CHIEFS AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS COMMIT TO PROMOTING PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE AND ENDING WITCH-HUNTING IN KOPAKOPA
By Noel Chatepa
Community and religious leaders in Sub Traditional Authority Kopakopa, Nthalire, Chitipa District, have joined hands to promote peace and protect community members from harm, after a key meeting that ended with a strong declaration against witch-hunting.
The meeting was organized by the Karonga Diocese through its Community Transformation Project, which is funded by Cross Catholic Outreach. It brought together chiefs and religious leaders on Friday, 13th March 2026, to talk openly about the causes of conflict in the community and find ways to deal with them. The discussions were lively and interactive, with participants sharing ideas on how to live together peacefully.
The highlight of the meeting came when Sub Traditional Authority Kopakopa declared that no chief in his area should allow witch-doctors to carry out witch hunts in their communities. He pointed to a recent painful example of an elderly woman who faced mob-justice and was nearly killed after being accused of witchcraft, as a reason why this practice must stop.
“I have decided to make this decree because these witch-doctors bring so much confusion and cause violence which usually targets the elderly. They also cause conflicts with religious leaders in the community. We have decided that they should stop these witch hunts. Kopakopa has Christian chiefs, and I myself am a preacher in the African Church as well as a chief. We cannot allow such practices to continue as they also go against our Christian faith,” said Sub T/A Kopakopa.
Mr. Vincent Bwinga, Project Officer for Spiritual Evangelization, said that inviting both chiefs and religious leaders to the meeting was a deliberate choice, because both groups carry a lot of respect and influence in the community. He added that chiefs often look to religious values when making decisions, which made the two groups a natural fit to work together.
“We are very happy about the announcement by Sub T/A Kopakopa to end witch-hunting in his area. Violence driven by witchcraft accusations has been one of the key problems our project has been trying to address. With this declaration from the chief, we believe such incidents will become far less common,” said Mr. Bwinga.
The Community Transformation Program is running in three areas — Kopakopa in Chitipa, Jalawe in Rumphi, and Chankholombe in Karonga. It is supported by Cross Catholic Outreach and has a number of projects including Spiritual Evangelization, Agriculture, Health, Nutrition, Education, Economic Empowerment, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
