Their tales of sorrow have touched the world. Living in denial after being abandoned by their families on suspicion of being witch has eaten life of many elderly in Kilifi county.
It has become increasingly difficult when you grow white hair in Kilifi because that is the simple route to being killed.
Many elderly men have been forced to die their hair to avoid looking suspicious.
For years the county has been in the limelight for elderly killings which are rampant at the grassroots over witchcraft allegations.
Most elders are brutally murdered in their homes at night for allegedly being witches a problem that is slowly getting out of hand if no intervention is made soon.
Normally such killings are organized by family members who accuse the grey-haired elderly of bewitching them or their children.
Isolation
The few who survive the hackers’ knives are forced to run away from their homes to live in isolation at the only two rescue centres one in Mrima WA ndege a remote village in Ganze Sub County and another one in Moi Village Magarini Sub County.
During this year’s annual World Elders Abuse Awareness Day celebrations were held for the first time in Mrima wa Ndege in Kilifi County 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.
We met Charo Kagohu 83 a father of 14 from Palakumi village in Bamba area of Ganze constituency who has been living at the rescue centre since 2017 after fleeing home upon learning that his family was out to kill him over witchcraft allegations.
“At home, I have a grandson who was schooling in Nairobi Thika high school, he got sick abruptly and died a few days later, I have not been told openly but I think they suspected that I bewitched him,” he said.
Kagohu looks depressed, sick and in agony following the allegations that forced him to flee his matrimonial home after the sick grandson’s death.
The elderly man revealed he escaped home during the burial day in 2017 after getting a tip-off that there were plans to murder him.
He has never returned home openly to date.
For a few days, he sneaked home secretly and returned to the rescue centre where he feels safe.
Living In Fear
At the rescue centre where he stays together with the other suspected witches, they are not allowed to go out alone.
It is just like a shrine with one entrance where one has to remove shoes when entering.
Inside the compound are five traditional houses that look old too, without doors which are about 10 meters apart with one at the centre.
We learnt that when the facility was opened in 2008 there were about 120 old men but now only six are remaining as the others returned to their matrimonial homes.
Kagohu openly said depression would kill him as he feels lonely at the centre especially when he recalls all the properties he left behind like cows and the land.
He confessed that he has not bought any tree associated with witchcraft but has been branded a witch.
“When the body arrived home from the mortuary that is when I got information that my life was in danger, and I decided to escape,” he said.
Since 2017 he has known no other home than the rescue centre but thanks God for giving him the courage to escape because had he not made that move he would be dead now.
At home, he says there are three cows which got lost two months ago and he does not know their fate which pains him.
At the rescue centre, Kagohu was given the task of grazing goats to keep him busy.
“I am safe here but that’s not what I want, I would like to go back home,” he said.
His case is almost similar to that of Kahindi Mramba who is 88 years old from Kibarani Dera village.
Land Squabbles
We found him very sick and could not even walk to the venue of the celebrations.
Mramba was rescued in 2013 and was nearly killed because of land disputes and people branded him a witch.
“I came here on January 5 2013, since then I have been following up on the land case up to now the case was concluded, we went with elders from here to the lawyers now am back but the case was resolved am waiting to go back home,” he said.
The trouble he said started after his niece (a son of his elder brother) grabbed his land and the matter went to court and they lost the case.
On the land, he said there are many trees he planted including cashew nuts, coconut, and mango trees.
At the rescue centre, he said they depend on relief food from the government and well-wishers.
Kaya Godoma Cultural Rescue Centre Chairman Emmanuel Katana said they opened the centre in 2008 to sensitize the community on the importance of culture and traditions.
Since the facility began he said they have registered 160 elders but through sensitization, they are remaining with six.
“Yesterday two went back home and we got one who was rescued so we thank god for the step we have taken but it’s tough,” he said.
Katana said currently they are faced with a major challenge at the centre because the land was borrowed and now the owner has issued a notice for them to either buy it or vacate.
“Today morning we have been given notice by July 1 we must either vacate the area 0oor buy the land as per the price he wants,” he said.
The chairman said they do not know what will happen if it reaches July 1 and they shall not have managed to buy the land.
He said they do not know where they would take the elders and called on the government both county and national together with non-governmental organizations to intervene to ensure they get support to buy the land.
The land in question he said is 12 acres and the owner is selling one acre at Sh. 175,000 which is high but the owner maintained that is the only price.
This means the owner of the land requires Sh. 2.1 million to sell the land by July one to enable the elders to remain at the rescue centre.
Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire who was also present said it is true the elder had been given notice but disclosed that it was important for such facilities to be bought to become the property of the government.
He said there have to be strategies to ensure the place is rightfully owned since it was given voluntarily by an individual.
“The strategies that are these are meant to ensure we own the property as public property not as private property which will be better,” he said.
Mwambire said there is a need for the elders to get proper documents and assured the public that in three months they would buy the land.
Jude Otogo from the country representative of Help Age international Kenya said the rescue centres for elders are being managed by the community currently.
However, he said they have launched a program with the national government to build model rescue homes.
“We managed to support the government to build elderly rescue homes in Kirinyaga County, those elders who feel their lives are in danger we call it model home,” he said.
Otogo said plans are also underway to build similar model homes in Kilifi County for the elderly together with Kisii and other areas where elder’s lives are under threat.
Normally he said as organizations provide support to these elders at the rescue centres and also train them to do minor jobs to get income to sustain them.
Josephine Muriuki from the Directorate of Social Development said the government has come up with a framework; a policy for older persons which was approved by the cabinet in 2018.
She said the policy framework gives the direction to the rights of the elderly just as it is provided for in the constitution article 57.
“The Policy also guides in case older people are neglected what measures should be taken,” she said.
Muriuki said the policy also encourages a multi-sectorial approach to dealing with older persons’ problems.
Further, she said the Policy encourages institutions to care for older persons.
She also said the government established the rescue centre in Kirinyaga County to act as a model centre for older persons which was launched two years ago.
“The idea of the home is for people to look at it as an example of what kind of a home for an older person should be like the idea is for people not take their own in the home but for those who are sexually or physically abused before they can be rehabilitated they can be healed can they stay there comfortably and then they are repatriated back to their homes,” she said.
The Director said there are also set guidelines on how to establish and manage a home for the aged which tells about the basic things that a home should have.
She said the guidelines are aimed at having standards to avoid taking the aged to a home where they would be more disadvantaged than where they came from.
“It’s not everybody that can start a home, there must be certain thresholds to be met for you, one to be registered to establish a home and also to be allowed even to partner in providing services within an institution,” she said.
When for people were brutally murdered in Kisii over witchcraft organizations came together and formed the UTU Coalition to try and fight against the injustice.
Kerubo Abuya from the Utu Coalition said statistics that they have shown that Kilifi is leading in Kenya in terms of violence and killing of elderly persons.
She said Kisii was close to Kilifi, followed by Kirinyaga among other counties.
“We are connecting our struggles under the UTU Coalition we are working with MADCA as our partners in the UTU coalition trying to address these issues so that we can make sure the killings and abuse of elderly persons in our community come to an end,” she said.
Joseph Karisa Mwarandu the secretary General of MADCA said the rescue centres have had no structures for managing them that’s why there has been no budget to run them.
For them he said they rely on well-wishers to survive which has been a major challenge.
“When you visit these centres you will find them in bad condition,” he said.
He called on the government both county and national to intervene and ensure the elder’s rescue live proper lives and are protected,” he said.
For the elders it is sad that elderly people are crying, they are being wiped out in the name of witchcraft allegations.
