Mijikenda Kaya Elders have made a passionate appeal to the Judiciary to address historical land injustices in the Coast region to save the elders from killings.
The Elders from Malindi District Cultural Association (MADCA) also called on the Environment and Lands Court to speed up the Cases of land in the region as they were a major contributing factor to the massive elderly killings on false allegations of being witches.
Addressing journalists outside Pwani University in Kilifi ahead of the official opening ceremony of the National Environment and Land Conference to commemorate the 10th anniversary and to discuss the major achievements and constraints in the execution of the court’s mandate that will be graced by president William Ruto the Chief Justice Martha Koome the elders said it was sad that innocent elders were killed by youth as a result of land.
Carrying a banner marked my elder my Beacon and dressed in full traditional regalia the Kaya elders blamed the killings of the elderly on bad land policies that do not protect the elderly.
Many elderly persons in Kilifi have been butchered and more are under threat for allegedly practicing witchcraft but the Kaya elders said the main cause of the killings was land and called president Ruto to intervene so as to save the elders.
Emmanuel Mnyaya the Chairman of the Malindi District Cultural Association said as Kaya elders have serious concerns over the elderly killings which investigations found were a result of land.
He said the killings were high in the past few years as they could lose 9 to 10 elders in one week but now the numbers have gone down to three per week.
“We do not have exact data of the elderly being killed but in 2012 we got statistics of that year which indicated that 490 elderly were murdered in cold blood,” he said.
The Elders were also accompanied by representatives of the UTU coalition which comprises 35 groups of Human rights and Civil Society organizations that came together last year October following the brutal murder of four women in Marani over allegations of practicing witchcraft.
Dr. Kerubo Abuya one of the representatives of the Utu coalition said they have been walking together as a group to seek justice and advocate for change in Kisii and Kilifi.
She said old women and Widows in Kisii were being murdered after being accused of being witches but they are aware the core problem is land.
” We continue to stand in solidarity with the community in Kilifi to say that these are gross injustices and human rights violations, we want to ask the court that is sitting today, the environmental and lands Court to take these land cases very seriously,” she said.
Abuya said among those who were present were elderly living in the rescue center because their lives were in danger over false allegations of witchcraft that were being run by MADCA.
She said many of the elderly have been chased from their homes because of violence coming from their own children.
“Some of them have pending cases in court that have not been resolved we want to tell this court to make sure that these cases are addressed and that these people who are now displaced, some of them already dispossessed of their land can get justice and be able to go back to their homes,” she said.
She asked the president, all governors, MPS, and MCAs to take the matter of elderly killing seriously as people were being killed over false allegations of witchcraft in Kisii Nyamira and Kilifi.
Joseph Karisa Mwarandu the Secretary of MADCA said they had a special message for the ELC@ conference to note that youth are finishing them (Elders) because they want to inherit property specifically land before the elders die.
He said the problem has caused a lot of tension because elderly people are being butchered like animals.
“Youth have lost moral values they do not respect elders and do not find their value that’s why they kill them in cold blood that’s why we say elders are strong pillars of society,” he said.
On the ELC Court, he said the judiciary is supposed to resolve the historical land injustices as the majority of the locals are squatters on land owned by tycoons.
As per the law, he said one who stays as a squatter on land for more than 12 years rightfully gets ownership of the land through advance possession but in the Coast region when the matter goes to court the matter is not taken strongly because the land owners are the ones that have money.
Mwarandu said cases of witchcraft killings take so long and most investigations are not done properly which often suspects end up being released .
“The court takes matters of defilement with a lot of weight but matters of elderly killings are taken lightly if they could apply the same weight to the elderly killings the issue could be addressed,” he said.
Sikubali Nyoka a village elder from Madunguni who also is a kaya elder said killings are rampant in her area of elderly accused of being witches and it was worrying.
Nyoka said the killings are not as a result of witchcraft but the land was the cause as the youth wanted to inherit the land and sell it to buy bodaboda.