Allegations of abandoning albinos not true: Ntetema

Dar es Salaam. Award winning human rights activist, Vicky Ntetema, has come forth to clarify the recent allegations against her. It was reported in the media in April that Ms Ntetema, who is at the fore-front in the fight against killings of people living with albinism (PWA), had allegedly abandoned three PWAs in her house in Mkuranga; one of whom recently went missing.

The Coast Regional Commissioner, Mr Evarist Ndiliko, had said that the ‘safe house’ where they were placed was not safe at all. The news couldn’t have come out at a worse time, Ms Ntetema was in the US receiving The Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award for her work in ending the often-deadly discrimination against people with albinism.

In an exclusive interview with The Citizen in her office in Dar es Salaam, Ms Ntetema who is the executive director of Under the Same Sun (UTSS), an NGO through which she has been helping PWA, said that the news surprised her.

Mungu Masaga’s experience

She explains that although this wasn’t mentioned in the news reports, the house in Mkuranga was a home to nine people, including the three PWA. The whole story unfolds with Mungu Masaga, a PWA who was attacked in 2014 in Buhekela village in Tabora and then hospitalised for a month at Nkinga Mission Hospital in Tabora. She was 35 at the time.

When Mungu woke up, she realised that two of her children, Mahona and Mashiri (8 and 10 years at the time) were also attacked and hospitalised in Igunga Mission Hospital. Her husband, Mashiri Mapambo, who didn’t have albinism, was with her when she was attacked but he did not survive. He died, and was already buried when Mungu became conscious. He left her with seven children, none of whom have albinism.

On being discharged, Mungu went to live with her late husband’s cousin, Lazaro Mapambo in Igunga. “But Lazaro and his wife Eunice refused to protect them in their house. They told us that if we do not take Mungu, they were going to leave her in the house alone. They gave us a week to find safety for her,” explains Ms Ntetema. During this time, UTSS offered their moral and financial support. They gave money for upkeep on weekly basis and other household items that the family needed.

At this point, Ms Ntetema’s organisation had joined forces with a team of local security officers that included Tabora’s Director of Public Persecutions, Regional Police Commissioner and the regional security committee. And as they were trying to beat the one week deadline, the police force agreed to patrol around her neighbourhood. But they couldn’t do it forever.

“They had asked us to take the family in since we have two safe houses – one in the Lake Zone and another in Dar es Salaam. But UTSS primary target is to help children, although when necessary we do offer support to adults who have been attacked. We were clear that it is the government’s job to protect its citizen,” she says.

Ms Ntetema further explains that at the end, after much discussions and negotiations, UTSS agreed to provide safety to Mungu Masaga, her brother Samuel Masaga who was also a person with albinism, and her seven children. Igunga’s social welfare officers brought the family to Dar es Salaam in October 2014. But when they arrived, the family was frightened and uncomfortable in their new home. Mungu said she was not used to a big city, and experienced so much anxiety. Her brother expressed the same sentiments. They wanted to live in a farm where they could work.

“So I donated my five-acre farm in Mkuranga for this purpose. UTSS doesn’t have a safe house there, it is my house. They were to stay there until it was safe for them to return to Tabora. We never abandoned them. Actually, we kept on providing for their daily needs,” says Ms Ntetema. They gave them solar power, a radio, and provided an amount of money for their upkeep.

Ms Ntetema also says that the local authorities in Mbezi-Mlungwana were aware of the family’s existence and the situation that had brought them there. The family planted maize, cassava, potatoes and other vegetables. Two of her children were enrolled in Mbezi Mlungwana School.

The change wasn’t easy for Mungu. She would often knock on people’s doors asking why they had hidden her husband from her. She was sure that he would come back. Towards the end of the year, her eldest son, Magunguli (19), took the money that they family had and left. “We called him and he said that he couldn’t stay with her (Mungu). The trauma she had gone through made her run away often, scream that people were coming to get her. And he couldn’t take it anymore,” explains Ms. Ntetema and says that most PWA go through a lot of mental health issues. After all she had gone through, Mungu had become a psychiatric case and was admitted at Muhimbili Referral Hospital in Dar es Salaam in early 2015. She was on medication thereafter which was administered by medical practitioners at a local clinic.

The case of the missing person

At the same time when Mungu and her family were relocated to Mkuranga, UTSS received another PWA survivor, Said Abdallah (47), who was attacked in 2010 in Morogoro. His relatives could not cope with him because of his psychological problems.

“He was placed in our Dar es Salaam safe house. But he didn’t want to be idle. He wanted to work, preferably in a farm. So we thought that Mkuranga would be the best option. With permission from village authorities, he was taken there,” said Ms Ntetema.

Said set his own daily routine of farming and selling his produce. Through counselling sessions with Mkuranga social welfare officers, they learnt that he was a drug addict. He was referred to Muhimbili hospital for medication. “Said’s health began to deteriorate because he refused to take medication. So he began doing things which a person with a normal state of mind would not do,” Ms Ntetema added.

Like always, Said left with a basket of vegetables to sell in a nearby village of Mtipule on January 31, 2016. It was the last day that anyone heard from him. “Sources and witnesses say that he got into a fight with three other men who were selling and buying local beer. They saw them leave together. But all of them have not been found till date,” Ms Ntetema explained.

The current situation

Once Said became a missing person, it exposed the family to more risks. They had to be relocated. In consultation with the deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for People with Disabilities, Dr Abdallah Possi, the local authorities and UTSS decided that the family be taken back to Tabora.

“Mungu was confused and devastated. She didn’t want to go back. But we didn’t have any other option. The family moved back to Tabora last month. The local authorities and the police have informed us that they are safe. But the fact that she can’t work is frustrating her. We continue to support them financially,” said Ms Ntetema.

Ms Ntetema says she is disappointed with the local media. As a journalist, she expected that there would be balanced reporting, especially from fellow journalists. “I know that this for them is sensationalism. I would like people to come and face me. They are cowards and they are not professional journalists.

“I am ashamed to be sitting with them on the same table as a journalist, and I am ashamed to call them my brothers and sisters in the media because they don’t deserve that. Let them write, but the truth prevails. I don’t think I will waste my time to defend what they have written. They should know that when I am settled, I will sue them. And I mean that,” she declared.