Public relations officer of a group of native witch doctors Wednesday told journalists that they have organized themselves to crackdown on what they referred to as the indiscriminate killing of people within the Freetown municipality allegedly by witch hunters.

Chief Alikali Sesay N'buma was speaking during the opening ceremony of a cultural event organized by the attitudinal and behavioral change (ABC) secretariat as part of the national pride week celebrations. He said the death of innocent people allegedly in the hands of wicked herbalists is a major concern and that they have galvanized some one hundred witch hunters to go on the hunt of those believed to be engaging in what he called an evil practice.

Chief M'buma said they have arrested four witch hunters in the city of Freetown, a development he said has spurred them into action to undertake more raids to ensure that people live peacefully and happily in their communities.

"God has given us these powers to serve our people; some of our colleagues have criminally and maliciously used it as a weapon to destroy others or one another. Some of them who have never set eyes on a Le100, 000 will be happy to kill innocent people for just Le50, 000. We have taken up this venture as part of the attitudinal change campaign to arrest all those engaged in such practice," he said, adding that they have been working closely with the Sierra Leone police to address this problem.

"We have to change our negative attitudes against our fellow citizens," he added, noting that traditional healers have a lot of good deals but because of the disunity among them they have not been able to properly benefit from the gift given to them by God.

"We are calling on the government to provide the enabling environment that will ensure the training of people who can take over the profession after us. We can safely invest in our cultural values if we are united," he said.