President Peter Mutharika has renewed his promise to crack down on people who abduct and kill people with albinism with a call for the Judiciary to issue stiffer sentences to the culprits.
In a statement released a year after announcing plans against the abductions, killings and exhumations of the remains of people with albinism, Mutharika said the government has learnt with shock the recent beheading of a nine-year-old boy with albinism in Machinga.
“The Association of Persons with Albinism has reported over 50 cases of attacks against persons with albinism, which have resulted into deaths, abductions for the purposes of body parts removal, and exhumation of their bodies, mostly in the districts of Machinga, Mchinji, Kasungu, Phalombe, Karonga and Mzimba.
“The malpractice has brought fear, breakdown of communal life and sense of insecurity among persons with albinism, relatives and friends. This is evil, and a threat to the most fundamental human rights in our Constitution,” Mutharika said.
He said the government is taking serious steps against this criminal behaviour and will overcome it.
“We have intensified surveillance and investigations in the affected districts and the country as a whole; and we are encouraging the Judiciary to issue stiffer sentences to the culprits. We have also intensified our working relationship with the Association of Persons with Albinism,” he said.
Mutharika then called upon stakeholders such as the faith based organisations, civil society groups, the media, Traditional Authorities, and members of the general public to collaborate with government in fighting against the vice.
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