konknaijaboy | On 02, Jun 2015

 

In the first admission of its kind in parliament, Pereira Silima, Tanzania’s deputy home affairs minister, said reports linking politicians to albino killings could be true since attacks rose during elections.

The East African country imposed a ban on witchcraft earlier this year to try to stop a trade in albino body parts used in spells and charms claiming to bring luck and wealth as the United Nations warned of a marked increase in attacks.

Silima urged politicians to be wary of promises from witch doctors to help them secure victory in the October general election.

“I want to assure my fellow politicians that there won’t be any parliamentary seat that will be won as a result of using albino body parts,” Silima told the national parliament late last week.

Albinos face attack in many parts of Africa, but kidnappings, attacks and killings are more common in Tanzania.

At least 75 albinos, who lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes, including children, have been killed in Tanzania since 2000, according to UN figures, many hacked to death.

Witch doctors will pay as much as $75 000 for a full set of albino body parts, according to a Red Cross report.

The United Nations warned in March that 2015 could be a dangerous year for albinos in Tanzania as politicians turn to witch doctors to widen their chances of winning the polls.

Vicky Ntetema, executive director of Under The Same Sun, a Canadian non-profit working to defend albinos, said an investigative report eight years ago exposed politicians who sought magic potions from witch doctors to win elections but this was the first time that the link was made in parliament.

“As sad and as disgusting as it is to hear a government minister admitting that politicians are involved in albino killings, I am glad that finally this is an official acknowledgement,” She told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday.