The aged targeted because they are isolated

The killing of several people and the destruction of property in some parts of Kenya over suspected involvement in witchcraft is nothing new. It has happened before in the larger Kisii district, some parts of Ukambani and Uasin Gishu.

And even though many believe that the phenomenon is peculiar to Africa, witchcraft is practised even in the West.

The success of the Harry Porter series, a best-seller whose star is a boy fighting against the odds to achieve his goals in the lofty world of wizardry, attests to this.

The Harry Potter series may be fictional but the deaths and destruction experienced in Kenya because of witchcraft are real.
Most of the victims of these lynchings are old people.

According to Mr Timan Ngugi, an officer at Help Age International, the aged are targeted because they are isolated and neglected.

“It has nothing to do with them being witches or wizards. The claims are not based on any scientific proof,” says Mr Ngugi.

He says that because most old people are excluded from their communities and are deemed not to be useful because of their limited ability to work, they are easily accused of practising witchcraft and attacked.

Mr Ngugi says similar cases have been reported in Burkina Faso and South Africa.

Witchcraft is defined as the use of certain kinds of alleged supernatural or magical powers.

It is also defined as a form of sorcery or the magical manipulation of nature for self-benefit, or for harm of a client.