Police to investigate linkage of albino killings to Malawi election: Govt to roll out  action plan

Malawi Police Service (MPS) Inspector General, Rodney Jose, says the law enforcers will investigate reports that attacks on people with albinism are always on the increase when elections are due.

Jose said this in Lilongwe when he opened a training for senior police officers on how to deal with political violence and has been funded by the United Nations.

“We will have to investigate to find out if it is true that there is connection between the attacks and the elections. We need to back our findings with facts,” said Jose.

Jose has come under fire from some section of Malawians who feel the police are not doing enough to protect people with albinism following the abduction of a 14-year-old in Dedza on Wednesday, the third since January this year.

The UN has released a report which says a study in some countries in Africa show that the attacks on people with albinism increase during elections.

The report says this is so because some politicians think the use of charms mixed with bones of people with albinism boosts their chanced of winning an election.

Meanwhile, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Henry Mussa disloced that government  has directed the Malawi Defence Force (MDF)  to team up with Police to  deal with albino hunters.

Mussa pleaded to all Malawians, well wishers and all those people who love Malawi to raise the alarm to end the killings, saying that would be a way of complementing government efforts.

He said one of such ways is government’s decision to initiate a program to build houses for those with albinism to protect them.

“Government of Malawi is still committed to people with albinism through the construction of houses and currently, we have constructed two solid houses in Chitakale, but we are planning to construct more in all parts of the country for people with albinism,” he assured.

Human rights defender Gift Trapence accuses the government  that it has not shown any tangible action towards protecting persons with albinism apart from podium promises.

The Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (Apam) wants President Peter Mutharika to declare Malawi a dangerous place for persons with albinism and facilitate their asylum in other countries.