When I first heard of people who are killed for money in Tanzania, this evoked memories of my A level literature examination question that went as follows: ‘God made man and man made money and money made man mad Discuss’.

This was in reference to a satirical comedy, ‘The Miser’, by French playwright Molière that involved a rich money-lender called Harpagon whose children Cléante and Elise longed to escape from his penny-pinching household and marry their respective lovers.

The word ‘madness’ might be an overstatement but this situation beats human understanding. In Tanzania today, there is outcry in some rural and urban areas of the country over the killings of albinos.

Imagine this situation. The arms, genitals, tongue, breasts and legs of the albinos are cut off and used in potions to make people rich. Imagine being killed because of the way you were born.

The murders are reported to be in the regions of Mwanza, Mara, Kagera, the mineral rich Shinyanga, and Mbeya where the belief is rife among fortune seekers that albino body parts can lead to riches.

Actually more than 58 people have recently been arrested in these areas in connection with these horrendous acts. Can imagine your parents exchanging you for money because you are albino? Or staying indoors daily for fear of being attached and killed just to make someone rich?

Local and international media have zoomed in on the situation with some foreign media outlets referring to it as one of the most strange in Africa.

Some people regard albinos to be a cursed human race while others consider it to be a demonic one; they are actually referred to as "Zeru Zeru” or ghost in this land.

On the contrary, albinos are human beings just like you and me and their rights to live should be totally respected and upheld.

Tanzania has a population of 39 million and there are thought to be about 270,000 albinos, although a small number of them are registered.

Once registered, it is easy for Tanzanian authorities to protect them. Those that aren’t registered are left at the risk of facing the ‘death sentence’.  

According to a local paper here, The Citizen, some albinos in Tanzania have said they would seek refuge in other countries if the Tanzania Government fails to control ritual killings.

Addressing a press conference in Dar es Salaam recently, the chairman of the Tanzania Albinos Association (TAS), Ernest Kimaya, said presently 26 albinos have reportedly been killed, most of them women and children.

"We might be forced to seek refuge in a safe country if the Government will not make enough efforts against albino killings,” Kimaya said.

President Jakaya Kikwete’s stern orders for a thorough crackdown on people behind the murders could be a ray of hope for the albinos.

Kikwete dismissed as utterly stupid the belief that albino body parts can bring success to business people, and said the Government would hunt down the perpetrators to end the mess.

Contact: gmuramila@gmail.com