A new investigation by BBC Africa Eye, for BBC World Service, has uncovered cases of elderly people being murdered and attacked after being falsely accused of witchcraft along Kenya’s Kilifi coast.
The investigation heard multiple accounts from elderly victims who claimed the attacks were being organised by family members, with the actual purpose being to take ownership of their land.
In ‘Cry Witch: Take My Land, Take My Life’, BBC Africa reporter and Kenyan-native Njeri Mwangi, speaks to victims of the violent attacks, to those living in fear of attack daily, and to those behind the killings.
In 2023, Haki Yetu, a Kenyan-based human rights organisation published a report on witchcraft and elderly abuse. The report claimed that 138 elderly people were murdered in Kilifi in just two years, more than one every week*. Reports of violent attacks on people falsely accused of witchcraft have occurred across the continent for years.
Julius Wanyama, a programme officer for Haki Yetu told the BBC: “If someone is accused of being a witch, their chances of survival are minimal. They use the word witchcraft as a justification because it will get public sympathy.” He added: “It started as a regional issue, but it has escalated to a national disaster.”
According to Mr Wanyama, witchcraft is used as a justification to attack people on their land. He added that historically people in Kilifi do not have documentation for their land title, as this is often passed through oral tradition. Therefore, if an elderly person is killed “you have removed the obstacle.”
As part of this investigation, Njeri Mwangi spoke with a confessed contract killer, who claims to have murdered around 20 elderly people for a fee of 50,000 Kenyan Shillings (around $380 US). He told Njeri that when an elderly person in the region is killed, the family are always involved.
74-year-old Tambala Jefwa, who owns around 30 acres of land, told the BBC he was viciously attacked twice leaving him with catastrophic injuries. The immediate family believe a border dispute with extended family is the reason for the attacks and the younger family members now keep guard every night.
His wife, Sidi Kazungu, told BBC Africa Eye that the police knew of Tambala’s attacks but had not investigated them. “Without money, you cannot go to the police”, she explains. “The thugs took away all his strength.”
Another elderly resident, Katana Charo, was attacked in his home, resulting in both his hands and his genitals being cut. As a result, he can no longer manage to live on his land.
Mr Charo told BBC Africa Eye: “I was not born like this; the way my hands are now, all my plans are ruined.” He owns six acres of land by the coast, an area where land value has increased enormously. He told the BBC that although he knows who his attacker is, there have been no arrests.
Throughout the investigation, elderly victims repeatedly complained of police inaction.
“Very few people have been charged on allegations of killings of elderly” says Julius Wanyama, “the police are the weakest link”. Following one killing of the elderly, Wanyama claims that one police officer told him “Let them kill each other, my work here is simply to pick up the bodies.”
BBC Africa Eye reached out to the Kenyan police for a response to allegations in this programme. They received no response.
Watch ‘Cry Witch: Take My Land, Take My Life’ on BBC Africa’s YouTube channel on Monday 8th July 2024.\
BBC World Service / BBC Africa Eye
