Actress Portia Asare Boateng has said the decline in the popularity and vibrancy of Kumawood is due to black magic led by hatred.

She spoke to Ahodwo TV.

“People are asking why Kumawood is dead. It is because of hatred,” Ms Boateng said, explaining: “People are using spiritual attacks to sabotage their colleagues.”

She supported her view by citing an attack she had personally suffered, "five or six years ago".

Portia, also, impressed on relevant instigators there was no need to envy and hate someone to the point of seeking to take their life or position, especially when, uniquely gifted, one cannot take the place of another.

“People I used to eat with, people I trusted, were among those who tried to destroy me using witchcraft. One was planned for a movie set I was on. I was shocked. If you kill me, you won’t replace me. Your name and abilities are different from mine. So why are you doing this?” she said.

In a related development, Kumawood director Borbor has cited an instance of spiritual attack and cautioned actors and actresses to stay spiritually fortified.

| Borbor

He spoke on Peace FM, warning the brotherliness portrayed by some Kumawood players was just a façade. He said envy was rife on the Kumasi-based movie scene. This, he added, had made black magic the order of the day among actors and actresses.

“I am not surprised she [Portia] mentioned the numerous spiritual attacks the industry. Envy and hate exist in every area of life but the worst is in the movie industry and I know this because I have long-served in the industry,” Borbor said.

The actor, director and manager for comic star Dr Likee said: “While I always believed juju was real in the movie industry, I had not experienced it until recently when someone used it against me – let’s say, two months ago. They tried to paralyse me,” he said, adding the unnamed perpetrator was asked to provide, among other things, GHS700, three chickens and seven bullets.

According to Borbor, the reason for the attack, he learned, was his success, protecting his crew and dominating social media with his work, especially YouTube.

He declared “Dr Likee’s team is solid and nothing can tear us apart,” adding he knew the nature of his job and so he is always “spiritually prepared and alert”.

“I have been part of the movie industry for a long time. The use of ‘juju’ [black magic] indeed happens. Therefore, my simple advice to actors is to protect themselves against such spiritual attacks, by any spiritual means available to them,” Borbor cautioned. “The evildoers cannot take your money or properties when you die but they seek to cut short your progress.”

Borbor said apart from Portia Asare Boateng, Awo Yaa had also suffered spiritual attacks.