A Taste Of Fresh Witches' Brew… . Lucifer Rules Ok!
A Touch Of Nokoko
By Kofi Akumanyi
"A country parson, Reverend John Baker, has told court of how he fought a supernatural battle with demons who had control of a man alleged to have fleeced wealthy christians of £200,000 to be used to combat devil-worshipping. He said the devil spoke through alleged conman Derry Mainwaring Knight's mouth warning “you can't have him. He belongs to Lucifer. He is master of the occult.” The Rev John Baker described how he hit back at the devils while Knight was in a trance in the attic of his rectory. I recognised the trance as being due to demonic spirits infestation. I took authority over the spirits in the name of Jesus Christ' " - Daily Mirror, February 20, 1986.Meanwhile in faraway Ghana another drama in the supernatural realm had been unfolding over the past few months. The story which was given front-page banner headlines in "Weekend" newspaper said that one Okomfo Nyamekye, a woman who styled herself as Ghana's number one Witch-Hunter, "the all powerful and supernatural woman", operating from her base at Darkuman, a suburb of Accra accused and arrested a 77-year-old woman during an investigation of the "mysterious" death of a client's sister, and charged her for using witchcraft to kill her victim. A court presided over by Mrs Selassie Sawyer-Williams found Okomfo Nyamekye guilty of unlawful trial by ordeal, stealing, unlawful imprisonment and causing damage.
The two incidents separated by a distance of about 6,000 miles have one obvious thread - that Lucifer rules OK in the supernatural world and that occultism has fascinated man since the dawn of time. I have no interest in such happenings in the 'twilight' zone but since it appears as if innocent people are being daily engulfed in the net of forces that they can hardly understand I thought I should investigate what witchcraft and wizardry are all about. In the course of this hazardous venture (I may possibly end up with a curse cast on me by Lucifer himself), hopefully, the world would be enlightened.
In appreciation of the fact that one must not dabble in things that he does not know much about, I sought some help from my friend Bob who claims to deal with supernatural powers of the benign kind. Incidentally, he was at the 1974 Witches International conference held at Bogota and, according to him, the experience he gained was immeasurable. Bob kindly agreed to take me to a local meeting where I afterwards, had a long conversation with a spokeswoman of the witches on developments at the home-front.
"A lot has been happening on the "I witches and wizards' front in Ghana and the publicity must be good for you," I said.
"Why?"
"I suppose you will need that for recruitment purposes."
"You've got to be kidding. This unique society doesn't recruit new members through paid advertisements in the media. It's an exclusive club whose credentials of members are self-evident," she said, examining her broom-stick closely.
"What credentials?"
"I cannot tell you but suffice it to say that if you're one of us we know without making a song and dance about it."
"Talking about song and dance, do you sing and do ritual dancing at your meetings?"
"Well, some do others don't," she said rather laconically.
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning the white witches perform their rituals with all sorts of paraphernalia and may sing and dance when the need arises," she explained, "but we blacks do business without much fuss."
"I wonder whether I am allowed to probe further than I've already done… what's the nature of this business? To put it rather bluntly, how true is the well- known allegation that you spiritually kill people you don't like?"
"I thought you'd never ask this question. You know something? Witches have been maligned for far too long because people do not understand the philosophy underlining our spiritual operations," she said suddenly, irritated at the question.
"To be sure witches’ reputation is pretty low in the Ghanaian community right now because, as you know, Ökomfo Nyamekye's performance hasn't exactly helped your cause," I said, agreeing with him.
"What has she been doing of late?"
"She was reported to have arrested a woman she claimed to be a witch. Con sequently, she has been jailed."
"Well, you can't win 'em all, can you?"
"Thank you for informing me. But one thing still worries me. If, indeed, you have rules governing your operations, why is it that they are apparently being flouted with impunity all over the place?" I asked.
"What particular rules do you have in mind?"
"For instance, why do witches these days not only chop' their own relatives but others as well? I understand that in Bogota, this was emphasised over and over again to the African chapter of the conference but apparently nobody listened."
I cannot answer this particular question."
"Then there is the other problem of discipline and demarcation of areas of operation for witchcraft. I'm reliably in- formed that one age-old regulation that accomplished witches must NEVER travel outside their country of domicile into another country to practice the art is being flouted everyday. Can you throw any light on it?"
"Throw more light on it? If I could it would be forces of darkness that would shroud it. By the way, how do you know all this?" she asked in a rather bemused way.
"People still have misfortunes and die outside their countries where they are supposed to have escaped the net of their witches in their family, don't they?" I persisted.
"Very interesting observation, very interesting, indeed."
"Now, deny or confirm this. Not quite long ago didn't witches in Ghana build a plane and attempt to fly out of the country on a diabolical and sinister mission but crashed somewhere in the Ashanti region?"
"If you believed this, you will believe anything."
"Did it happen or not?"
"You're telling me!"
"Do you realise the immense benefit to the whole nation if witches and wizards could apply their knowledge of spiritual engineering in conjunction with University of Science and Technology to produce marketable goods?"
"Interesting suggestion, that."
"Why don't you initiate a national Witches Development Corporation which would channel your collective energies into something beneficial to the society?"
"Suggestion is well-taken. Now, tell me," interrupted the spokeswoman of the witches, "how come you know so much about our activities???
"Now, it's my turn to be surprised. Do you mean to say that you still haven't realised that you're talking to a brother?"
