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Tanzania: Albinos Now Want to Meet President
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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
22 July 2008
Posted to the web 23 July 2008
Jane Kajoki, Mwanza
Albinos here are seeking audience with President Jakaya Kikwete to brief him of predicaments as victims of sporadic killings.
According to them, they are frustrated with the manner State organs are handling the witchcraft-associated killings in the lake zone.
Speaking during a meeting that discussed their fear, chairman of the albinos association in Mwanza Region Alfred Kapole, wondered why there has been no arrest of any of the perpetrators ever since the spate of killings began.
They blamed the police for fueling the killings for its failure to crack down on the criminals the same way they rein in bandits.
They also criticized politicians for not meeting them to find a lasting solution to predicament.
"The government has been sacking its officials who fail to mobilize people to undertake development programmes, but has failed to reprimand officials who have failed to stop the killings," Mr Kapole lamented.
The albinos believe that their representatives were not delivering to authorities messages about their desperation that is why they want to meet Mr Kikwete himself regarding their plight, said Mr Kapole.
Should they meet the President, they would ask the Government to consider subsidising medicines to treat their melanin deficient skins.
The albinos leader said they risked developing skin cancer because they cannot afford exorbitant prices of drugs to treat their ailments.
Owing to the fact that the majority of them are unemployed partly because of stigma, they cannot afford to buy essential drugs at the market price of between Sh15, 000 and Sh20, 000 per dose, he said.
Two albinos are suffering from skin cancer and that one of them, Mwajabu Omar, was in serious condition.
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Renowned Bongo music artiste popularly known as Matonya and Fidfareed alias Fidq, said they were aggrieved by the killings and vowed to employ their talents to educate members of the society to refrain from such criminal acts linked to witchcraft beliefs.
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