Parents in the Uganda capital are freaking out right now because of fears that witch doctors will steal their children away and kill them for sacrificial luck. People who pay these guys to do this think the sacrifices will make them and/or their companies prosperous.

According to official police figures, there was one case of child sacrifice in 2006; in 2008 the police say they investigated 25 alleged ritual murders, and in 2009, another 29. The Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, launched in response to the growing numbers, says the ritual murder rate has slowed, citing a figure of 38 cases since 2006. Pastor Sewakiryanga disputes the police numbers, and says there are more victims from his parish than official statistics for the entire country. The work of the police task force has been strongly criticised by the UK-based charity, Jubilee Campaign. It says in a report that the true number of cases is in the hundreds, and claims more than 900 cases have yet to be investigated by the police because of corruption and a lack of resources.

I don’t know if the true number even matters. One child killed for such a reason is one too many. The BBC reporters posed as businessmen wanting to hire a witch doctor. The first luck ceremony involved a goat, but

At our next meeting, Awali invited us into his shrine, which is traditionally built from mud bricks with a straw roof. Inside, the floor is littered with herbs, face masks, rattles and a machete. The witch doctor explained that this meeting was to discuss the most powerful spell – the sacrifice of a child. “There are two ways of doing this,” he said. “We can bury the child alive on your construction site, or we cut them in different places and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine.” Awali grabbed his throat. “If it’s a male, the whole head is cut off and his genitals. We will dig a hole at your construction site, and also bury the feet and the hands and put them all together in the hole.” Awali boasted he had sacrificed children many times before and knew what he was doing. After this meeting, we withdrew from the negotiations. We handed our notes to the police. Awali is still a free man.

Why wouldn’t they look into it? Don’t they care about the safety of children? Even if this guy is lying his ass off about the number of sacrifices he’s performed, people are still paying the guy with the belief he’ll kill someone for them. Is that part of the problem, that cops don’t want to stir the waters these rich folk wade in in case they choose to take their businesses and jobs elsewhere? What a country.

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edit 11:15 for grammatical error. Note to self: Preview is useful…