Elderly NGO comforts Neno victims’ relatives
Neno Shelter for the Elderly (NES) has asked different stakeholders in the country to intensify public sensitisation on the rights of elderly citizens being ridiculed and killed on suspicions of practising witchcraft.
Speaking at Chimbalanga Village in Neno on Monday when she comforted relatives of the four elderly people killed last week for being suspected of being witches, the organisation’s executive director Reen Kachere expressed concern on the continued attacks of the elderly based on mere allegations.
While bemoaning the myth that elderly people become witches as they age, Kachere called on government to expedite strengthening the Elderly Department’s structures and deploy community elderly assistants in the districts, as initially promised, to support and protect the old citizens.
NES is establishing an office in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Dambe in the district to be managed by members of the community.
“This office will have elderly assistants responsible for all the surrounding villages to take care of and protect the elderly,” she said.
On his part, Village Head Chimbalanga said he was shocked with what his subjects did to brutally murder the four elderly persons and promised to ensure that such an incident does not occur again in his area.
The nation woke up to shocking news last week of four elderly persons who were brutally killed for being suspected of creating a lightning that killed 17-year-old Flora Kanjete, a mother of two children aged four and one-year and four months.
