Expose those behind albino murders, Tanzania urged

* MP says politicians use witchdoctors

* Warns albino killings will increase ahead of elections

* High Court says two trials have been stopped

Rights campaigners say Tanzania must lift a shroud of secrecy surrounding wealthy buyers who commission albino killings for witchcraft, after one lawmaker admitted many politicians use witchdoctors themselves...Click Here to Read the Rest

Tanzanian albinos shelter in terror from killers

In remote northwest Tanzania, two parents sob for their 10-year-old albino son, who was beheaded to stop him screaming by men who then hacked off his leg in front of his father.

The family had previously tried to have their boy registered at a school where many albinos shelter but he was refused entry because it was full...Click Here to Read the Rest

Get to know How you can send donations to Albinos in Tanzania

Check out the following link for information on how and where to send donations to Albinos in Tanzania:

Want to send donations to Albinos in Tanzania? Here's how

Donor and delegation kept waiting at school

Canadian philanthropist Peter Ash, who is an albino, smears sunscreen lotion on the hands of a pupil at Mitindo Primary School in Misungwi District, Mwanza Region, on Saturday. Pastor Ash was kept waiting outside the school for over two hours before he was finally let in

Canadian donor was at the weekend temporarily barred from visiting a primary school in Misungwi District in Mwanza Region.

Mr Peter Ash and his delegation and several local and foreign journalists were stopped at the gate of Mitindo Primary School, which has over 100 pupils with albinism.

The visitors were only allowed in after speaking on the phone with Mwanza Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro, over two hours after arriving at the school...Read the Rest Here

Missing link in Albino killings

Story courtesy of The Guardian Newspaper Tanzania

"...the only missing link in the pyramid of albino killers is the rich man who looks for albino human parts"

A Canadian-based human rights group has questioned Tanzania's commitment to stop albino killings for failing to name the forces behind the macabre acts.

Peter Ash, President and founder of a Canadian-based NGO observed here on Friday that the only missing link in the pyramid of albino killers is the rich man who looks for albino human parts.

“So far, it is traditional healers and killers that have been named and brought to justice. We want the consumers, the rich that can afford million of shillings to be named” said Ash.

Ash was addressing an International Press Conference at Nyawilimwa village after laying a wreath on the grave of a ten-year child Gasper Elkana, who was brutally murdered and his leg chopped off at Geita District, Mwanza Region by unidentified assailants.

Gasper, who had gone out for a short-call escorted by his father at around 20 hours on the night of October 23, 2009, was slashed by a machete and when his guarding father made an attempt to help him, he too was hit on the head and wounded seriously.

“I read about Gasper’s death with profound shock and imagined the calamity as having struck my family, because this family and mine have so many things in common. The age of Elkana Gasper’s father and I tally and so do the late and my son’s, ” he said.

At least 54 Tanzanian albinos have been murdered since 2007, with most of the killings taking place in the remote northwest regions of Shinyanga and Mwanza, where superstition runs deep.

The High Court, sitting in Shinyanga municipality to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its first judgement in September where it convicted and sentenced to death three accused persons.

Reading the ruling, which lasted about an hour, High Court Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila said the court was satisfied that the evidence tendered by the prosecution side proved beyond reasonable doubt that three of the convicts were involved in the killings of the ablbino.

The same court early this month, delivered its second judgment by convicting and sentencing to death by hanging four accused persons.

The immediate reaction to the ruling by some sections was to dismiss it as a non-starter. However, it restored the trust of many people in the country’s judicial system. Meanwhile, chairman of Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) Mwanza Region Alfred Kapole wants the government to speed up the pending albino cases.

He expressed disappointment that the cases have stalled for the second time for lack of funds.

Albinos lack pigment in their eyes, skin or hair, making their life difficult in Africa where there is plenty of sunshine and they are more susceptible to skin cancer and sunburn.

Impassioned Plea: Please reduce the Red Tape!

I watched on TV the almost insurmountable red tape that Peter Ash had to contend with the other day when he went to deliver donations to a school that has albino children in Misungwi district in Mwanza.

His entourage was locked out and it seems there were express orders from high up not to allow them to get in and deliver the donations.

When Mwanza Regional Commissioner, Abbas Kandoro, heard what had happened, he called the officials on the ground at the school and asked them to allow the donations to be delivered.

We at this blog ask: Must this red tape persist?

The officials on the ground know that the albinos at the school, and in other parts of the country, are in dire need of some things that would make life a bit bearable for them. Why, then, should there be opposition when someone finds it in his heart to donate such things to them?

Furthermore, Peter Ash, being an albino, knows what his brothers and sisters, the albinos, need. Thus, his gesture of donating to them should be received with open arms.

Our advice: Guys, please reduce the red tape!.

Albino killings and the death sentence: All murder cases are not equal, are they?

Story courtesy of The Guardian newspaper Tanzania (7/11/2009)

By Ani Jozen

Rapid convictions and sentencing of suspects of albino killings in Shinyanga region have put activists for the abolishment of the death penalty on a tight spot, as society generally was gratified that their hanging would send a solid message to other hunters of albinos’ organs.

The death penalty abolition lobby, at pains to change societal attitudes which are overly uninterested in making criminals better people and prefer to get them out of the way, and where relevant by death, are rushing in. This is vital.

The question is vital because if society will be convinced of the futility of hanging those convicted of involvement in killings of skin-disabled people, the most grotesque spate of criminality the country has seen for a while yet, they will have succeeded in discrediting the death penalty itself.

If it is possible to spare albino killings convicts of their carrying out of their sentences, then it is potentially likely that it will be possible to seek formal halting of application of such sentencing. So far it’s a private decision.

No such moratorium (freezing) has been declared on application of death penalties, but the president just hasn’t felt it proper to sign any of the pending sentences.

Activists insist that so long as no such sentences has been applied in the past 16 years, then none will be applied, in which case it is proper to affirm the irrelevance of the sentences in the pursuit either of justice or of alleviating criminality by correcting offenders. Yet it is clear that when issues of death sentence arise, correction is not an option.

The principal argument about the application of the death sentence is that error can’t be ruled out 100 per cent in any conviction, and that unconsidered evidence could arise in future to invalidate the view that the convict was sufficiently responsible for that event.

If the sentence would have been carried out already, the damage is irreparable, so it is better that presumably correctly sentenced people should live than wrongly sentenced people put to death, even if that is rare. No wrongful death is too rare to count.

It isn’t surprising that the sentencing of convicts of albino killings brings out activists against the death penalty, as if they don’t combat this particular spate of convictions – which have a high likelihood of being carried out – they lose the battle altogether.

They don’t intend to create a ‘Kafkaesque’ situation or say one that is close to Animal Farm, the harrowing contradiction of ‘no animal shall sleep on a bed – with sheets.’ They would have to adapt their slogan to ‘abolish the penalty, except for albino killers.’

Yet this is precisely what is refreshing about the debate, as to whether it is of any use at the moment to tell society that even those who hack innocent people for selling of their body parts should be retained in this or that prison.

And especially if the issue is that they will change and become better people, it is hard to see how that becomes convincing to the breadth of society – that they will not be wishing to earn a million shillings for several albino body parts. There is acute need for deterrence as the moment.

The judiciary and the government at a wider level are still smarting from a tormenting somersault on the traders and taxi driver killings by police officers. Letting the albino murderers would send a signal to others that all they risk is eating unbalanced diet in jail, and they retain a chance of being loose again, since ‘where there is life there is hope.’ It would mean that the government passes up a good opportunity for showing to the world it intends to ameliorate its shattered image, from albino killings.

Activists will be confronted with this consideration, since it is far more positive for the government to rectify the country’s image about injustice to albinos than worrying about justice or presumed right to life of their convicted killers.

At times those convicted faced hostile evidence from their own wives as to how they went about seeking out or grabbing the children they hacked to death, a line of evidence no future ‘fact’ can unsettle as to guilt on that account. There are few ‘rare’ facts that are likely here.

One could of course be accused of being simplistic as to whether any case in law is completely closed such that no fact could be unearthed in future to unsettle it.

The response however may not be that far off, as this is also covered by democracy, that elected officials, when acting fairly and receiving clear and distinctive legal advice on a particular case, can examine each case on its own merit. For instance if a conviction includes corroborating evidence by those who are close to the convict, it is deemed safe.

When however one has been convicted entirely on the basis of evidence adduced in court by strangers, and close ones like wife or siblings remained deeply skeptical of that evidence, such person may be placed in life imprisonment but no execution take place.

Just as there can’t be a blanket fear of new and unsettling evidence, so also is it necessary not to rule out such evidence simply because the issue is albino killings. If a proper rule of thumb is placed on that specific detail no miscarriage of law is likely.

That also means it is hard to defend the ‘no death penalty’ maxim in a blanket manner, unless it was presumed that no crime merits suffering death as punishment.

This too is covered in law and would tend to place albino killings at a different level from murder generally, as the latter is quite often tied to conflict, and at times in situations where the assailant was also in danger, and yet the law qualifies such conviction for the death penalty.

That could of course be commuted to life imprisonment, but when a man has cynically, even in the testimony of his wife, gone about harvesting body parts with a panga, the rest of us can be forgiven for not treating him on a par with human beings. He wouldn’t deserve it.

Albino killings: Govt to `smoke out` all suspects

Snapshots

Several other legislators also contributed to debate on the matter, saying the killings had tarnished Tanzania’s image to the extent that the country was now considered insensitive to human rights or incapable of guaranteeing the safety of some of its people.

Others recommended that court proceedings be accelerated and convicts be punished without delay since those who had their loved ones so brutally killed had begun questioning the government’s capacity to deal with serious crime.

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Story courtesy of The Guardian newspaper Tanzania

The government has vowed to “smoke out of their hideouts” all people suspected of murdering, maiming, intimidating or harassing albinos for whatever reason.

It has also announced that it will do all that is in power to “sever once and for all the alliance between these evil-minded people and the witchdoctors misleading them into committing the crimes”.

The promise comes from Home Affairs deputy minister Khamis Kagasheki, who told the National Assembly here yesterday that nine of the 90 albino killer suspects currently in custody are traditional healers.

Responding to a question by Special Seat legislator Maria Hewa, who demanded clarification from the government on the number of people arrested so far in connection with albino killings, Kagasheki said police had taken “aggressive measures” and held a number of suspects.

“Between June 2007 and March 2009, a total of 90 suspects had already been put in custody and brought to justice,” he said.

He added: “Investigations are continuing on 17 cases in the Lake Victoria zone, nine cases are pending in the High Court, two have already been decided and seven accused have been convicted and sentenced to death in Shinyanga Region. Four accused were found guilty as recently as Monday this week and sentenced to death.”

In a supplementary question, the legislator called on the government to make sure that all suspected albino killers were taken “to where they belong (custody) alongside their acquaintances pretending to be traditional healers”.

Several other legislators also contributed to debate on the matter, saying the killings had tarnished Tanzania’s image to the extent that the country was now considered insensitive to human rights or incapable of guaranteeing the safety of some of its people.

Others recommended that court proceedings be accelerated and convicts be punished without delay since those who had their loved ones so brutally killed had begun questioning the government’s capacity to deal with serious crime.

Can the death sentence deter Albino killings?

“Hangings cannot put albino killings to an end. The death penalty is not reliable enough as a solution. We need to think of better and more definitive ways out”

“Even after the first group of people suspected of murdering albinos was sentenced to death by hanging, there was no improvement in the situation. There was no noticeable change in people’s behaviour. Instead, more and more albinos were murdered in Geita and several other parts of the Lake Victoria zone”

`Battle` Over Death Penalty Once More

Story courtesy of The Guardian newspaper Tanzania

Physical protection is a much better way of ensuring the safety of albinos than sentencing to death people behind their killings, human rights activists have insisted.

Harold Sungusia, public engagement coordinator with the Dar es Salaam-based Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), said in an interview with this paper on Tuesday that there was no country where capital punishment had served as an effective enough deterrent to homicide.

He was speaking in the recent sentencing to death by the High Court of several people found guilty of killing albinos.

“Even after the first group of people suspected of murdering albinos was sentenced to death by hanging, there was no improvement in the situation. There was no noticeable change in people’s behaviour. Instead, more and more albinos were murdered in Geita and several other parts of the Lake Victoria zone,” he said.

He added: “That was enough proof that the death penalty is not a lasting solution and that it does not scare anyone into treating albinos as normal humans.”

Sungusia, a lawyer, said capital punishment fell short on three counts as a deterrent – “changing offenders into good law-abiding people, ensuring that one does not relapse into crime, and ensuring that convicts rejoin their communities rehabilitated on completion of their punishment.

He noted that some people were sentenced to death for crimes they had not committed and that it was “simply not practicable” for people hanged after being convicted to enjoy their rights should evidence absolving them be made available after they are hanged.

“Hangings cannot put albino killings to an end. The death penalty is not reliable enough as a solution. We need to think of better and more definitive ways out,” he added.

But Sungusia stated that Tanzanian laws gave the courts the power to sentence albino killers and all other murderers to death.

“Even if the President decides to sign warrants effectively sanctioning the hanging of murder convicts, he would be perfectly right because that is provided for by our laws,” he pointed out.

He elaborated: “The problem lies in the laws we have. Some are so hopelessly outdated and therefore so bad that they call for urgent amendment or scrapping,” he said, adding that there was also “an urgent need to shift from criminology to victimology in order to restore justice in the society”.

LHRC director Francis Kiwanga similarly noted that the nation has failed to arrest the killings of albinos and that the death penalty has not been implemented in Tanzania in the last 16 or so years.

“The failure to actually hang murder convicts to death for this long means that there is no need to continue embracing the death sentence. Rather, we should concentrate on ways of controlling the killings of albinos,” he added.

But law professor Abdallah Safari trashed suggestions that the death penalty be abolished, saying those recommending as much were uncritical advocates of western philosophies.

“There is no way I can buy those suggestions. Rising numbers of countries I know are very seriously contemplating reinstating capital punishment. How strange it is that there are Tanzanians bent on doing the opposite!” he said.

Prof Safari said abolishing capital punishment would be going against religious and most other social norms “because all the holy books support the death penalty”.

However, he explained that sentence ought to be executed “only when there was no alternative way of getting a solution to the problem on the strength of which the sentence was passed”.

He insisted that in extreme cases like the killings of innocent albinos, the death penalty was easily the most logical way of dealing with the problem.

Another legal expert, Dr Edmund Sengondo Mvungi, was of the view that the question of whether to retain the death penalty was “a long-standing issue as far as the Holy Books and schools of law are concerned”.

He too said he did not view capital punishment as an effective enough deterrent in cases involving murder, adding: “Albino killings have their roots in traditional beliefs, and this makes the crime extremely difficult to kick out of society. It is like planning to end trading in narcotics,” he said.

He elaborated: “I must state categorically that it is just not right to kill an albino or anyone else because doing so deprives the victims of their basic right to life. But it would be equally not right to sentence murder convicts to death because that too would mean denying them their basic right to life.”

Dr Mvungi stressed that it would be neither right nor proper to use “the principle of negation in seeking solutions to problems”, and called on society “to appreciate the fact that albinos need and deserve as much love, protection and feeling of belonging from their respective communities as everyone else”.

“These people are a minority, they are desperate and they lack protection. Therefore they badly need social integration and recognition,” he said.

The High Court of Tanzania, sitting in Shinyanga Region specifically to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its second judgment on Monday by convicting four accused persons and sentencing them to death by hanging.

Judge Gadi Mjemas sentenced Mboje Mawe, Chenyenye Kishiwa, Sayi Gamaya and Sayi Mafizi, all residents of Nkindwabiye village in Bariadi District, Shinyanga Region.

They were charged with having conspired and killed Lyaku Wille (50) of Nkindwabiye village between November and December last year.

In its first ruling in September this year, the court similarly convicted and sentenced three accused persons. Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila delivered the judgment, saying the court was satisfied that the evidence presented by the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt the involvement of the three convicts in the killings.

He said the trio conspired and killed schoolboy Matatizo Dunia (13), an albino, on December 1 last year at Bunyihuna village in Shinyanga Region’s Bukombe District.

Those found guilty and are now on death row are Masumbuko Madata (32) of Itunga Village, Emmanuel Masangwa (28) of Bunyihuna Village and Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa (42) of Nanda Village, all in Bukombe District. The court ruled that they committed the crime as per Section 16 of Criminal Act No. 196, as amended in 2002.

The pronouncement of the first death sentence against albino killers (in Shinyanga in September last year) was greeted with jubilation among people who thronged the High Court set up in the area specifically for the purpose.

However, most lawyers interviewed said implementation of the death sentence was not as easy as people thought because it would have to be preceded by a fairly long process lasting between three to four years.

It was explained that before those on death row were hanged to death, a panel of judges would have to deliberate on the ruling. They would then submit a report to a special jury that would, in turn, advise the President on whether to assent to the court’s ruling that the convicts be hanged to death.

Four more albino killers sentenced to death

Story courtesy of The Guardian newspaper Tanzania

The High Court of Tanzania sitting in Shinyanga region specifically to preside over cases of albino killings, delivered its second judgment yesterday by convicting and sentencing to death by hanging four accused persons.

Delivering the judgment which lasted almost four hours, High Court judge Gadi Mjemas sentenced Mboje Mawe, Chenyenye Kishiwa, Sayi Gamaya and Sayi Mafizi, all residents of Nkindwabiye village in Bariadi district, Shinyanga region to be hanged to death.

He said the four conspired and killed Lyaku Wille (50) of Nkindwabiye village between November and December last year.

Judge Mjemas said he was convinced beyond reasonable doubt based on evidence adduced from DNA results conducted by a government chemist, Gloria Machube that matched blood stains found on the weapons which were in the accused possession, that none other than the accused committed the offence.

The judge said despite an inconsequential mix-up of some facts in submissions by the prosecution side, “the truth remained intact and hence the fairness of the judgment delivered by this court against the accused”.

Defence lawyer John Mwigula said he was not satisfied with the ruling against his clients and would appeal.

The court heard from prosecution witnesses that the accused immersed into water the late Lyaku before cutting his head and legs and disappearing with them, and that the body was found buried near Mboje Mawe’s house.

In its first ruling in September this year, the High Court sitting in Shinyanga sentenced to death three accused persons, making seven in total.

Delivering the judgment, which lasted about an hour, High Court Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila said the court was satisfied that the evidence presented by the prosecution side proved beyond reasonable doubt the involvement of the three convicts in the killings.

He said the trio conspired and killed schoolboy Matatizo Dunia (13), an albino, on December 1, last year at Bunyihuna village in Shinyanga Region’s Bukombe District.

Those found guilty and now on death row are Masumbuko Madata (32) of Itunga Village, Emmanuel Masangwa (28) of Bunyihuna Village and Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa (42) of Nanda Village, all in Bukombe District. The court ruled that they committed the crime as per Section 16 of Criminal Act No. 196, as amended in 2002.

4 more to hung for Albino murder

THE High Court in Shinyanga Region yesterday sentenced to death by hanging four people, who were charged with killing a 10-year-old albino, Lyaku Willy, at Kidamlida River at Nkwindwabuye Village in Bariadd District last year.

This brings to seven the number of people so far sentenced to death after they were convicted of murder of albinos...Read the Rest Here

90 people arrested in connection to Albino killings

A total of 90 people have been arrested and taken to court in connection to the killing of Albino people in the country in the period between June 2007 and March 2009...Read the Rest Here

Albinos in Exile under new Threat

"I have heard many times people say ‘there goes a million or real money’ whenever I pass by," she said.

They fled Tanzania to escape death at the height of killings of albinos by witchdoctors for their body parts.
Those who crossed to Kenya sought refuge in some coastal towns but it seems their hunters have followed them...Read the Rest Here

Albino victim evicted from safe-house

One year ago, Mariam Staford Bandaba, an albino woman living in Tanzania, was viciously attacked by a machete-wielding gang who tried to kill her and sell her remains for witchcraft.

She escaped with her life, but only just.

The attackers chopped off one of her hands - the other had to be amputated in hospital, where she spent weeks recovering from her horrific injuries...Read the Rest Here

The bleeding continues...but why?

Yesterday morning a ten year old albino boy named Gaspar Kaswalatrie was killed near Geita. Two men ran off with one of his legs. Neighbours reacted which is why the attackers ran away and did not take more body parts. His father jumped to his defense and was also attacked. His father, Elkana, is now fighting for his life in hospital.

Reporter exposes the epidemic of Albino killings

Mariamu Stanford, 28, a single mother with albinism from rural Tanzania, is just one of two Tanzanians with albinism known to have survived the gruesome attacks. Stanford talks to ABC News' Juju Chang.
(ABC News)

I had just 24 hours to prepare for my trip to Africa. We had been reporting on the killing of Tanzanians with albinism, a genetic condition characterized by a lack of pigment in people's eyes, skin and hair, as part of an ABC News hour special...Read the Rest Here

Want to help Tanzania's Albinos? - Here's How

In Tanzania, life with albinism is a near death sentence. Fifty-four people with albinism have been murdered since 2007 -- their limbs hacked off and sold on the black market. Many locals believe there are magical properties in the blood, bones and skin of people with albinism.

Tanzania has one of the largest populations of albinos in the world -- an estimated 170,000.
(Positive Exposure/Rick Guidotti)Aside from gruesome attacks, Tanzanian albinos -- unprotected for a lifetime under the scorching African sun -- often die of painful skin cancer in their thirties...Read the Rest Here

Albino killers murder two accomplices

Story courtesy of The Citizen Newspaper, Tanzania

Unidentified people have killed two suspected contract killers of albinos who were being hunted by the police force in Mwanza Region.

Bodies of the suspects, Magessa Makala, 46, and Magole Nagabona, 35, were found abandoned in a bush at Ihebo village in Ukerewe District at around 10:00am on Sunday, Mwanza regional police commander, Jamal Rwambow, confirmed yesterday.

Sources in Ukerewe believe the duo were killed by their colleagues in the crime for fear of being named as was the cases with the deceased suspects who were named by their colleagues, who were nabbed with an albino organ, while scouting for a market for the bone in the city.

"It's true that we were searching for the deceased suspects whose names I could not reveal when their colleagues were arrested about a week ago for fear of interfering with investigation," Commander Rwambow admitted yesterday.

Mr Rwambow said it was not true that the deceased suspects committed suicide as misleading reports widely circulated in Ukerewe District at the weekend, hinting that the murderers had probably planned the killings in order to confuse the public and ongoing investigation.

"Bodies of the deceased suspects indicated that they were stabbed by sharp objects," he said.

Two people, a resident of Bugula in Ukerewe District, a resident of Mkudi Mlimani suburb situated at Ghana area in Mwanza City, were on August 13 nabbed with a bone believed to be of an albino at Sun City Guesthouse also in the city.

The two suspects who are still in police custody, who also serve as traditional healers, named their colleagues during an interrogation with police officers in the city.

They admitted receiving the albino bone from the deceased suspects, who brought it to the city for them to look for a lucrative market for the albino organ.

New threat to albinos at school in Mwanza

Story courtesy of The Guardian Newspaper Tanzania

Pupils with albinism at Mitindo School, Misungwi District are exposed to hot sun as they wait in long queue for their turn to get water from a single source

Children with albinism admitted to a boarding school at Mitindo in Mwanza Region in efforts to keep them safe away from albino killers, now face a health threat.

According to the head teacher Juma Abdallah the pupils travel up to three kilometers to fetch water from a well far from the school. The school has a total of 148 pupils, 45 of whom are blind while 103 are albinos. Albinos lack pigments in their eyes, skin or hair, making their life difficult in Africa, where there is plenty of sunshine. They are more susceptible to skin cancer and sunburn.

“As you have seen, the pupils are forced to wait under the sun in a queue for a long time, risking their tender skins and weak eyes by exposing them to the sun,” he said.

Other challenges they face are shortage of blankets, bed- sheets, toothbrushes and tooth paste. The school also needs a professional matron and patron as well as regular heath check-ups. Mitindo School in Misungwi District was initially meant for blind children. Now, owing to lack of dormitories, two pupils are now forced to share a bed. “Following the outbreak of albino killings, the government directed us to accommodate the children, but their number is overwhelming and we’ve no alternative as our request for additional budget is yet to materialize,” said the head teacher.

The albinos have been killed for their body parts to be used in witchcraft by persons who seek wealth or sexual potency. At least 53 albinos have been killed since March, 2007 in various parts of the country, mostly in Shinyanga and Mwanza regions.

The killers sell body parts such including arms, legs, hair, skin and genitals to those who practice witchcraft.

Meanwhile, Mwanza Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro is currently cautioning parents and guardians to refrain from sending albino children there any more.

He said: "Parents too are duty bound to protect their children," adding that this is not solely a government responsibility. Kandoro called on each district authority in the region to construct a primary school where children with albinism would be mix with other children.

Government and lobby groups say Tanzania has about 170,000 albinos out its population of 40 million people.

Three albino killers to hang

Story courtesy of The Guardian Newspaper Tanzania

The three men convicted of an albino boy's murder

The High Court, sitting in this Shinyanga Region town specifically to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its first judgement yesterday. It convicted and sentenced to death three accused persons.

Reading the ruling, which lasted about an hour, High Court Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila said the court was satisfied that the evidence presented by the prosecution side proved beyond reasonable doubt the involvement of the three convicts in the killings.

He said the trio conspired and killed schoolboy Matatizo Dunia (13), an albino, on December 1 last year at Bunyihuna village in Shinyanga Region’s Bukombe District.

Those found guilty and now on death row are Masumbuko Madata (32) of Itunga Village, Emmanuel Masangwa (28) of Bunyihuna Village and Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa (42) of Nanda Village, all in Bukombe District. The court ruled that they committed the crime as per Section 16 of Criminal Act No. 196, as amended in 2002.

“This court has found all of you, first accused Masumbuko Madata, second accused Emmanuel Masangwa and third accused Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa, guilty of killing Matatizo Dunia, and therefore you will be hanged to death. However, you can appeal the sentence if you so wish,” the judge pronounced.

The long-awaited judgment appeared to please most of the people who had turned up at the court premises in huge numbers for an eyewitness account of the climax of the historic proceedings.

Judge Rwakibalila said the defence furnished the court with evidence meant to present the accused as innocent, adding: “But later evidence from the same side proved that the three accused were in fact solidly behind the killings.”

He explained that despite an inconsequential mix-up of some facts in submissions by the prosecution side, “the truth remained intact and hence the fairness of the judgment delivered by this court against the accused”.

The judge said among the trivial “slip-ups” he was referring to was the number of vehicles used by an unspecified number of police officers during arrest of the suspects.

“It is impossible for human being to remember every detail. However, this cannot change the truth,” he noted.

Added the judge: “The evidence presented in court included statements by Madata’s wife and Masumbuko’s third wife Yunis Peter, who stood as the second prosecution witness. The two women narrated in court how they saw their husbands returning home accompanied by Rajab Luchoronga, who is still at large. They also witnessed Matatizo’s severed legs being recovered from a nearby bush which Masumbuko frequently visited for soothsaying.”

Judge Rwakibalila pointed out further that the evidence presented in court by a bother to Madata showed how the accused fled alongside Luchoronga as the police approached.

“Again, third accused Kalamuji’s wife identified as Sofia Andrew explained how her husband disappeared from the family home on November 30 last year before it was reported that he had been arrested in connection with the killing of an albino,” added the judge.

Commenting on the evidence presented by the Chief Government Chemist, the judge said the first and the third accused were directly implicated in Matatizo’s brutal killing “as DNA samples collected from the boy’s blood technically proved them to have hand a hand in the killing”.

Soon after Judge Rwakibalila was through, the defence side declared that they intended to appeal the ruling.

Defence counsel Kamaliza Kayaga said he was not satisfied with the ruling against his clients and contesting it was the only option they would pursue.

The court adjourned until September 28, which is set for the hearing of another murder case. This time the accused is Joseph Lugota of Kagongwa Village in Isagehe Ward, who stands charged with killing Ng’wana Gimbishi (75) of Kilimbi Village in Mwalugulu Ward in Kahama District.

Land Mark Ruling: Three to hang for Albino Murder

A LANDMARK judgment was made today, when a high court sitting in Shinyanga region sentenced three men to death by hanging for killing Matatizo Dunia (14), an albino boy, early this year in Bukombe district...Read The Rest Here
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Albino Society calls for public execution

The Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) has called for the public execution of three people who were yesterday sentenced to death for murdering an albino...Read The Rest Here
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Death for Tanzania Albino Killers

A court in north-western Tanzania has sentenced three men to death by hanging for killing a 14-year-old albino boy.

They were found guilty of attacking Matatizo Dunia and severing his legs in Bukombe district in Shinyanga province...Read The Rest Here

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Tanzania Albino killers death Sentence

The first verdicts arising out of the recent spate of witchcraft-related killings of albinos in Tanzania have been delivered - three men have been sentenced to death by hanging.

A court in the north of the country found them guilty of murdering a 14-year-old and severing his legs...Read The Rest Here

Peter Ash shares his heartbeat with Christian faithfuls in Dar

When called to the podium to introduce his team and share the word of God last Sunday, Peter Ash (founder of Under the Same Sun – an organization which has the interest of albinos in Tanzania at heart) walked up the steps purposefully, one step at a time.

He took the mike from the pastor and introduced the team he’d come to church with that morning. They were, among others, his brother Paul; Don, a close friend and one directly involved in the fight against albino killings; Vicky Ntetema, BBC bureau chief in this part of the world and Samuel Mluge, the director of Under the Same Sun Tanzania.

When the preliminaries were over, he started sharing the word of God with the congregation.

He made three major points.

1.    People with albinism are first and foremost humans. The genetic condition albinism) comes second. They’re like any other human being. Their genetic condition does not rob them of their ‘humanhood’.

Albinos, just like the rest of humanity, are fearfully and wonderfully made. (See Psalms 139: 13 - 16). This is a psalm of David and it says:

“You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well. When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother’s womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there – you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book before any of them ever began.”

Peter told the story of Mariam, a small albino girl who was hacked to death in the Lake Victoria region by people who were after her body parts. When he recounted how the gang slit her (Mariam’s) throat and how her legs were hewn off, tears coursed down the cheeks of some members of the congregation. Sporadic sniffles could be heard throughout the church as the sad story was being told.

2. Albinos are under a deadly attack of the devil, the father of lies. The devil is a liar and a murderer. John 8:44 says:

“You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it.”

The devil is also a thief. John 10:10 says:

“The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy.”

The devil, through the mouths of witchdoctors, promises wealth which comes at a price – human life! This is a great lie and one that should be fought against at all costs.

3. People with albinism need their brothers and sisters (those who don’t have albinism) to join in the war against this violence. This is where the church comes in. The church needs to stand for justice, mercy and faithfulness. The community around us needs to be sensitized on the repercussions of allowing this evil to continue having a field day in our country. It is the responsibility of each and every member of society to see to it that the violence and animosity against albinos comes to a stop.

He mentioned this blog as being one of the vehicles that is championing an end to violence against albinos in Tanzania. I was deeply humbled by this sentiment. (I really appreciate the mention of this blog on that podium, Peter).

He closed with strong and weighty words; words laden with prophecy ad finality:

“I see a day when albinos in this country (Tanzania) will walk free!”

AMEN!![My voice]

I wish, hope and pray so too.

Check out these links, too:
It's our call, dear brethren

Dealing with the violence aginst Albinos: Where do you fall?

Dealing with the violence against Albinos: Where do you Fall?

Different people have different ways of dealing with problems and challenges in their lives. How would you deal with the problem of violence against albinos if you were to take a stand?

I have prepared some questions (below) that could help you work out what you’d do or rather what your choice would be.

In the questions, the cracks in the house stand for the problem of violence against albinos.

Check what you would do…

a). Are you one who would opt to fill the cracks instead of finding out why there are cracks (to avert something even more sinister from seeing the light of day)?

b). Are you one who would paint the cracks to make them 'invisible'?

c). Are you one who would dig up the sides of the foundation to find out why the building is shaky?

d). Are you one who would literally demolish the building, the cost of the building notwithstanding, to build a more stable one in its place?

e). Are you one who would run after lizards that crawl out of the cracks, instead of paying attention to many a cranny threatening the stability of your building?

f). Are you one who would sit by, arms folded and watch as the building crumbles in one big heap?

g). Are you one who would exhibit the ostrich syndrome. That is, hide your head in the sand and think that because you cannot see the cracks then they are non-existent?

So, where do you fall?

It’s our call, dear brethren

I have continually noted – with growing uneasiness – that most Tanzanians blame the government for almost anything negative that happens in their environs.

Someone, at whose front door is a huge mound of garbage, would be heard blaming the government for not removing the litter from his doorstep! The logical thing to do would be to remove the ‘eyesore’ from in front his house in order to avoid outbreaks of diseases such as cholera.

The same mentality takes centre stage in the fight against albino killings. Most Tanzanians think (and wrongfully so!) that it is up to the government to bring these killings to an end.

The government alone cannot do much. All of us must join hands and work towards a common goal: an end to albino killings.

The ball’s in our court (or part of the game); let’s play with the intention of winning. Our albino brothers and sisters are waiting and watching. We can do better than we currently are doing concerning this grave issue.

Albino killings must be ended

Story courtesy of The Guardian Newspaper Tanzania

The High Court in Shinyanga has finally resumed the trials of people suspected to have been involved in the killings of albinos. Prior to the resumption, there was a lull due to a reported lack of funds, much as the trials were of great public interest.

We are quite encouraged that leaders of the Judiciary have taken quick measures to ensure that the cases resume. It is our hope that this time around, the trials are going to be conducted right to the end.

As it goes, justice delayed is justice denied. For that reason, it is pertinent that the cases are conducted non-stop until the verdicts are issued. We are stressing the need for expedition of the trials not because we are pre-judging the accused, but mainly because the credibility of the courts and the nation will be at stake if the trials are prolonged unnecessarily.

Secondly, at the end of the trials when the court hands down the punishment to those who might be found to be guilty, the penalties shall serve as a lesson to those who have been involved in the killing spree of albinos.

These crimes of highly detestable nature have also cast a dark cloud over our law organs and state investigation agencies, as there was a feeling -- and this persists, especially within the albino community -- that the arrests and eventual prosecution of the culprits was taking questionably long.

We therefore hope that the trials that are taking place in Shinyanga Region will not lead to complacency in the police force. No stone should be left unturned until all the killers are identified and brought to justice.

We must also insist on quick and unrelenting investigation whenever there are reports of such macabre killings anywhere within the borders of this country. We stress this, not because we have no trust in the competence of the state investigators, but because this is one of the ways of putting to an end the killings.

Wherever there is a will, there is a way. If we are determined to put the saga of the albinos—who are our fellow countrymen and women, our own kith and kin—to an end, then we should not only resolve to end the shameful killings, but also to manifest this resolve through concrete and credible action.

We all know that apart from the human tragedy brought about by the killings, the image of our nation is at stake. Also, the good name of this generation is threatened. We have to see to it that our great-great grandchildren remember this generation of Tanzanians affectionately as both responsible and of historical importance.

Moreover, the so-called saga of albinism in Tanzania is tarnishing our hitherto extremely good name abroad. Tanzania has been known as an island of peace in the Great Lakes Region and should remain so.

It is thus the duty of each and every one of us to protect human life, which is sacred. On the other hand, political leaders, members of the law-enforcing organs and the Judiciary bear even a heavier responsibility. That is why we keep writing about this particular issue.