Youths called out for persecuting, lynching the elderly
Ahadi Kenya Trust Chief Executive Officer Stanley Kamau (left) and KBC Board Director James Maathai (right) dancing with elderly women from Bobasi Constituency in Kisii County on Friday, August 18.
Kenyan communities that lynch the elderly have been called to stop and instead respect and care for them.
Ahadi Kenya Trust Chief Executive Officer, Stanley Kamau, urged Kenyans, especially the youth, to look after the welfare of the elderly by giving them a dignified life.
Dr Kamau was speaking in Kisii on Friday 18 August when he distributed food and clothes to the elderly in Igare, Bobasi Constituency.
Ahadi Kenya Trust partnered with Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi's wife, Tessie Mudavadi, through her Ushirika Wema initiative to give gifts to elderly men and women.
Cases of the elderly being branded as witches and getting lynched are rampant in Gusii region.
"When something unfortunate happens to a family, they (oppressors) find the old people and call them all sorts of names and end up killing them. It is very pathetic and ungodly," said Dr Kamau.
“It is backwardness of the highest order for someone to point a finger at an elderly person who is 80 or 90 years old and then call them witches because something unfortunate has happened to their families.”
He added that there is a need for the authorities to take stern action against those who persecute the elderly as a way of discouraging such vices from recurring.
In a recent expose, the BBC revealed the mistreatment of elderly residents at Thogoto Care Home, sparking strong reactions from Kenyan citizens.
The BBC Africa Eye report, broadcast on 6 August, made strong and disturbing allegations of neglect and abuse of vulnerable elderly residents at the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Thogoto Care Home for the Aged.
Kenya's Principal Secretary for Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs, Joseph Motari, condemned the abuse and promised to take appropriate action against those responsible.
The undercover footage showed disturbing scenes of staff physically abusing residents, ignoring medical needs and subjecting the elderly to deplorable conditions. One scene shows an elderly woman being caned while surrounded by staff.
Originally set up by the Women's Guild of the local PCEA church, the home now operates independently and is home to around 50 elderly people.
The home's manager, Jane Gaturu, has since denied the allegations, claiming that the allegations of medical negligence are unfounded and insisting that the home adheres to Christian principles and the rule of law.
