Elderly killings have continued to be a menace both in Kilifi and Kisii counties.
Their death has been connected to witchcraft allegations, making the region a hotspot for the same.
The killings have become so rampant.
Kilifi alone reported more than 325 elderly killings over alleged witchcraft.
However, policies have now been put in place to protect the elderly and the perpetrators of those heinous killings will soon start facing the law.
These were revelations during the World Elders Abuse Awareness Day celebrations held for the first time in Mrima wa Ndege in Kilifi County.
The village is where the elderly, who were rescued from being killed, are housed for their safety.
Other elders from Malindi District Cultural Association who were rescued over similar allegations also attended the celebrations.
Government officials, from the State Department of Social protection together with Non Governmental organisations drove to the remote village to take part in the sensitization campaign.
They visited the ‘home for the elders’ and came face to face with the agony the elders go through living life away from their homes which they struggled to build and families only to be safe.
Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire who has been at the forefront of su[porting the elders was present and was hailed for his concerted efforts in ensuring that they are protected.
Josephine Muriuki who is in charge of the Directorate of Social Development which is in charge of issues of elders, physically challenged families, community mobilisation and group registration said the reason for holding the celebrations in Mrima Wa ndege village Kilifi was to celebrate the world elders abuse day to create awareness to end the massive elder abuse.
She said they visited the elders’ rescue home which was a sign that the elders are suffering.
As a department we know a place where one belongs even if old is home, so all these places are temporary rescue centres,” he said.
She said the government emphasises the need for people to stay in their homes from children to elders.
As per WHO she said one out of 6 elders are abused daily through neglect, being killed due to their land, inua jamii cash transfer whereby the caregivers do not give all the money.
“We have adjudicated our role of taking care of the elderly and left it to others and the government,” she said.
Muriuki said as a department came up with a policy for elderly people which was approved in 2018 and gives direction that the elderly have their rights just as it is provided for in the constitution article 57.
“The policy also guides in case elderly people are neglected what measures should be taken. the policy also encourages a multi-sectoral approach to dealing with older people’s problems,” she said.
She said the government came up with a model rescue centre in Kirinyaga launched two years ago and the idea is to look at it as an example of what kind of homes for the elderly.
Muriuki said they have guidelines for establishing and managing a home for the aged with basic things for the home to have.
“Its not everybody that can start a home there must have a threshold to start a home, it must be registered and must be able to partner to run the home,” she said.
Jude Otogo the Country representative for Health Age international Kenya said elder abuse is very rampant but people may not know.
He said Kilifi was earmarked for the world elders abuse celebrations because of the rampant cases of abuse having at least one case of an elder being killed every month.
He said abuse occurs for example when a person is sent to transact money for an elderly and takes the money away.
In Banks and other places, elders are abused because of their age, while at home they are denied food, and health care.
He said in February the country ratified the African Union protocol on the Rights of Elderly Persons which will be used to develop national and subnational laws to protect the elderly.
“Elder abuse is not done by strangers, it is done by the very people that are trusted by these older people, they are family members, they are caregivers, sometimes government service providers and other institutional service providers,” he said.
Otogo appealed to the general community to safeguard the rights of the elderly and the government to enact the necessary legislation to outlaw elder abuse.
“For the security apparatus they should be more vigilant, take a case of Kisii where four elders were killed, frogmarched in the village where the security apparatus was, so responding requires a multi-team approach as security, community and government,” he said.
Dr Kerubo Abuya a representative of the UTU Coalition of over 35 civil rights organisations and rights groups that came together last October after the killing of for elderly in Kisii to make sure Kenyans understand that killing of elderly persons is unacceptable.
She said they also learnt that Kilifi is worse and leading in the cases of elderly killings followed by Kisii and Kirinyaga.
“We need to make people understand that these are not stories they hear in the media, these are real people who are murdered in cold blood and not enough is being done to address these issues ,” she said.
She called upon all people, all leaders to begin practising leadership with humanity, to put their values of humanity at the core of their leadership so that they can understand that older people need protection.
Ganze Member of Parliament Teddy Mwambire who has been at the forefront in supporting elderly people rescued for allegedly being witches said he was happy that the entire country decided to celebrate the event in Kilifi.
He said the sensitization was very important as previously the elderly feared even reporting threats to chiefs of Police, fearing they would be hacked.
Mwambire called on the government to establish a toll-free number of reporting cases of abuse of elders as it could help in saving lives.
“Its important to protect elders. We went against the traditions, before independence youths were the ones protecting the elders and were called home guards,” he said.
However, he said currently youths have turned against the elders and are killing them mercilessly which needs to change.
Joseph Karisa Mwarandu the secretary-general of Malindi District Cultural Festival said they founded two rescue centres for the elders to save their lives aimed at protecting them as the killings were high.
He said the rescue centres have no budgets and depend on well-wishers to run them which are in pathetic condition.
“For us today is not a day to celebrate, it’s a day for us to air our grievances to9 the government both national and county and non-governmental organisations, those dealing with human rights, that we are crying elderly people are getting finished and we don’t get the necessary support,” he said.
Stanlus Kiraga the MADCA Chairman said elderly people are no longer protected and are being killed because of their own sweat of land which they own and want to hand it over to another generation.
He said poverty has contributed to the killings from the time of charcoal burning, trees, and selling land and now others are killing the elderly.
“IN Malindi alone during the month of May at a radius of 20 kilometres there were four killings, and three suicide cases,” he said.
