Elderly women at the Kukuo Witches Camp in the Nanumba South District have appealed to the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection to intervene after they were reportedly removed from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme following a recent reassessment.
The women say they have not received any LEAP payments for several months, leaving them without a vital source of support and worsening their already difficult living conditions.
Life remains extremely challenging for many of the elderly women living in witches’ camps across Northern Ghana. Most of them were accused of witchcraft and forced to flee their communities, while others have been abandoned by their families and now depend largely on the kindness of individuals and charitable organisations for survival.
For years, the government’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme provided quarterly cash grants to support vulnerable people, including many of the women at the Kukuo Witches Camp. The assistance helped them purchase food and meet their basic needs.
In 2025, government undertook a nationwide reassessment of LEAP beneficiaries to improve the programme and ensure support reached those who genuinely qualified.
However, residents of the Kukuo Witches Camp say the exercise has left many of them worse off. According to the women, several beneficiaries were removed from the programme, and no one at the camp has received LEAP payments for months.
They say the loss of the support has made it increasingly difficult to feed themselves and meet their daily needs. The women are therefore appealing to the Gender Minister Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey to intervene and restore their benefits.
“They used to gives us LEAP support for we the elderly women and it was helping us a lot. But for some months now, we do not know what is going on, the support no longer comes and life has been challenging for us. We are appealing for it to be restored,” one of the women told Citi News
Meanwhile, the Assembly Member for the Kukuo Electoral Area, Issah Abdul Aziz urged the Gender Ministry to undertake a special re-registration exercise for residents of witches’ camps, particularly those at Kukuo, to ensure no deserving beneficiary is excluded.
One organisation that has consistently supported the camp is the Songtaba Group, which regularly donates food items and other essential supplies to the women.
Executive Director of Songtaba, Hajia Lamnatu Adam, says such interventions have become necessary because of the vulnerability of the women.
She also renewed her call on President John Dramani Mahama to assent to the Anti-Witchcraft Bill once it is passed by Parliament, describing it as a crucial step towards protecting the rights and dignity of vulnerable women.
Efforts by Citi News to obtain a response from the Department of Social Welfare in the Nanumba South District were unsuccessful.
