State has failed persons with albinism

(Various interest groups, including international human rights organisations, want the police chief, Minister of Homeland Security and Mapuya to resign for failing to stop killings of people albinism)

Judge Mbadwa: This court has been asked to convene at this time again because of the killings of the persons with albinism have continued unabated despite promises and podium pledges by Mapuya to rein in on the crisis at hand.

Not even the party campaigns and all their attendant noise could have stopped the tribunal from convening to address the situation that is getting out of hand.

The Rehabilitation Centre for Human Rights executive director Timoteo Mabingu, who spoke on behalf of the interest groups, will also be given an opportunity by this court to explain why the police chief, the Minister of Homeland Security and Mapuya should be forced to resign.

Mabingu: My Lord, you remember when we applied for the incarceration of the Minister of Homeland Security, police chief Rodman Yonse and Mapuya himself for failing Nyasas, there was an uproar, especially from the governing People’s Demagogic Party (PDP) that we had a vendetta against Mapuya and his establishment.

We even asked this court to start proceeding against the trio for perpetrating genocide as we argued that the killings of people with albinism have been happening under their watch.

Now anybody who condemns their laissez faire attitude is being deemed insensitive. It should not take Lazaro or Sauli’s comments for the establishment to act.

My Lord, if this government had done its job others would not have come in, claiming they would stop the killings if they were handed over the reins of power.

My Lord, why should people with albinism, who are bonafide citizens of this country, be treated as commodities for sale? Why shouldn’t they enjoy basic human rights they are entitled to as human beings?

Now we hear our own sons and daughters are contemplating of seeking asylum because the State has failed to protect them.

Nobody can deny that there is a systematic killing of people with albinism in Nyasaland. My Lord, why are the crimes still being perpetuated at the watch of the police? Since the first killings were reported all what the police have done is to participate in marches against the killings and nothing more. What more hope do you have when all law enforcer can do is present petitions against the killings when they should have been investigating the killings and arresting perpetrators? Those who have been arrested so far have largely been apprehended through tip-offs and public initiatives as the police sat Phwii in their offices.

My Lord, we argued that for failing to act, we believe the police are accessory to genocide just as their overall authority, the Minister of Homeland Security. The minister, too, has been snoring on the job and Mapuya is in our view not helping matters because police officers are busy following him up in droves everywhere he conducts rallies instead of being on a trail of killers and abductors.

My Lord, we are wasting our precious human resource by over-allocating security to Mapuya when they should have been in villages and communities investigating crime and sensitising the public to the dangers of such heinous acts. My Lord, we want nothing but action. We are tired of meaningless statements that promise the moon.

My Lord, it has proved difficult to start genocide proceedings against these people while they are still in office; hence, we ask the court to force them to resign because they have obviously failed people with albinism. After their resignation, we will come up with a proper charge against them.

Mbadwa: This court agrees that the State machinery has failed people with albinism because of the continued attacks and killings. The people with albinism and the civil society have declared a vote of no confidence on the State machinery headed by the individuals in question; hence, they have lost their mandate to govern in this respect.

This court, therefore, rules that the individuals in question tender their resignations or they will be forced so by this court which has the power to seal their offices.