ONE ON ONE WITH DAVID MAHDI KOROMA Crackdown on Black Magic Sorcerers Intensifies in Sierra Leone....As Over Hundreds of Witch ‘Paw Paw’ Guns Confiscated Posted by David Mahdi Koroma on Feb 3, 2010, 17:35

A Member of The Sierra Leone Traditonal Healers Displaying Witch Paw Paw Guns They Confiscated From Black Magic Sorcerers

With just the stroke of their witch guns popularly know among Black Magic Sorcerers in Sierra Leone as “Paw Paw” gun, they can destroy lives and inflict untold sufferings on their unsuspecting victims. At the Up-Gun Roundabout in the East End of Freetown, they are seen brandishing their weapons of terror demonstrating to potential clients that they are agents of the devil and can wreak havoc to people wherever they find themselves in the world.

They are also seen bargaining with prospective customers who are just devilish or aggrieved and wanted to settle scores with  innocent  individuals .For a small amount of money they perform their rituals using their witch guns to inflict pain and agony. Relatives of victims who recently suffered the wrath of these Witch Doctors have disclosed to Standard Times that shots from these ‘’witch paw paw” guns have left their siblings with rare diseases sometimes leading to their death. A victim Mabel Thomas, residing at Brookfields told this press that she lost her loved one last January in a family dispute over land and real estate.

Explaining her ordeal to this press, Mabel said her husband was targeted by his uncle who enlisted the support of a so called Witch Doctor when he refuses to part with some of the real estate his late father bequeathed to him. “My husband was inflicted with a rare disease we took him to all the hospitals in Freetown but with no success, it was after his death that his uncle’s wife confessed about the Witch Doctor’s involvement in his death.”

In Sierra Leone, where belief in traditional black magic and witchcraft remains widespread and where ritual killings during General Elections to obtain blood or body parts are rampant. The business of hiring Black magic sorcerers to inflict pain has soared to an unprecedented proportion. This has not only caught the attention of the Sierra Leone government but a massive crackdown to weed out these undesired Witch Doctors has begun leaving some Sierra Leoneans sceptical about the approach the Government  is using to track down these sorcerers.

“The government is using a thief to catch a thief” Olu Faulkner describes the method used by the government to weed out these Sorcerers. “How can you put a rat in charge of a grain yard? These traditional healers are the same guys wrecking havoc on people with their black magic and now they are working for the government”. This press has learnt that the Government of Sierra Leone has enlisted the support of the Sierra Leone Traditional Healers Association to help them weed out these witch doctors.

So far, according to Standard Times investigations the operation has been successful with over hundreds of witch doctors exposed and their witch “Paw Paw” guns confiscated. “It takes a thief to catch a thief; Government does not have the mechanics to expose these guys so they have to resort to this method” APC sympathiser Daniel Kanu said.

The activities of Witch Doctors are becoming so frustrating that many Sierra Leoneans are now looking to their Church pastors for redemption. One Pentecostal Church Pastor told this press that Jesus has power over any witch doctor or Juju master “all people need to do is to pray, believe and have faith in God”. He encouraged all Sierra Leoneans to believe in Jesus Christ, read the scriptures of the bible   and refrain from using “Juju Masters” to settle score.

Popular Sierra Leone musician Emmerson Bockarie in one of his latest song “Balance” also talked about the ills of these so called hired sorcerers.

A Member of The Sierra Leone Traditonal Healers Displaying Witch Paw Paw Guns They Confiscated From Black Magic Sorcerers