Help people resist influence of fortune tellers, Samia tells clerics

ZANZIBAR: President Samia Suluhu Hassan has tasked clerics with educating religious followers who are being influenced by fortune tellers, also known as ‘witch doctors’.

According to the Head of State, this tendency is causing havoc in society.

Speaking during the Islamic Women’s Conference held in Zanzibar on Friday, President Samia noted that the government is not against natural treatment remedies and those who pray for people.

However, she emphasized those individuals who hide behind providing natural remedies and engage in fortune-telling that confuses and brings strife and discord to society should be avoided and dealt with.

“Natural remedies have helped many of us and are helping many people, but fortune-telling is part of a false belief, it is an injustice that needs to be strongly reprimanded,” she said.

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The President added, “The government will continue to take action as information on these incidents gets revealed. These things lead people to kill each other just because someone was told that their grandmother is responsible for their problem, or their uncle is the cause. Then you get out of that place with a sword, ready to act. Let’s not get there.”

However, the President congratulated the Grand Mufti’s Office of Zanzibar for doing a commendable job in spreading the good values of the Islamic religion, as well as investing in the treatments of natural resource remedies and those praying for people, ensuring that they work as directed by their religion.