropriate charges and prosecution brought against the perpetrators to serve as a deterrent,” he said.
Former President Rawlings said: “We are in 2020 and such brutal abuse, especially against women should not be countenanced in Ghana. We rose in unison when George Floyd cruelly lost his life in the United States. We cannot look on and allow something more callous to happen in Ghana.”
A little more attention, Flt Lt Rawlings stated, must be paid to domestic violence.
He said too many people, especially women are being physically abused in their marriages and relationships and the strong hand of the law must be brought down hard against such culprits.
While commending the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service (DOVVSU), he urged them to act more swiftly to prosecute those who abuse and terrorize their partners in marriage and other relationships.
The former President said people have become brazen in their use of violence and a lot of more effort has to be employed not only by DOVVSU but by the prosecuting authority and the judiciary to ensure that violence is not perpetrated on any individual.
The statement said the body of the late Akua Denteh had been deposited at the Tamale Teaching Hospital Mortuary, while the Savannah Regional Police work to apprehend the culprits.
GNA