People Accused of Being Witches Can Sue for Defamation in Ghana

Witchcraft beliefs and the fear of bewitchment have been the cause of some of the most vicious crimes against vulnerable groups, particularly elderly women, in Ghana. People accused of being witches are often ostracised/banished, discriminated against, physically assaulted/tortured, and/or murdered.

However, a recent study published in Common Law World Review (a peer-reviewed academic journal) by Sage Publishing establishes that under the Ghanaian customary law, insults and name-calling (including witchcraft accusations) that impair or are likely to impair one’s dignity, are actionable per se.

Drawing largely on case law, the study observes that the courts in Ghana are generally willing to enforce customary laws bordering on reckless witchcraft accusations if or when invited to do so, particularly where the parties (the accuser and the accused) belong to the same community or group.

Indeed, the passage of the anti-witchcraft bill that criminalises witchcraft accusations and other witchcraft-related conducts is a step in the right direction. However, studies on witchcraft beliefs’ impact on crimes in African countries that have had anti-witchcraft legislation for decades and centuries (e.g., Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, etc.) show that such statutes tend to have little impact on the fight against witchcraft accusations and concomitant violence.

Thus, in those countries, people who recklessly or unlawfully accuse others of being witches hardly get prosecuted let alone convicted. This is partly because the criminal justice systems in most African countries are heavily underfunded or strapped for resources. Hence, investigating or prosecuting criminal cases bordering on witchcraft accusations is never a priority for law enforcement agencies and the State.

Besides, it is always difficult to secure a conviction in a case where the alleged criminal offence was committed verbally, and the defendant denies the allegation. If the complainant happens to be an individual long rumoured to be a witch in the community, most witnesses may be unwilling to testify against the defendants, and law enforcement personnel in the community, many of whom tend to believe in witchcraft, may show little or no interest in prosecuting the case.

Therefore, even though it is relieving that the Parliament of Ghana has passed an anti-witchcraft bill which is awaiting presidential approval, the bill, if approved by the president, may not live up to the drafters’ expectations. ‘The present study thus raises awareness that there is an opportunity today for victims of reckless witchcraft accusations to sue for defamation, using the important body of case law that has been developed through judges’ interpretation of slander as understood through the lens of customary law’.

Since most victims of witchcraft imputations ‘are poor and not able to afford the exorbitant legal fees, legal practitioners are encouraged to take up witchcraft-related defamation cases on a pro bono basis. Non-governmental human rights protection organisations and philanthropists are also encouraged to financially support such actions’.

The study, ‘Witchcraft Imputations and the Tort of Defamation in Ghana’, has been published Open Access, and could be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1177/14737795231201433

Emmanuel Sarpong Owusu (aka Black Power): Legal academic, criminologist, and a lecturer in the UK.