President Peter Mutharika has ordered police to provide 24-hour security in schools where there are children with albinism.
The order follows a series of bloody attacks on people with albinism in the country, which have seen some victims lose lives while others have suffered serious deformities at the hands of ill-minded people who believe they can make a fortune out of the victims’ body parts.
The development has instilled fear in people with albinism, forcing children to drop out of school and others to stop participating in various income-generating activities.
Speaking during an awareness meeting on Wednesday at Kameme in Chitipa, where assailants at the weekend chopped off a hand of a woman with albinism, Lucia Kayinga, Inspector General (IG) of Police Lexten Kachama said the President is saddened with the attacks.
Kachama said Mutharika wants all special needs boarding institutions where there are children with albinism to be guarded by police day and night.
“We have already started deploying officers where it is convenient, children with albinism have to be sent to such schools as they will be assured of security,” said Kachama.
Police are also guarding Kayinga at Mzuzu Central Hospital, according to Kachama.
However, Association of People with Albinism (Apam) representative Christopher Ndovi questioned the guarding of schools by police, saying most victims are attacked in communities where security is not guaranteed.
Ndovi called on the police to intensify security across the country and arrest culprits.
Kachama admitted that police cannot be on every spot. Therefore, he called on community members to help police in protecting people with albinism, adding, politicising the matter will not solve the problem.
Nonetheless, the IG guaranteed intensified police patrols in communities including monitoring Kayinga after being discharged.
Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jappie Mhango warned that culprits will rot in jail once caught.
