KILIFI, Kenya, Oct 4- Tens of the elderly in Kilifi, a coastal county in Kenya, have been brutally killed over the years after they were accused of bewitching their own- youth, the majority of whom are jobless.
According to police statistics, 150 elderly men have been killed on allegations of witchcraft in the last two years in Kenya.
Though a source of wisdom and blessings, as seen in many African setups, in some parts of Kilifi- they became unwanted.
“It was traumatizing,” Chonyi Sub-County Officer Commanding Station Victoria Kalundu said.
According to Kalundu, the elderly were being accused of bringing bad luck to the community through witchcraft.
They would be killed, unheard. And this is not limited to Kilifi alone.
In Kisii County, five elderly people- four women and one man, accused of witchcraft were burnt to death in Kisii in 2019. Still within the County, in 1993, eight elderly people accused of witchcraft were burned to death in their huts by a mob.
“They were always reporting cases of killing of the elderly. They would say the elderly are the ones bewitching them not to prosper in their society,” she said.
This left state and non-state actors looking for a quick solution, as hundreds of old people, were staring at a possible execution…just for being aged.
One such effort is through the REINVENT programme, which rolled out an innovative approach to community policing and accountability forums called SEMA Clinic(s). The programme is funded by the United Kingdom.
The Sema clinics are open forums that bring together the police and the community members to engage in dialogue on security issues that affect the area.
The messages are relayed in various ways including role-plays where the Police are actual cast in the plays.
This is seen as a perfect way of curtailing retrogressive beliefs that kept the elderly at risk of killings due to allegations of witchcraft.
Through joint role-plays with the community art groups, they have been able to create awareness against a number of societal ills increasing the confidence in the Police.
“They no longer run away whenever they see police vehicles and as a result, this has increased the number of people who report cases to the police station,” authorities in the area told Shahidi News.
Through the programme, the killings according to police statistics have drastically reduced by an average of 60 percent.
Since January 2021 only two cases of elderly killings have been reported and one defilement case reported at the Kijipwa Police station.
“The elderly persons are being informed where to go and present their issues and the repercussions after that, “Chiro Mwahunga, a member of the Chonyi Community Policing Committee said.
Interestingly, reporting has increased from 68 in the year 2016/17 up to 132 in the year 2019/2020. This is about a 100 percent increase in reporting.
-‘Spreading The Word’-
After successful ‘Sema clinics’ in Kijipwa police station area, the OCS has since initiated a joint state and non-state security actors-led initiative to replicate the Sema approach across the 17 villages under the station’s coverage-Chonyi Sub County.
“Part of the work that we have been doing under the community security work is to help create an awareness that people have human rights, children have human rights, the elderly have human rights and therefore communities in securing their own safety and security need to be able to respect the rights of others at whatever stage of life they are and to operate within the law,” Conflict Advisor, British High Commission Salome Zuriel said.
For police reform to achieve success, the British High Commission says they must be weighed against citizen expectations.
In the coast region, a litany of challenges ranging from excessive use of force, deficits in accountability, and poor response to cases of crime and insecurity eroded public confidence in police services.
Incidences such as civilian-driven retaliations against police officers and corresponding inhumane treatment of civilians by the police have increasingly been observed.
In the aftermath of terror incidences, heavy-handed police operations often widen the distance between community members and police officers and thus retaining the air of suspicion and mistrust.
The net effect, officials involved with the REINVENT programme says “is lack of meaningful cooperation to address persistent crime and increase in extrajudicial killings and counter-accusations between the community and the security agencies.”
Through Sema clinics, community representatives within the jurisdiction of a particular REINVENT police station are able to come together with the station’s leadership and a representation from the police oversight and accountability institutions, including the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), Internal Affairs Unit (IAU), Commission for Administration of Justice (CAJ), and Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC).
The objective of the forum is to provide an open space for the community to speak out about the state of policing services in their respective areas, allow for responses from the security agencies and provide the space to speak freely in the presence of the institutions.
Since March 2020, over 500 community security stakeholders have been engaged in six areas served by the six police stations.
Drawing from SEMA clinics conducted over this period, respective OCSs and IPOA, IAU, CAJ, together with HURIA’s response team, received a total of 11 rights violation cases committed by police officers on civilians.
“All are now active cases being pursued for further investigations by both IPOA and IAU,” authorities told Shahidi News.
The SEMA clinics are supported by a complementary approach named Free Legal Aid Advisory Call Sessions (FLAACS) similarly run by HURIA.
“The youth, together with the community policing committees and the are police officers came together and designed skits that speak around witchcraft and the killing of the elderly and also touch on the issues of gender-based violence,” Winnie Hachi, Huria, which is a UK-funded programme said.
“Once they view the skits, they come up with questions and reactions in addressing with witchcraft or a GBV case.”
An anonymous toll-free line is provided to the public to report any form of violations by the security agencies.
A response team made up of pro-bono lawyers provides requisite support to persons reporting incidences which include referrals, legal and counselling support.
This quarter over 130 cases have been reported through the platform with 64 percent new cases and the rest following up on the status of previously reported incidences and making enquires.
Nearly 50 percent of these cases have either been completely resolved or referred to various response mechanisms (IPOA, IAU, and CAJ) and are in various stages of the justice chain.
The Sema clinics model is being replicated in several counties in Kenya.
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