Child sacrifice blamed on foreign-based witches

THE increased number of cases of human sacrifice is a result of a crackdown by the South African government against Ugandan witchdoctors, commonly referred to as Bafere, Police boss Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura told Parliament yesterday.

Kayihura said the quack witchdoctors, who were forced to relocate to Uganda, masquerade as traditional herbalists with the purpose of extorting money out of Ugandans.

“Many of these traditional healers have done this business in South Africa. Now that South Africa is arresting them, they are trying to run away.”

He was appearing before the parliamentary select committee investigating the conduct of the Police during the arrest of MPs.

Kayihura said Ugandans with various social problems visit the conmen. These give them herbs after extorting money out of them. The witchdoctors then tell their victims that their problems require a human sacrifice.

“As a way of protecting himself, he tells his victim to look for a head or private parts of a virgin,” Kayihura explained.

He cited the recent incident in Ntunda village, Kiboga district, where a 12-year-old girl was sacrificed days after she was reported missing. Her private parts had been cut off before her body was dumped in a bush. He observed that there are over 60 traditional healers in Ntunda alone.

During the same meeting, Kayihura also proposed that the constitutional provision requiring suspects to be charged in court within 48 hours be reviewed. He said more time is needed for the Police to carry out investigations.

However, the MPs opposed the idea, saying it would increase cases of torture of suspects.
“If someone can be tortured in just a few hours of arrest, what if the 48 hours are reviewed,” the Kasese Woman MP, Winnie Kiiza, asked.

On the conduct of the Police during the arrest of Kampala MP Nabilah Ssempala last year, Kayihura told the committee that the current law does not provide for special ways of arresting an MP. This means that an MP is treated like any other ordinary person during arrest.

He also said he had instituted a committee to investigate claims that some female officers had been sexually harassed by their male counterparts.

Kayihura attributed the increase in cases of drug abuse to weak laws which he said need to be reviewed.

New Vision Online