Medicine Killings, Abduction of People with Albinism, Wealth and Prosperity in North Malawi: A Historical Assessment

Abstract

Malawi stands out as one of the 23 countries in Africa where people with albinism face extreme forms of human rights abuses such as abductions, killings and mutilations of body parts on the basis that their nature is a treasured wealth (Amnesty International Report on Malawi, 2016). Since 2014 for instance, there have been more than 60 recorded cases of abductions and killings of people living with albinism, a country which has an estimated population of between 7000 and 10000 of such people. More recently, MacDonald Masambuka of Machinga in Southern Malawi was found dead on 1 st April 2018 weeks after he was reported missing. Reasons behind his abduction and killing are still under investigation (MBC English News Bulletin of April 4, 2018; Malawi Nyasa Times News of April 5, 2018). Most often, many people with albinism who have fallen victims to such, have had their body parts removed and sold to traditional medicine practitioners on the belief that these translate into fortune, wealth and prosperity. There is a wealth of research data in Africa that has demonstrated such directed beliefs about albinism being linked to wealth and prosperity (See works by Braathen, 2005; Burke, 2014; Amnesty International Report on Malawi, 2016). Whilst these are important investigations, such studies have not adequately interrogated the historical framework through which such beliefs have evolved and expanded in certain parts of Malawi. This study therefore sought to establish the origins of such mentalities and associated acts on people with albinism and how these have overtime been influenced and shaped by other forces to constitute current beliefs about albinism in North Malawi. Using oral and written primary and secondary sources, the paper observes that the intersections of historic mentalities, social status and regional migrations are at the centre of driving current perceptions and acts against people with albinism in Northern Malawi. The findings of the study therefore suggest and recommend that unless people have been divorced from such mentalities, acts that infringe on the rights of people with albinism will continue haunting post democratic Malawi.