Kilifi rescue village hosts forum to protect elderly

Kilifi and Kisii counties have been marked as hotspots where elderly people are killed on allegations of practising witchcraft. 

Kilifi alone reported more than 325 elderly people have been killed in three years, according to the Malindi District Cultural Association. 

But now policies are being put in place to protect the elderly and prosecute the perpetrators. 

This was made public during the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day celebrations on Wednesday held for the first time in Mrima wa Ndege village in Kilifi. 

Elderly people who are rescued from witch-hunts are housed in this village. 

Elders from Malindi District Cultural Association attended the celebrations.

Government officials from the State Department of Social Protection and NGO officials also drove to the remote village to take part in the sensitisation campaign.

The residents of the 'home for the elders' talked of the agony of living away from homes they worked hard to build and their families.

Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire, who has been at the forefront of supporting the elders, was present and was praised for his efforts.

Josephine Muriuki is in charge of the Directorate of Social Development, which oversees issues of elders, physically challenged families, community mobilisation and group registration.

She said the celebrations were held in Mrima wa Ndege to create awareness and end the massive abuse of the elderly.

According to the World Health Organisation, Muriuki said, one in six elders is abused daily through neglect, is killed for their land or is deprived of their Inua Jamii cash by their caregivers.

She said the department came up with a policy for elderly people that was approved in 2018 and directs that the elderly have rights just as it is provided for in the Constitution's 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," Muriuki said.

She said the government came up with a model rescue centre in Kirinyaga two years ago and the idea is to look at it as a kind of home for the elderly.

Jude Otogo, the country representative for Health Age International Kenya, said abuse of the elderly is rampant but many are ignorant about it.

He said Kilifi was earmarked for the celebrations because of the rampant cases of abuse—at least one elder is killed every month.

Otogo said in February the country ratified the African Union's Protocol on the Rights of Older 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.

UTU Coalition is an alliance of more than 35 civil rights organisations and rights groups that came together last October after the killing of four elderly people in Kisii.

Dr Kerubo Abuya, a representative, said their aim is to ensure Kenyans understand that killing of elderly people is unacceptable.

She said they learnt that Kilifi leads in 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," Abuya said.

Mwambire said previously the elderly feared reporting threats to their lives to chiefs or the police, but with sensitisation this will change.

He urged the government to establish a toll-free number where abuse of the elderly can be reported. 

"It's important to protect elders. We went against tradition. Before Independence youths would protect the elders and were called home guards," Mwambire said.

Joseph Mwarandu, secretary general of MADCA, said they set up two rescue centres but they have no budgets and depend on well-wishers.

"For us today is not a day to celebrate. It's a day for us to air our grievances to the government, both national and county, and non-governmental organisations, those dealing with human rights, that we are crying, elderly people are getting wiped out and we don't get the necessary support," he said.

Stanlus Kiraga, MADCA chairman, said elderly people are no longer protected and are being killed for their land.

He blamed poverty. "In Malindi alone, during the month of May, in a radius of 20 kilometres there were four killings and three suicides," he said.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya