Asalam brother Musa Pembo. this article is powerful and loaded. i pick out this few important points. i believe the writer was honest and progressive. my look at the issue from an islamic angle is to sperate the chaff from the truth. real islam forbide the eveil cultural practices that only leads to nothing. i remember seeing civil servants competing for marabou power in in banjul. it is so sad.
"Like other parts of West Africa, many of the spiritual churches claim to cure diseases, overturn
court cases, others to bring wealth and happiness. Zambia�s former
President
Frederick Chuluba when he was President visited Nigerian spiritual
churches
secretly for spiritual help ostensibly against his looming corruption
cases,
an indication of such churches aiding mal-development.
But the question of how a miracle can be verified has not been
answered. Few
would assume the power to judge whether or not a miracle is genuine. In
a
bid that is expected to brighten the development terrain, members of
the
Christ Embassy, one of the largest spiritual churches in Nigeria and
West
Africa, which used to show healing services, have now gone to court to
challenge the NBC, which aims to rationalize an irrational society.
Before
this, the Nigeria media have described their country as the
�devil�s den,� a
reference to a country mired in irrationality, human sacrifices, ritual
murders, fearsome juju-marabou practices and the impact of all these on
the
stability of the country. Gen. Sani Abacha revealed how juju-marabou
mediums
have been undermining the stability of Nigeria.
As the trial of irrationality gains momentum regionally, West Africans
are
hearing from the UN War Crimes Tribunal in Freetown how juju-marabou
mixed
with drugs, a deadly potent, saw some 500,000 Sierra Leoneans murdered,
beheaded, maimed, raped and mutilated in the country�s decade long
civil war
(rebel leader Foday Sankoh was so much juju-marabou drenched that he
believed he could vanish into thin air and that no bullet could
penetrate
through him. He was involved in massive human sacrifices and ritual
murders). In Liberia juju-marabou defined the rebels mission. War-lord
turned president Charles Taylor has been accused by both his associates
and
publications of gruesome human sacrifices and ritual murders (West
Africans
will get know more as attempts are being made to arrest him from his
Nigerian exile and trial him. Taylor cannot escape from Nigeria as he
has
already been indicted in Europe, Africa and Asia.). The crime against
humanity trial in Freetown demonstrates what Prof. Kasim Kasanga
indicates
that we use scientific method to analyze problems holistically. In
Freetown
the influence superstition on the decade long horrifying civil war is
on
trial holistically.
Dirk
Kohnert,
of Germany's Institute for African Affairs, reports that the belief in
witchcraft, juju/marabou and other such practices are still "deeply
rooted
in many African societies, regardless of education, religion, and
social
class of the people concerned."
Musa Amadu Pembo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello Folks,
I thought of sharing some of the articles I have on the subject of
Juju/Marabou Practices in West Africa.The articles are four years old and
some of the people in the story are dead..The importance of the subject
-matter is still relevant,I would say more relevant today and to lend
support to the BLOG Suntou has started.I would therfore be most grateful if
you could forward any article /title of book on the subject to the
forum.Brother Suntou is looking at the problem with an Islamic Spectacle
on.Yes.he is right to examine and write on the subject.In Islam,it is a
Cardinal Sin to associate partners with Allah Subhanu Wa Taa'la.This is term
Shirk(Holy Quran 31:13) In my humble opinion,this should not be limited to
Islam alone,It is a cultural problem with Thousand of years of History
behind the practice.all over the West Africa Region,and wherever,West
Africans have gone,they have taken the practice with them..Think of South
America,The Americas during the Slave Trade,the Carribbeans Island and now
Europe.
Let us therefore have a healthy discussion on the subject.
Best wishes,
Musa.
The Trial Of Irrationality In West Africa
By: Akosah-Sarpong, Kofi, (2004-06-13)
Kofi Akosah-Sarpong observes that West African elites and the increasing
open mass media are finally confronting deadly superstitions that have been
inhibiting their development process for long
"If a particular spot on the road is causing accidents the traditional
thinking is that evil spirits or ghosts are operating there and must be
exorcised. We spent resources to slaughter sheep and goats and pour libation
as a way of driving away the evil spirit to prevent the accidents. But quite
often the problem persists." -- Prof. Kasim Kasanga, Ghana�s Minister of
Environment and Science, recalling how superstitious beliefs dominated road
construction
From Kwame Nkrumah�s Ghana to Sekou Toure�s Guinea to Samuel Doe�s Liberia
the issue of culture and development, especially deadly superstitious
beliefs, have never been at the center of West Africa�s development
discourse till now. Samuel Doe himself was so rooted in deadly superstition
that he blew his country into pieces. Sekou Toure and Nkrumah projected
images of mystery. Today�s Big Men should move away from such practices so
as to minimize the influence of unnecessary superstition in the development
process. From Ghana to the Gambia to Nigeria there appears to be ferment of
attacks against certain superstitions that for long was ignored in the
region�s development process.
This is 2004 and West Africans need a new mindset and new thinking informed
by their experiences, culture and history. West Africans live in new
challenges and new dangers, some of which emanate from within their culture,
unknown to them has led them lead a dim life. The Liberian rebel kid who
straps himself with juju-marabou paraphernalia against bullets and evil
forces but killed later is as stupid as the juju-marabou medium who gave him
the talismans and other charms and potions. The juju-marabou medium that
aids an armed robber and a coup plotter is as dangerous as the implications
of poverty in stability. For long, West African elites have not understood
their societies for development, now they are beginning to and this is
expected to influence policy development, most of which currently do not
reflect the values of their societies.
Much of the reason for the sharp rise of attacks against certain cultural
values that are today deemed to be counter-productive to West Africa�s
development is the fact that the region is rated by the UN as the poorest in
the world; Nigerian defence researchers have revealed that of the 37
successful coup detats in Africa 32 have occurred in West Africa (making the
region the most unstable in Africa); and security experts have concluded
that nearly all of the most horrendous civil wars, communal violence, high
profile corruption cases and crimes in Africa have occurred in West Africa.
Most of these troubles are rooted in West African culture. That witchcraft
and other negative cultural values have been disturbing Guinea Bissau is as
true as the same values making Liberia a mess. It is, therefore, not
surprising to hear Ghana�s Minister of Environment and Science, Prof. Kasim
Kasanga saying that irrational ways of solving problems based on
superstition has become the biggest obstacle facing the Ghana (and by
extension West Africa). He, therefore, called for the adoption of scientific
methods of explaining problems rather than relying on superstition. "The
challenges facing the nation today was to transform the minds, attitudes and
behaviours in our society to appreciate scientific approach to doing
things."
Unsatisfied with the excessive blame of colonialism for West Africa�s
despicable state of affairs, thinkers such as Ghana�s George Ayittey and
Nigeria�s Wole Soyinka have argued for a look at internal values that have
been inhibiting the region�s progress. Ayittey has gone to the extent of
coining �Africa�s solution for Africa�s problems.� It is in this spirit that
the increasingly open West African journalists and a generation of elites
have reflected upon certain cultural values that for long have been blocking
West Africa�s progress. Anthropologists and development experts reveal that
the high incidence of witchcraft, juju, marabou and other native spiritual
mediums in West Africa have been impacting on the region negatively to the
extent that poverty-alleviation and democratization are under threat from
such cultural values. Voodoo, bad or good, is only practiced in West Africa.
Juju is heavily a West African value. Marabou (otherwise called Alpha-man in
Sierra Leone and Malam or Kramo in Ghana or Aboki in Nigeria) is highly
rooted and scattered in West Africa). There is also high incidence of
witchcraft in West Africa than any other part of Africa. And all these have
been entangling West Africa�s development.
From coup plotters to armed robbers to pickpockets to family crises all
these negative cultural values have been employed to the detriment of
stability and progress, creating a society of mistrust and weak civic
virtues. Apart from all these certain cultural beliefs such as obsession
with the dead to the extent of spending more money on the dead than living
conditions and the interpretation of all misfortunes on witchcraft, the
mixture all these inhibiting cultural values and poverty has resulted in a
West African developmental trouble. Aware of such negative cultural values
there have seen a remarkable boom in spiritual churches across West Africa
most of whom mix juju and other native spiritism with Christian values, a
dangerous mix that has increased negative superstition, undermined
development and blinded West Africans from reality in terms comprehending
their problems in clear terms, West African elites and the media are waging
campaigns against such inhibiting values.
It is in this regard that in Nigerian broadcasters are no longer allowed to
show miracles on television in a way that are not "provable and believable.�
Nigeria�s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), regulators of the
country�s media, says television stations that fail to abide by the ruling
will be fined, and their equipment could be confiscated. The NBC, drawing
from the of wave media attacks against deadly superstition and irrationality
like other parts of West Africa, says some of the miracles shown on
television and other media outlets, are false and TV stations can broadcast
miracles only when they are verifiable. This may sound contentions but help
clear the heads of the gullible and the irrational. Like other parts of West
Africa, many of the spiritual churches claim to cure diseases, overturn
court cases, others to bring wealth and happiness. Zambia�s former President
Frederick Chuluba when he was President visited Nigerian spiritual churches
secretly for spiritual help ostensibly against his looming corruption cases,
an indication of such churches aiding mal-development.
But the question of how a miracle can be verified has not been answered. Few
would assume the power to judge whether or not a miracle is genuine. In a
bid that is expected to brighten the development terrain, members of the
Christ Embassy, one of the largest spiritual churches in Nigeria and West
Africa, which used to show healing services, have now gone to court to
challenge the NBC, which aims to rationalize an irrational society. Before
this, the Nigeria media have described their country as the �devil�s den,� a
reference to a country mired in irrationality, human sacrifices, ritual
murders, fearsome juju-marabou practices and the impact of all these on the
stability of the country. Gen. Sani Abacha revealed how juju-marabou mediums
have been undermining the stability of Nigeria.
As the trial of irrationality gains momentum regionally, West Africans are
hearing from the UN War Crimes Tribunal in Freetown how juju-marabou mixed
with drugs, a deadly potent, saw some 500,000 Sierra Leoneans murdered,
beheaded, maimed, raped and mutilated in the country�s decade long civil war
(rebel leader Foday Sankoh was so much juju-marabou drenched that he
believed he could vanish into thin air and that no bullet could penetrate
through him. He was involved in massive human sacrifices and ritual
murders). In Liberia juju-marabou defined the rebels mission. War-lord
turned president Charles Taylor has been accused by both his associates and
publications of gruesome human sacrifices and ritual murders (West Africans
will get know more as attempts are being made to arrest him from his
Nigerian exile and trial him. Taylor cannot escape from Nigeria as he has
already been indicted in Europe, Africa and Asia.). The crime against
humanity trial in Freetown demonstrates what Prof. Kasim Kasanga indicates
that we use scientific method to analyze problems holistically. In Freetown
the influence superstition on the decade long horrifying civil war is on
trial holistically.
Informed by such atrocious and irrational regional juju-marabou induced
developments, Ghanaian elites and the media, like their Gambian and Nigerian
pals, have been waging campaigns against values deem inhibiting the
development process. (The Accra-based Chronicle has reported how Togolese
opposition figures employed Ghanaian voodoo to kill President Eyadema.) The
elites have enjoined Ghanaians to eat well in order to think well so as not
blame misfortunes on witchcraft. They have asked Ghanaians to spend more
money on their living conditions instead of on the dead. They have asked
Ghanaians to think well about their problems instead of relying too much on
prophecies from the spiritual churches. The Ghana Police Service, aware of
the impact of juju-marabou on crime, now sees juju-marabou mediums as
criminal facilitators. Agriculture Minister, Major Courage Quarshigah (rtd),
one of the leading elites, have gone further by challenging Ghanaian and
African researchers to tinker with their cultural values in order to improve
their development process. In a move reminiscent of the European
Enlightenment era, which used reason to demolish entrenched deadly
superstitions, Ghanaian scientists are currently working on strategies that
would help explain things rationally, based on facts and given reasons, and
are also mapping out strategies for science acculturation in order to
minimize the degree of irrationality in the Ghanaian society. Aware of the
implications of deadly superstition on their country, Liberian women have
been demonstrating against the ritual murders of their children. Considering
the increasing integration of the sub-region the anti-superstition campaigns
by the Ghanaian and other West African intelligentsia and civil society is
expected to influence the sub-region against inhibitions within their
culture.
Unnecessary superstition have dominated the lives of West Africans since
ancient times so much so that even a defeat in a football game was explained
off in superstitious terms while �the real technical problems were
neglected.� In Freetown, anything that happens is said to be the �na God
mark am� (a fatalistic belief that means it is God�s design. In this view a
road accident is Na God mark am and not a mechanical problem or the driver�s
mistake). It is therefore not surprising to hear Ghana�s Dr Joseph O. Gogo
saying that the under- development of Ghana and West Africa is due to the
�low level of science acculturation in the system.�
Despite the anti-superstition campaigns by West African media and the elites
more work need to be done in this front against West African stupidity,
stupidity informed by the region�s culture that has seen the region easily
used by the Libyan leader Murmur Ghaddafi to cause cruel civil wars and
general instability (Ghaddafi not only bankrolled West African insurgents
and coup plotters but also trained Sierra Leone�s Foday Sankoh and Liberia�s
Charles Taylor and their associates to cause one of the most terrible civil
wars in Africa and aided coup plotters such as Ghana�s Jerry Rawlings,
himself by his own accounts a rabid juju-marabou dabbler).
West African elites, the media and civil society should continue to campaign
against such cultural practices, drawing from the region�s experiences,
culture and history, and help refine the inhibiting aspects of their culture
for the good of the development process. The media and the elites should
undertake more interpretative/commentative work in terms of the culture and
the development process in their public education services.
COMMENTARY
Kuffour and the Juju Talks - 21/04/2004
Kofi Akosah-Sarpong looks at the implications of President Kuffour being
linked to juju-marabou dabbling and says Ghana's experience expects the
President to live about such talks
"President Agyekum Kufuor was a God fearing man and who is not the type to
visit shrines to consult mediums to help him maintain his position in
power," revealed Joseph B. Aidoo, Ghana's Western Regional Minister. Before
Aidoo's remarks, there have been speculative reports in the Accra-based
Palaver about Kuffour dabbling in juju/marabou rituals. While the credence
of this is subject to debate and in the era of partisan politics, one's
political stand, such talks call for serious discussions since our culture,
our history and our experiences demonstrates juju/marabou and other such
practices inhibiting our development.
Culturally, it is not strange to hear a leader in Ghana (or Africa) being
linked to juju/marabou dabbling. The reason is that juju, marabou, and other
such practices have been part of our culture for thousands of years,
especially in West Africa. That our leaders dabble in such dreadful cultural
values is true-from traditional rulers to ministers to presidents and prime
ministers to the small chief in remote villages. What is imperative, in
terms of our on-going development drive, is that we are increasingly coming
to the realization that juju/marabou and other such practices are
counterproductive to progress.
The significance of looking at the implications of John Kuffour being linked
to juju/marabou is that it was raised in the chambers Ghana's highest
law-making body. By raising such talks in parliament, or rather defending
Kuffour for not dabbling in juju/marabou, the perception is that
juju/marabou is negative, especially for a President, since it has
implications for Kuffour and the nation. The implications border on
Kuffour's reasoning, and as Head of State, for Ghana. As a leader, Kuffour's
private life flows into his public life, more so in country where poverty
and distress are high in a region which is the poorest in the world, and
there are high demands from the struggling people for Kuffour to delivery
developmental eggs.
The idea of Kuffour dabbling in juju/marabou and other such practices, as
development experts debate the implications of juju/marabou, witchcraft and
other such practices in national development, is that it weakens the Head of
State's ability to totally rationalize in relations to the problems on the
ground. Juju/marabou and other such practices not only weakens trust, a key
ingredient in development, but undermines "national morality, because they
are based on irrational spirit power," as Robert Kaplan reports in The
Coming Anarchy. You don't solve poverty problems by dabbling in the
metaphysical and as we all know of some aspects of juju/marabou, murdering
innocent people for some stupid power which does no help anybody (Nigeria's
Gen. Sani Abacha's juju/marabou-directed murdering spree to transform
himself into not only civilian President but also solve his mounting
problems are cases in point). You solve the problems of poverty by
understanding the poverty variables on the ground, listening to the people,
by talking to the people and finding out what worries them and factoring in
its international dimensions, especially a country with colonial history.
The history of Ghana (and Africa) shows that leaders, both military and
civilians, who dabble heavily in juju/marabou either paralyze their country
or blow it into pieces. From Liberia's Gen. Samuel Doe to Uganda's Gen. Idi
Amin to Central Africa Republic's Jean-Bedel Bokassa (who ate human flesh as
part of his juju/marabou rituals for power), dabbling in juju/marabou makes
the leader weak mentally, thus becoming not only gullible but inability to
rationalize about the problems of the people. The leader becomes
unrealistic, depending on illiterate, irrational, unscientific and
impractical mediums that, in all measure, are immoral, stupid and
destructive. The juju/marabou dabbling Africa leader sees critics as enemies
and lives in paranoia. Such leaders become the manipulative robots of the
juju/marabou and other mediums as we saw in Gen. Idi Amin, perhaps one of
the most rabid juju/marabou dabblers Africa has seen-- the Ugandan media
described Amin as spiritually weak.
Ghana under General Kutu Acheampong not only saw a throwback to the ancient
times mired in irrational native spiritual mediums but rule by forces of
irrationality. The era shows a Head of State confused and rolling from one
juju/marabou medium to another. The juju/marabou made Acheampong not only
gullible but also infantile, believing in everything the spiritual mediums
told him. It is, therefore, not surprising that Acheampong was swimming
every mid-night in one of the rivers in Accra as advised by his spiritual
mediums, ostensibly to ward off being overthrown and being attacked by
"evil" spirits (More appropriately "people's" spirit). But Gen. Acheampong
was overthrown all the same and executed. In Nigeria, the juju/marabou
mediums had so much grip on Gen. Abacha that his every move was
juju/marabou-directed: his conducted important affairs of state overnight by
the advise of his mediums; he looted the Nigerian treasury in the same
fashion; he killed and jailed in the same vein (He jailed and nearly killed
President Olusegun Obasanjo upon the advise of his mediums some of whom come
as far as Yemen, Saudi Arabia and India). Nigeria was ruled by so much
irrationality that the country not only became 'dark' but also was on the
edge of another civil war.
Aidoo said Kuffour is "a confident man and that his confidence was in God
who he feared and by whose grace only, he (The President) would have the
mandate of the populace to rule again" and that "the President was however
not complacent, in that he showed his awareness that some persons would do
whatever they could to ensure that he lost the mandate of the people so he
is taking the necessary precautions to forestall that," the Ghana News
Agency (GNA) reports. "Necessary precautions to forestall" what? Such
suspicious remarks emanates largely from the Ghanaian (and African) culture,
where because of high incidence of witchcraft believes, juju/marabou
dabbling and the influence of witchdoctors any mishap, distress and
challenges are thought to be influenced by unseen forces. Leaders of the
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