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British NGO decries rampant albino killings
2008-03-10 09:06:43
By Edwin Agola
A UK-based non-governmental organisation, Action on Disability and Development (ADD), has advised the government to declare the killings of albinos in the country a national disaster.
``The pace at which the government acts on albino killings leaves a lot to be desired,`` ADD director Theodory Mwalongo has said.
According to Mwalongo, efforts to help solve the problem needed government commitment to bring to justice all those who, in one way or another, were linked to the brutal killings.
The ADD director, who granted an interview to this reporter at the weekend, said it was the government`s obligation to protect the lives of its citizens, irrespective of one`s class, colour or religion.
The right to life was fundamental and no one had the right to take away ones`s privilege to life bestowed upon us by the Almighty, said Mwalongo, adding that statistics available showed that in the year 2006 alone 25 albinos died in suspicious circumstances.
He accused the authorities of double standards when it came to dealing with persons with disability, citing the speed at which the authorities arrested those implicated in pouring acid on Mwanahalisi editor as an example, adding that the same should apply to albino killers.
``Tanzania signed a treaty in Geneva in the year 2004 to protect the rights of disabled persons, but to date the government is reluctant to ratify it,`` he said, adding:
``There are policies that recognise and specify the rights of disabled persons, but one wonders why it has not been enacted into the country laws by parliament three years down the line. All this contributes to or fuels the killing of albinos.``
The ministry concerned was not spared of blame either. He said: ``There is no strategic plan or political will to educate the society to abandon the misconception that limbs of albino`s bodies would make them rich.``
The director cited poverty as the root cause of all this because the killings were rampant in fishing and mining areas.
He made a personal plea to the government to come up with a long-term plan to address poverty to avoid such incidents.
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