In Kenya’s Kilifi Coast, at least an elderly person loses their life every week under the guise of witchcraft accusations. However, a BBC Africa Eye investigation published on Monday reveals a far more sinister motive behind these brutal killings—land greed.
Across Africa and beyond, the fear of witchcraft often leads to violent attacks on the elderly. In Kilifi, an estimated 70 deaths occur annually, but these acts of violence have more to do with land disputes than with the supernatural.
The BBC Africa Eye’s investigation uncovers that many elderly victims are targeted not by strangers, but by their own families—the very people who should protect them.
One confessed killer admitted to having murdered around 20 people, often hired by the victims’ relatives, who pay 50,000 Kenyan Shillings (approximately 237,433 CFA franc) for his services.
One such victim is 69-year-old David, who now fears his son Chris.
“He wants to kill me so that he can inherit the land,” David said, explaining why he sleeps in his brother’s home to avoid being murdered.
Tambala, aged 74, has survived two brutal attacks. The first left him without an eye, and the second resulted in his genitals being cut off. “I have stitched this man back together, but it won’t work,” lamented Tambala’s wife.
Tambala believes the attacks were motivated by a desire for his land.
In another tragic case, 63-year-old Catana had both his limbs severed after being accused of witchcraft.
Catana owns six acres of seaside land but has since abandoned it, finding refuge in a home for elderly people who have been attacked.
“If someone is accused of being a witch, the chances of survival are very minimal. They use witchcraft as a justification because they will get public sympathy, and people will just assume and say if you are a witch then it’s good that you were killed,” explained Julius, who runs an organization fighting for the rights of elderly people labeled as witches.
“It is a national disaster that should be addressed urgently.”
Old people are now dying their hair black. The dye has become a way of escaping being accused of being a witch.
Sifa Changwawa, a local villager, explained, “We are old, that’s why we apply this dye to avoid being killed. We use this dye because of the shocking behavior of young people. When they see the grey hair of their grandmother, they claim she is a witch and they execute her.”
The BBC Africa Eye’s investigation highlights the need for urgent intervention to protect the elderly from these brutal and unjust killings as even the young people killing today will also grow old someday.
