Malawi and Africa continue to grapple with how to deal with 'albino hunters' By JAMES ODZIWA

 

Persecution of people with albinism (sometimes abbreviated PWA) is occurring in the African continent for different reasons. One is based on the belief that certain body parts of albinistic people can transmit magical powers. Such superstition is present especially in some parts of the African Great Lakes region, it has been promulgated and exploited by witch doctors and others who use such body parts as ingredients in rituals, concoctions and potions with the claim that their magic will bring prosperity to the user (muti or medicine murder).

As a result, people with albinism have been persecuted, killed and dismembered, and graves of albinos dug up and desecrated. At the same time, people with albinism have also been ostracized and even killed for exactly the opposite reason, because they are presumed to be cursed and bring bad luck. The persecutions of people with albinism take place mostly in Sub-Saharan African communities, especially among East Africans, with Malawi amongst those countries.

 
The Malawian government has announced the introduction of a special legal counsel to prosecute all attacks on people with albinism in the country.
 
The Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati revealed that the counsel would be a subsidiary of the ministry of justice and would ensure the imposition of stiff penalties in all cases relating to albino killings and attacks on citizens living with albinism.
 
In a statement released by Abigail Dzimadzi, chairperson of the Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (APAM), over 50 attacks on people with albinism had been recorded between December 2014 and March 2016 alone.
 
The Organisation noted that, while the counsel had received the backing of Malawi President Peter Mutharika, the task force had not been fully financed to date, leading to a lapse in implementation and operations.
 
The group has since called on government to fully implement the task force without delay so as to protect albino citizens.
The development came just a few days after the country's police chief issued a shoot-to-kill order against albino killers in the region.
 
According to a previous reporting, the order was issued to curb the reign of terror by criminal gangs, nicknamed "albino hunters", who have been targeting those living with the condition and selling their remains on the black market.