I am in total support of youth state minister James Kinobe’s pledge to initiate a law that restricts traditional healers and witchdoctors from advertising their services freely on in the mass media.
I am in total support of youth state minister James Kinobe’s pledge to initiate a law that restricts traditional healers and witchdoctors from advertising their services freely on in the mass media. It has become fashionable for the media, especially radio stations, to offer free air time to sorcerers,witchdoctors and traditional healers for them to sell their services, yet professional medical doctors are by law barred from advertising their services in the media. These so-called healers have won souls of many Ugandans because they claim that they heal all diseases, give blessings, remove curses, bring lost people, solve family problems and help those in need of visas to go abroad. Consequently, many desperate people have fallen prey to these crooks who don’t solve any of the above problems but are only after making money. They rob desperate Ugandans of the little they have thus causing them greater problems. After asking the ‘patients’ several questions about their financial positions and problems, they tell them that they have been bewitched by their kin. They can tell you that it is your brother, sister or any other close relative. This only causes divisions and hatred in families. Women flocked shrines to seek solutions to their marital problems. This has robbed them their joy in relationships and marriages.Why should this continue in our society today? These are things that were done privately in African traditional society. I call upon all religious leaders in Uganda to stand against this kind of evil in the community. Sickness, poverty, unemployment and other social problems are part of our lives. They will not go away just because we are going to witchdoctors. There are better ways of fighting these problems. There have been reports of child abductions in Uganda and many children have gone missing. It is suspected that these children are taken for sacrifice in shrines. This is partly a result of the publicity witchdoctors are getting. Should we continue to lose our children in this way? Witchdoctors don’t solve problems. The problem is that seeking their services is addictive. When you visit their shrines once, you want to keep visiting them until you are left with no more money to take there. Some Ugandans have become poor through this. Ends