Witchcraft in Uganda: Beliefs, History and Harm

Belief in witchcraft

In many Ugandan communities, illness or bad luck is not always explained only by germs or chance. When healers in northern Uganda were asked about causes of illness, they listed natural causes, infection, poor hygiene and heredity, but also ancestral spirits, curses, and witchcraft: “illnesses sent by enemies or jealous people”.

In Luganda a witch is omulogo (plural abalogo). Healers draw a sharp line between themselves and abalogo. One researcher who worked with Ugandan healers recorded their frustration when the media lumped honest practitioners together with witches.

Healing traditions versus harmful witchcraft

Traditional healing and witchcraft are opposites in the eyes of many believers. The original English meaning of “witch doctor” was a healer who fights witchcraft. Diviners try to find the cause of a problem. Herbalists treat the body. Spirit mediums ask ancestral spirits for guidance and protection. See types of traditional healers.

Harm is a different thing: threatening, cursing, poisoning, or hurting people or animals. Most healers reject this. Juju.ug does not allow it either.

Colonial law

British colonial authorities treated much of African religion as “witchcraft”. Ugandan writers link the Witchcraft Act to colonial fear of religious resistance, including the Nyabingi movement in Kigezi (1912–1921) and the Kigaanira movement in Buganda after the 1953 Kabaka crisis. The current Act dates from 28 March 1957. It punishes threats by witchcraft and practising witchcraft, but excludes bona fide spirit worship and native medicine. See the Witchcraft Act explained.

Some writers say the colonial era branded African culture as “negative and primitive”, and that this still affects how traditional medicine is treated. Scholars continue to call for the Act’s repeal, arguing it conflicts with constitutional rights.

Modern problem 1: accusations and mob violence

A witchcraft accusation can be deadly. Global Press Journal reported that in Oyam district, northern Uganda, a 71-year-old woman, Albina Okoi, was beaten and dragged with a rope by a mob, reportedly led by a pastor, after she was accused of witchcraft. She died. The same report cited police data for 2020: 21 of 540 mob killings that year were linked to witchcraft accusations.

As this case shows, older people can be targets. Mob justice is murder or assault under Ugandan law, whatever anyone believes. If someone is accused, the safe response is to protect them and call the police.

Modern problem 2: ritual killing and human sacrifice

Uganda has seen cases of ritual killing, including of children, by people who believe body parts bring wealth or power. In one case summarised by AfricanLII, the court heard that a small child and a migrant worker were killed after the attackers said spirits had “asked for” a sacrifice. In October 2025 the High Court sentenced two people, one described as a witch doctor, to 45 and 25 years over an attack on a three-year-old boy in an attempted human sacrifice. The boy survived.

In 2021 Parliament passed the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice law. It provides for the death penalty for human sacrifice and for financing it, and life imprisonment for possessing human body parts or instruments used in sacrifice.

Why genuine healers reject harm

• Healing traditions exist to protect life, families and communities.
• Ritual killers and fraudsters damage the reputation of all healers.
• Healers’ associations have welcomed regulation as a way to remove “masqueraders and charlatans”.
• No genuine tradition requires harming a child or any person.

What to do

• If anyone asks for human body parts, blood or hair of another person, or talks of sacrifice, report them to police immediately.
• If a neighbour is accused of witchcraft and threatened, call the police and local leaders. Do not join a mob.
• If a healer threatens you with a curse, see healer scams.

Juju.ug lists healers only under our safety policy: no curses, no harm, no cure claims.