Lobby moves albinos from areas near Tanzania

What you need to know:

  • The chairman of the National Council for People Living with Disability, Dr David ole Sankok, said the decision was prompted by election campaigns in the neighbouring country.
  • Dr Sankok was speaking in Vihiga County after visiting the family of Enock Jamenya, who died from injuries sustained on Monday during an attack by three men believed to have wanted his body parts to sell in Tanzania.
  • There are suspicions that demand for the body parts has risen as politicians perform rituals they believe will help them win next month’s elections in Tanzania.

A lobby group has started evacuating albinos from towns bordering Tanzania to safer places.

The chairman of the National Council for People Living with Disability, Dr David ole Sankok, said the decision was prompted by election campaigns in the neighbouring country.

Dr Sankok was speaking in Vihiga County after visiting the family of Enock Jamenya, who died from injuries sustained on Monday during an attack by three men believed to have wanted his body parts to sell in Tanzania.

There are suspicions that demand for the body parts has risen as politicians perform rituals they believe will help them win next month’s elections in Tanzania.

“We have moved 35 of them to the interior of the country,” he said.

The chairman said his council was working with Safaricom to set up a toll free number for disabled people to call in times of distress.

The toll free line will be used to report to the police and the council’s head office. Mr Jamenya, 56, was attacked in rural Vihiga County and died while being treated.

His attackers wanted his left ear and fingers, family spokesperson Nickson Lugadiru said.