No wealth can come out of killing children!

Children are precious. They are the future of any family unit and in essence the nation. Their health and wellbeing matters a lot- because how they grow, how they are brought up will determine the quality of the youth and later adult population.

At home we have the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, which is a greater indicator that for the government of Tanzania, children welfare is at the centre stage of development.

Actually, anywhere in the world, how children are treated shows if a nation has the right development policies or not.

The problems that we are not able to solve today, we expect them, after being empowered with education, with more knowledge than us, to be able to come out with solutions.

African nations are mostly in developing state, but we expect our children to rise up and where we have failed to make them “developed”, they will do it.

So it is insanity that anyone in our society should go out there killing children, to get their body parts for witchcraft purposes. The reports that emerged recently in Njombe are so disturbing, so nauseating, and have sent shockwaves to parents across the country.

In a news story making rounds across the world, it indicates about 10 children so far have been murdered in the name of witchcraft believes! Some media alleged the killers, were in search of riches (attract wealth)! What a cruel way to die out of false beliefs!

As we thank the government for moving fast to avert more killings and promising all perpetrators of the incidents will be brought to book, we need a soul searching as a nation. Why? Some years back, it was killing of members of our society suffering albinism for similar reasons.

Available information indicates majority of Tanzanians belong to the two major religious groups of the world (Muslims and Christians), which both condemn witchcraft.

For how long will a cross-section of our society continue trusting witchcraft, which harms them as well as the larger society?

A research by Mulemi, B.A & Ndolo, U.M titled “Albinism, Witchcraft, and Superstition in East Africa: Exploration of Bio-cultural Exclusion and Livelihood Vulnerability” (2014) makes it clear that “witchcraft beliefs and superstitions regarding albinism also epitomize the overall informational deprivation and experience of livelihood insecurity.” In such situations, “economically and socially deprived people seek alternative ways of knowing phenomena and securing livelihood by relating their experience to mystical beliefs and superstitions.”

According to the researchers’ investigation, it was found out that the people with albinism were targeted for “preparation of magical portions for prosperity and wealth or scapegoats for perceived misfortunes in collective life course.”

In the madness of witchcraft believes, there have been cases of old women with red eyes, killed. In other cases, old women are raped or have their private parts cut, all in issues related to witchcraft.

In dear motherland, it is a criminal offence for anyone to practice witchcraft. Yet we can attest levels of belief in the vice are high. So, what can be done to end the madness, if the law has not been very effective? In case of witchcraft for body parts, the reasons advanced most of the time is people seeking wealth and prosperity.

I think the whole society, especially, the academia and mass media, should assist the government, by raising awareness to our community that, wealth come from set values like hard work, thinking smart, working together (team work) for common goals, and so on.

Maybe is high time, we raise awareness to the masses on how to make money and get rich legitimately, so that, even those who are deprived, they will get to know, there is a way out of poverty.

Saumu Jumanne is an Assistant Lecturer, Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE)