Parliament on Friday passed the Penal Code Bill tabled before the house for amendments that have been formulated as a short-term response to the current abductions and killings of people with albinism.
The amendments, according to Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs, Samuel Tembenu, supplement the existing criminal laws and that punishment in the amended law varies with the nature of attack on people with albinism.
“The attacks on the people with albinism have taken different forms; outright murders, abductions maiming and causing grievance bodily harm with a view of harvesting body parts, selling of body parts such as bones, assaults and using derogatory language et al. And to each one of the above, we have created stiff and the relevant penalties to address that particular mischief,” he said
Tembenu said the current law stipulates a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and this will also apply to all close relatives and family members who will be found involved in the malpractice.
The minister further said as a long-term strategy, government will have to investigate into the root causes, which are attached to witchcraft and superstition.
“In the long run government will also look into the root causes such as witchcraft and superstitions, and this will be achieved when current review of the Witchcraft Act which Malawi Law Commission is undertaking is concluded,” he explained.
Association of People with Albinism in Malawi President, Boniface Massa’ commended Parliament for passing the law and said this will help in addressing the problem.
“We are pleased that Parliament has taken that bold step as this was what we presented in our petition. We are also grateful with the amendments in the Anatomy Act, these will go a long way in ensuring that our lives are protected,” he said
On the other hand, Tembenu thrashed international bodies for underrating government’s ability to address the bizarre killings in the country.
“People who live out of this country come here and look into issues without consulting with government. Later they begin to dictate on how we are going to resolve the problems. When they come here, they should be respectful, we have our own ways of addressing things,” he said.
So far in the history of the albino killings only one convict was slapped with a life imprisonment sentence at Mzuzu High court.
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