AYV News, May 27, 2025
The Mayor, Deputy, Local Councillors and residents of Bonthe district have gathered to unleash a traditional curse (locally known as Gbom Sweh) on people believed to be involved in some alleged human ritual activities in the district.
Reports say lately, there have been consistent reports of human ritual activities across Bonthe Island and the district.
Mayor of Bonthe district, Mohamed Mahmoud Robinson, assembled his people and personally partook in the cursingceremony against those involved in the act that has been undermining the peace and threatening the security of the community.
According to residents on the main island, there have been cases of missing fishermen at sea, only to find their remains butchered into pieces.
Reports have it that perpetrators use speedboats to chase artisanal fishermen with wooden boats, capture them and butcher them by parts, allegedly for rituals
Deputy Mayor of Bonthe district, Daniel Saidu Bangura, said the swearing ceremony was in line with the manifesto promise of His Worship, Mohamed Mahmoud Robinson, in 2023, aiming to cleanse the land from all evils.
According to Mr. Bangura, the vanishing of an industrious man, Sheku Fawundu and his son after they went to fetch mangrove wood was the greatest shock the community had to live with.
Deputy Mayor Bangura said, “What is happening here is not cannibalism, which has to do with killing and eating the flesh, but ritualism, where people are killed and their remains discovered later. We are doing this traditional swearing ceremony to curse those who have been involved in it, those who are sponsoring the act as well. We are also laying a curse on anyone to be involved in such a barbaric act in future, including any authority that could be secretly sponsoring it. We hope that after this swearing ceremony, we will be able to flush bad people among us”.
He recounted that the day Sheku Fawundu and his son were reported to have drowned was the same day their remains were discovered, which is rare in a drowning case, since corpses can only be discovered three days after drowning.
He said the traditional ceremony was held in four stages: the drum, the chimpanzee, destroying the entire family and the cutting of the throats of those involved, adding that whoever formed part of the diabolic act of human rituals will be dealt with.
Momoh Vandi, a local fisherman, commended the action of stakeholders as this has been a thorny issue affecting their livelihood. He said, “Fishing is our only means of livelihood within the riverine communities. We are now afraid to go out at night because of cannibalism. We cannot even go far during the day because these people use speedboats to chase victims”.
