I think most people would like to not have to worry about paying the bills, or being able to afford to purchase what one needs or wants; and not having to work one’s rear-end off to make a pittance. Sometimes working hard pays off and those who do, deserve their rewards. But there are others who want to get rich quick, and happily resort to scams, identity theft and in some cases even human sacrifice to achieve that goal. In Uganda, human sacrifice seems to have increased recently, and the government is now trying to tackle the problem.
According to officials trying to tackle it, the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity – and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.
It seems people in search of wealth are turning to witchdoctors for help, and sometimes that ‘help’ requires the sacrifice of a human being. According to one witch doctor who has since ceased the practice and is actively campaigning against it, it is oftentimes a child.
A BBC Team investigation spoke to several men including one who admitted he had killed approximately 70 people including his son, and the man who has given up the practice, who claims he never actually participated in the killing.
“They go and capture other people’s children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits,” he said.
“They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming.”
The witch doctor, who said he was paid 500,000 Ugandan shillings (around £160) for a consultation, denied any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder, saying his spirits spoke directly to clients.
And the increase in ritual human sacrifice is drastic. Uganda has an anti-human sacrifice and trafficking task force, and according to officials, in 2007 there were only 3 documented cases compared to 26 murders in 2009. That doesn’t include the 120 or so adults and children who have gone missing who are potentially victims of sacrifice. Moses Binoga, head of the task force said,
“From the experience of those whom we recovered, we cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice.”
But there are others who believe that the number of child sacrifices could be higher, and that they are just not reported to authorities.
It boggles the mind that the desire for wealth is so strong in some individuals, that they would actually resort to murdering even their own kin to gain it. What has become of this world, when material things mean more than a human life.
