Return of Kilifi witch killings worry authorities
Kilifi County Commissioner Josphat Biwott has announced tough measures aimed at ending the killing of elderly people on suspicion of witchcraft practice and professional squatters in the county.
Biwott said members of families in which elders were killed on allegations of practicing necromancy would be rounded up and charged in court since it had been established that such deaths were being planned by close relatives.
Speaking at Lugwe Primary School in Rabai Sub county, Biwott said he would commence a series of public rallies with a view to ending the vice that has given the county a bad name.
He said the elders were killed on the guise of witchcraft practice, but the real reason is that the planners want to inherit land, a vice he said would not be tolerated any more.
“We shall use all power at our disposal to ensure that our elders are secure. We shall hold all family members responsible for the deaths of their elderly persons,” Biwott said following reports of a resurgence of the murders.
On professional squatters, Biwott said the government was developing a system in which those who benefit from settlement schemes do not qualify to be settled in other schemes, noting that many people sell their land immediately they get ownership documents and move to squat in other land.
He said the government would make it impossible for those who received title deeds in settlement schemes but sold their land to get land in other settlement schemes to continue with the practice.
