Witchcraft scare: Parents circumcising, piercing kids’ ears

Aug 30, 2006

THE number of parents taking their sons for circumcision to guard them against being sacrificed by witch doctors has of recent increased.

By Chris Kiwawulo

THE number of parents taking their sons for circumcision to guard them against being sacrificed by witch doctors has of recent increased.

Over 10 parents that The New Vision talked to at Kibuli Hospital recently, said they had taken their sons for circumcision for protection purposes.
Many hospitals have noted an increase in the number of children being taken to hospitals for circumcision.

Kibuli Hospital administrator Siraje Mbulambago said the number had increased tremendously in the last few weeks. Parents, especially mothers, are more concerned and accompany their sons for circumcision.

Maama Ssenyonjo, 27, a mother of two, said she was forced to take her son for circumcision after hearing stories of kidnappers and witch doctors.

“For girls, you can pierce the ears, but boys are safer when they are circumcised. We are told that when a child has shed blood, they cannot be sacrificed,” she says. Ssenyonjo believed that circumcision works against child sacrifice when kidnappers abandoned her neighbour’s circumcised son.
Mbulambago says Kibuli Hospital books up to a maximum of 25 patients per day though they are meant to book only 20. He says about 15 parents were deferred last Friday.

“It is true the number has increased and 60% of all the patients are non-Muslims. Those below 10 years comprise over 80%. Though the whole issue is about general body cleanliness, the human sacrifice issue has also forced many,” he says.

Mbulambago says the medication recommended after circumcision is diazepam, Ampicilin and dichlofenac. Antibiotics like tetracycline are also recommended. He says the number of patients who turn up for circumcision normally increases in holidays and that the hospital only carries out the operations on Mondays and Fridays.

“We attend to up to 40 patients per week and because the number is now high, we keep on deferring the rest because the operation takes between 10 to 15 minutes,” he adds. Kibuli is one of the leading circumcision centres in Kampala with children below five years being operated upon at sh25,000 and those above five at sh50,000.

Dr. Moses Garukande, the consultant surgeon at International Hospital Kampala, says the number of children being brought to the hospital for circumcision has increased. “In the last two to three years, we used to have about five parents bringing their children for circumcision a month, but nowadays, we get between 15 to 20 monthly,” he says.

Dr. Charles Nkeretanyi, a surgeon at St. Catherine Clinic on Buganda Road, says children and adults pay sh60,000 to be cirmumcised. He says children get healed within a week from the day of the operation when given proper medication and care. For adults, he says, “They take one to two weeks to heal if there is no infection. This is because they at times get erections and hurt themselves.”
Robert Ntende, an administrator at Kadic Hospital, Ntinda, says the circumcision costs are negotiable, but rates differ between children and adults.
Ntende says the total cost ranges between sh200,000 and sh300,000, including theatre, medication and operation fees.

Night Abenakyo a.k.a Mayinja, a mother of four, whose only son was kidnapped last year, but was four days later was found abandoned in a nearby bushsays: “My son would be no more by now if I had not bothered to take him for circumcision.”

“Not all witch doctors are evil,” says Saidi Mutembanju, a traditional doctor based at Kirokole zone, Kawempe. “Many people believe human sacrifice can bring wealth, but they are wrong. If any traditional doctor asks for human sacrifice, then they are not genuine.”

Appearing on WBS TV recently, the Ndeeba-based Maama Phina, the chairperson of traditional healers, condemned the act of child sacrifice as evil.

“That practice is not part of our profession. It is common among those doctors who come from Tanzania and Congo and normally tag onto themselves very scaring names like ‘Mutulakungo’ (one who can sit on a leopard’s back),” she says.

Phina pledged to work with The Police to stamp out child sacrifice, claiming it was a disgrace to the profession. Mulago’s Eliphaz Ssekabira says the hospital has of late registered an increase in circumcision cases.

Five-year-old Edwin Muguluma of Lubaga was recently sacrificed triggering off a massive hunt for child sacrifice culprits. Though the Police have since arrested several people including witch doctors, parents have vowed never to take chances — the reason they are taking their sons for circumcision.

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