Genital disappearance/shrinking rumour and matters arising
Last week, the Ghana Police Service arrested nine individuals across the country for publishing false news about the disappearance of their genitals.
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Their claims sparked fear and panic among the public and even led to attacks on innocent citizens. However, after thorough investigations, including medical examinations, it was revealed that all the claims were untrue.
The police, in a press release, expressed deep concern over the rising trend of individuals making false claims about the disappearance of their genitals. It said the accusations often resulted in mob attacks on innocent bystanders and strongly advised the public against engaging in such criminal behaviour, as it not only harms innocent people but also disrupts public peace.
The Mirror notes with disappointment that this genital disappearance/shrinking rumour, which is usually followed by mob attacks, chaos and sometimes lynching, is not new and has been recurring since the 1980s.
Even though the claims are proven false each time, some people still believe it each time it recurs and act on it. Unfortunately, superstition seems to have taken a greater part of our society to the point of directing our paths, sometimes resulting in deaths and causing us and those around us a lot of harm.
Though some of the superstitious beliefs seem to be fanned by the zeal to seek a spiritual explanation for everything that happens, including ailments, even when we have not explored them scientifically, it is difficult to understand why people will make such false claims about the disappearance of their genitals.
In the 1990s, police investigations showed that such claims were started by criminals to create chaos and an environment conducive to perpetuating crime. They got people to react as they expected because of our society’s general superstitious nature.
Another variation of this claim is the targeting of old women and sick children, labelling them as witches and subjecting them to torture. Several old people have been accused of having crash-landed on a flight to God knows where. Interestingly, the victims are often not wealthy.
The Mirror is happy about the swift action taken by the police to restore order and arrest some suspects involved in the claims. The arrest sends a strong message that such behaviour is not countenanced by the law.
The public needs to be updated about this case to deter other like-minded people from doing the same. Our health workers need to take up the mandate of educating the public to reduce gullibility.
Such occurrences are a great setback to our development as a people and everything should be done to halt them, especially because of the harm caused to innocent people.
