There are some people in our communities in Papua New Guinea who are blaming sorcery for some of the deaths caused by COVID-19.

They are disputing the deaths as to be caused by COVID-19 or its Delta variant. They believe supernatural powers exerted by the Sanguma people or sorcerers are involved in the deaths – not COVID-19. These people are making the claims by suggesting that relatively young people with no record of medical conditions are suddenly falling ill and dying in twos or threes in their midst and they suspect it must be something else. Not COVID-19. And their fingers are pointing at the ages-old custom of sorcery.

This is a very dangerous new development in the middle of a nationwide surge of the global pandemic (COVID-19). The Government of Papua New Guinea must not take these claims lightly. The claims are a threat against the health and wellbeing of entire communities, districts and provinces and the Government’s ability to rein in COVID-19 in the country.

The Government must do something about these dangerous new phenomenon evolving in the midst of a deadly COVID-19 pandemic. It must find a way to stop people from blaming COVID-19 deaths and illnesses as to be due the supernatural works of the Sanguma or sorcerers. In many rural areas and urban pockets, people are pointing fingers at sorcery as the possible cause of the deaths otherwise officially recorded as due to COVID-19 and its Delta variant. These people are now questioning the sudden death of different people in their communities through this month as suspect and discounting the cause to be COVID-19 and its Delta variant. They are claiming that the Sanguma people or sorcerers are using the anxiety and confusion around the spike in COVID-19 cases as an ‘opportunity’ for them to strike their victims. People, ordinary villages as well as educated professionals, are buying into this claim. And this is sad, unfortunate and dangerous.

These people are claiming that the Sanguma performers are using the anxiety and fear around COVID-19 to attack their enemies or those they are ‘hired’ to kill through performing sorcery. They are claiming that the sorcerers are killing people or making them ill so these can be blamed on COVID-19. They are suggesting that sorcerers are at work under the cover of the COVID-19 national emergency to practice sorcery. The impact of the reemergence of the belief in sorcery in the minds of many indigenous Papua New Guinean over the last two decades cannot be under-estimated.

Indigenous Papua New Guineans, however modernized they become, still have a place for what they call “pasin kastom” or believes and activities belonging to the our indigenous traditions. And sorcery or Sanguma belongs to the domain of “pasin kastom”. Our nation has already been facing a national dilemma with the sorcery accusation related violence (SARV) across different provinces as a result of aspects of the “pasin kastom” making its presence felt. As a result of the SARV many deaths and injuries have been recorded across the country and local communities facing upheaval where the social cohesion and peace and order has been interrupted.

The blaming of COVID-19 induced deaths and illnesses on sorcery adds to an already volatile situation created by SARV, especially among the rural folks and the least educated under-privileged people in the peri-urban areas and squatter settlements. What is disappointing for us the learned Papua New Guineans is that some in our midst who are educated and working professionals like us, who should know better, are also believing in sorcery as the possible cause of the death of those recorded as COVID-19 victims. This is very unhelpful and dangerous.

Some of these educated Papua New Guineans have already bought the arguments by conspiracy theorists and pseudo-science advocacies against COVID-19 and its vaccines. These kinds of Papua New Guineans are making things difficult for the formal government systems to work and help curb the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. As educated working professionals we have the power over our lesser members of in the country. We can influence the less privileged members of our country. If we believe in the conspiracy theories, pseudoscience and blame sorcery, our lesser privileged members of society will believe in us. The better educated working professionals are in the minority. Majority of our people are not as privileged like us the educated professionals. Our less privileged can and will be influenced by us the educated professionals.

We must not mislead them with our fears and anxieties and end up believing in conspiracy theories, pseudo science and sorcery. We will lead our less fortunate citizens in the wrong direction, which is far more dangerous in terms of the social and economic well-being our people and the country.

My appeal to us the educated professional Papua New Guineans is please, let us not blame COVID-19 deaths as the work of sorcerers or the Sanguma. This is a very dangerous thing to believe in and promote. Some educated professionals have already led the less privileged Papua New Guineans astray by buying into conspiracy theories and pseudo-science promoted by all sorts of individuals against COVID-19 and its vaccines. For the educated professionals to now also believe that some people are dying because of Sanguma and not because of COVID-19 is double trouble. It is very dangerous.

We the educated professionals have a moral duty to be honest with ourselves and do the right thing. Let us follow what is correct by modern science and modern realities. Let us not be dissuaded by vested interests who are promoting conspiracy theories and pseudo-science and now blaming Sanguma for COVID-19 deaths.