Expulsion of Catherine Karma for ‘Witchcraft in Liberia’

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

Expulsion of Catherine Karma for ‘Witchcraft

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) is shocked by the news of the expulsion of a 6-year-old pupil, Catherine Karma, from your school. According to the report, your school expelled Ms. Karma in connection with some suspicions of ‘witchcraft’. Your management concluded that she was a ‘witch’ and was involved in ‘witchcraft activities’. You claimed that her presence would endanger the lives of other pupils and staff.

The decision to expel Ms. Karma is shameful, outrageous, and difficult to comprehend. First of all, how did your school confirm that Ms. Karma was a witch? How were you able to ascertain that she indulged in witchcraft activities (whatever that means)? In fact, what does your school understand by witchcraft?

From the report, your school expelled Ms. Karma based on the notion that she had magical powers and could kill or harm other pupils and staff through occult means.

How could you believe this nonsense? How could you accept that this six-year-old girl had such powers? Now think about this, if Ms. Karma had the supposed magical powers, don’t you think that she would have used them to resist her expulsion from the school? Your school did not stop at merely entertaining this mistaken notion, the management went further to punish her and now truncate her education and training based on misplaced fears and anxieties.

Look, even if some students entertained such misconceptions, what should be your duty as a school? Your role is to educate and enlighten pupils and lead students out of ignorance and superstitions. Your role is to dispel irrational fears and anxieties, not reinforce these misconceptions. By expelling Ms. Karma, your school has failed in its role as an educational center. Your school has betrayed the academic and enlightenment trust that the parents and the society repose in it.

AfAW urges you to take all the necessary measures and ensure that Ms. Catherine Karma continues her education without any further disruption. Your management should ensure that this educational failure does not repeat itself in your school again.

Thanks in anticipation of thoughtful consideration of this letter

Sincerely

Leo Igwe Ph.D Religious Studies(Bayreuth)
Chief Executive Officer, Advocacy for Alleged Witches

Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW)

Leo Igwe

Leo Igwe (born July 26, 1970) is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. Igwe’s human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft. His human rights fieldwork has led to his arrest on several occasions in Nigeria. Igwe has held leadership roles in the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Atheist Alliance International, and the Center For Inquiry—Nigeria. In 2012, Igwe was appointed as a Research Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he continues working toward the goal of responding to what he sees as the deleterious effects of superstition, advancing skepticism throughout Africa and around the world. In 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism and in 2017 received the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Igwe was raised in southeastern Nigeria, and describes his household as being strictly Catholic in the midst of a “highly superstitious community,” according to an interview in the Gold Coast Bulletin.[1] At age twelve, Igwe entered the seminary, beginning to study for the Catholic priesthood, but later was confused by conflicting beliefs between Christian theology and the beliefs in witches and wizards that are “entrenched in Nigerian society.”[1] After a period of research and internal conflict due to doubts about the “odd blend of tribalism and fundamentalist Christianity he believes is stunting African development,” a 24-year-old Igwe resigned from the seminary and relocated to Ibadan, Nigeria