Tears and fear for elderly victims of deadly witch-hunt

A relative of 75-year-old Mary Matibe, who was burnt to death by people who accused her of practising witchcraft, in Ngeri in Bonchari, Kisii on April 19, 2016. PHOTO | BENSON MOMANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The incident unfolded on Saturday, at around 4.00pm. Most villagers were indoors, perhaps to shelter from the scorching sun. It was also the day most villagers attend church, and the area was quiet.

  • Suddenly a distress call was raised, as heavy smoke billowed in the air, forming a big dark cloud. Eight houses belonging to the victims were gutted down.

  • While close relatives of the targeted women wailed, other villagers celebrated and cheered.

  • The bloodbath is the latest in the Gusii region and awakens ugly memories of tens of elderly women lynched on suspicion of practising witchcraft.

Three weeks ago, two women were lynched at Omokonge village, Bomabacho location in Nyamira County.

The incident unfolded on Saturday, at around 4.00pm. Most villagers were indoors, perhaps to shelter from the scorching sun. It was also the day most villagers attend church, and the area was quiet.

Suddenly a distress call was raised, as heavy smoke billowed in the air, forming a big dark cloud. Eight houses belonging to the victims were gutted down.

While close relatives of the targeted women wailed, other villagers celebrated and cheered.

The bloodbath is the latest in the Gusii region and awakens ugly memories of tens of elderly women lynched on suspicion of practising witchcraft.

Mrs Pauline Marinda Mogambi, 95, and her expectant daughter Mary Mogambi, 40, were lynched by an angry mob which accused them of being witches.

“Where is the ‘book of witches’ which was found by the roadside?” asked the attackers as they descended on the two women. The book so demanded has often been used to incriminate old women targeted for lynching.

Mr Sosi Ondieki, a relative of the two women, said he saw smoke billowing from the neighbouring Bogesinsi village and rushed to the scene. He fainted on spotting the two charred bodies.

DISTURBING SCENE

Mr Ondieki, 74, recalls the disturbing scene.

“My aunt was too weak to even leave the house. I wonder what made them link her to witchcraft. One of them hit her with a machete to the head as she wailed for mercy. I think their target was my grandmother,” said another relative who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The eyewitness says he watched in agony as they chased after his aunt, who had tried to flee. They got hold of her and beat her up with all manner of weapons. “My aunt must have been a victim of circumstances,” he said.

Petrol was later doused on the two women and a matchbox lit. Dry leaves were used to fan the fire.

Last week, security officers held a baraza in the village to appeal for calm. They asked the villagers to volunteer information on the killings.

Nyamira South police boss Rico Ngare says in his 30-year service he has never witnessed such ghastly killing of elderly people by the youth.

“What crime is it to live long enough to grow grey hair? The government will not allow this to happen again,” he said.

IS LUCKY

In Kanunda village in Kitutu Chache South constituency, 70-year-old Leornida Kwamboka is lucky to be alive. Her husband, Ongubo Ichari, and four elderly women were lynched on allegations of practising witchcraft in 2009. “I can’t believe I’ve made it to 2017,” she says, sitting pensively on her doorstep staring at her husband’s grave nearby. “He was the man of the house and had to be buried there, according to Kisii customs,” she explains. She says she tends the grave frequently and wonders why the assailants were so inhuman.

She never got to bury her husband as she had to flee.

“I’ve never bewitched anyone. I don’t even know how a witch looks like. They just accused us wrongly,” she said.

The five Ongubo Ichari, Boyani Gichana, Yobensia Onguso, Sandimu Mageto and Mary Yusita were accused of abducting a child and making him dumb through black magic. The child, who was allegedly abandoned by the roadside, is said to have pointed out the abductors.

“I had been sent by my husband to the local market to buy maize. On my return, a group of youth confronted me, asking me to flee the area. ‘They have killed your husband, they are coming for you... run... run’,” they advised her.

SEVEN MONTHS

She ran as fast as her frail legs could take her and went into hiding for seven months.

“We didn’t have the so-called ‘Egetabu Ki’abarogi (book of witches), as our assailant’s claimed. I do not know how it looks like. I have only heard about it,” she says.

She, however, reveals that she was involved in a land conflict with some of the assailants. “I suspect they were after my land. No one has raised a finger against me again, even after I returned to my homestead,” she says.

A staunch Catholic, she was shocked that she and her husband could be associated with witchcraft. She says the assailants robbed her family of its breadwinner, leaving her six children to suffer. “Despite my age, I have to look for manual work to sustain myself and my grandchildren. I work in other people’s farms and do other odd jobs,” she says.

Ms Kwamboka says eight suspects arrested in connection with the lynching of her husband and the four women were released by the Kisii High Court for lack of evidence.

Her son Charles Maiteka, 38, says he never saw his parents practise anything resembling witchcraft, adding that most accusers are driven by greed, jealousy and envy. “Why do they attack frail people? Most of these old people do not know how to read and write, so how can they be accused of authoring ‘the book of witches?” he posed.

MOST INNOCENT

Pastor Lawrence Nyanuga, chairman of South Kisii Pastors Fellowship, says although witchcraft exists, most of the people killed are innocent.

“Assailants usually target the elderly to forcibly acquire their land and property,” he said.

The pastor’s own family was once accused of witchcraft, he says, in an incident where 11 people were killed in his rural village in Suneka.

The Abagusii council of elders condemns lynching, saying most of the victims are innocent. The council’s chairman, Mr James Matundura, says people with vested interests in land and property target elderly people who are too weak to defend themselves. “There is no such book of witchcraft. Why has it never been found?” he asks.