Jana Tsuma Chigumba,54, is a marked man.
He is accused of hexing his neighbours in Buni, Rabai constituency and now he is calling for protection from the relevant authorities.
Since November last year, when the rumours of his imminent killing started, he has been living on edge, fearing the unknown.
“I do not want what happened to my fellow elder to befall me,” Chigumba said on Saturday.
He was referring to the chilling murder of his neighbour Mwakombo Kamungo Chitai, 65, last Thursday at his homestead in Bejana village, Buni sub-location.
It was the third such incident this year, according to Rabai subcounty police commander Fred Abuga.
“The cases have been declining after starting several initiatives. Now, we are recording one incident a month. Before, we used to record three or four in a month,” Abuga said on Saturday.
Kamungo, who used to work at the Mombasa Water and Sanitation company before he retired, was performing his wudhu, ahead of his morning prayers at his house when he was attacked by a lone man, who had covered his face.
Wudhu is a ritual washing performed by muslims before prayer.
His second wife had Kamungo’s voice, as he desperately called for help.
“He had been attacked while he was facing down as he washed his feet. The attacker hacked him twice on the back of his head with a sharp tool, believed to be an axe,” said Mauna Kamungo, his younger sister.
When the wife emerged from the house, the attacker took off towards the main road.
The wife tried giving chase but abandoned her hopeless endeavour to attend to her husband.
“My brother was lying face down in a pool of blood by the time she came back to him. That is when she shouted, raising alarm,” said Mauna.
Kamungo’s second born son, Ismail Mwadzuya, told the Star, about seven years ago, rumours started that his father, who had three wives but divorced one, was hexing villagers.
“This even made people in the village call some christian clerics to pray for the village. The clergy came, and started pouring holy water on houses,” said Mwadzuya.
Unfortunately, his father, Kamungo, was not informed of the matter, and so when the clergy reached his house, he was sleeping.
“The holy water that was sprinkled went in through the window and landed on his grandchildren. They woke up in shock. This made my dad angry,” said Mwadzuya.
Kamungo, according to Mwadzuya, sued the villagers who called the clergy and he won the case.
Some of the villagers were jailed for three months.
However, after some time, there were several meetings held to resolve the bad blood and it was settled, Mwadzuya noted.
According to Haki Yetu Organization peace building program coordinator Julius Wanyama, such cases are about other things but the witchcraft tag is used to justify their heinous acts.
“When we probe deeper, we always find other issues being the catalyst of bad blood between mostly relatives,” said Wanyama.
In the Kamungo and Chigumba cases for example, Wanyama noted, the two have one thing in common.
“They are the custodians of title deeds to huge tracts of land that were left by their fathers,” said Wanyama.
He said relatives of the two have been trying to have the land subdivided and some tracts sold.
Police boss Abuga said investigations into the Kamungo murder are ongoing to establish the motive of the murder.
“We do not have any suspects in custody but we have questioned several people including those who live around that homestead,” said Abuga.
He said killing of the elderly on suspicion of witchcraft is not a solution to any dispute.
“If you have any issue follow the right channel to get your displeasure addressed. When you go ahead and eliminate someone, the law will always catch up with you,” said Abuga.
Wanyama said a more permanent solution should be sort.
He accused authorities of doing little when such cases are reported.
“For instance, Chigumba was only given an OB Number 07/13/11/21 and was told to go back home. There is no shelter, no protection and nothing to make him feel safe,” said Wanyama.
“The only thing that the police wait is for anyone to kill Chigumba before they can arrest those he had mentioned as those he suspected wanted him dead,"he said.
“But by that time he would be no more. What are they doing to protect his life now?” said Wanyama.
The human rights defender said the authorities go as far as demanding money as protection fees from those who report that their lives have been threatened.
He called on Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to act decisively and quickly to end the killings of elders in Kilifi county on allegations of witchcraft.
“When four people were killed in Kisii on allegations of witchcraft, you moved with speed and came up with a task force.
“Kilifi county has the highest number of such killings in the country but you have never shown interest,” Wanyama called out Matiang’i in a tweet on Thursday.
(Edited by Francis Wadegu)
