Shoot albino abductors, IG Kachama tells police

Malawi Police Service (MPS) Inspector General (IG) Lexten Kachama has said use of firearms and other weapons can boost the security and human rights of people with albinism in the country.

Kachama made the call last week at Senior Chief Kawinga Headquarters in Machinga during an awareness campaign meeting against killing of people with albinism.

The awareness campaign was organised to strengthen and assure people with albinism that they are fully protected by both government and other stakeholders.

He urged police officers to desist from using soft weapons against criminals killing people with albinism.

Said the IG: “Shoot every criminal who is violent when caught red-handed abducting people with albinism for them [criminals] to experience the pain that the victims [albinos] feel when they are being murdered.”

The IG said security to people with albinism in the country will remain fruitless if police officers and other security providers remained weak-willed in confronting the perpetrators.

Kachama stressed that government is committed to ensuring that people with albinism in Machinga and other districts are benefitting from their basic human rights.

In his remarks, Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (Apam) executive director Boniface Massah appealed to the courts to be committed enough to exacting severe punishments to the offenders.

“The police efforts to curb abductions of people living with albinism will remain a farfetched dream if the courts are lenient in passing judgments to the criminals,” he said.

In recent years, people with albinism have been abducted or killed for alleged charms.