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News & Comment
Njombe Killings Indicates Africa Intellectual Backwardness
News
Tanzania and International media outlets reports on issue of children killings in Njombe District, southwestern of Tanzania, and some suspects have appeared before the Magistrate Court facing various murder charges. (The Citizen)
Comment
At least ten children have been killed in a period of one month, and the killers were chopping off the children's reproductive and respiratory organs in the killings that are linked to superstitious and witchcraft beliefs.
These atrocious and brutal killings have brought serious shock and anguish in society even in other parts of the country. The Government tries to address the issue by sending a special task force to the area to conduct a thorough investigation. The killings have led to a widespread condemnation nationally and internationally.
In a media statement released recently by the UN Resident Coordinator in Tanzania, Mr Alvaro Rodriguez, he said the attack and murder of children is unacceptable. While the UNICEF Representative in Tanzania made it clear that no form of violence or abuse against a child was acceptable or permissible for any reasons.
While we share deepest condolences to the families and communities of children, who have been brutally murdered, it has to be clear that this sort of killings is related to albinos and elders killings that are rampant for many years in Tanzania associated with direct witchcraft or a lucrative human organs trade in which, as some believe, possess magical powers.
These barbaric killings have taken the lives of many innocents, while perpetrators tend to benefit in achieving certain superstitious gains in the hope of getting richer or getting political positions, especially in election periods. In 2015, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, made statements that the surge of albino’s killings in Tanzania could have been linked to looming General Election campaigns.
These barbaric killings whether associated of obtaining political or economic achievements vividly indicate the intellectual backwardness in Africa, as once Sheikh Taqiudin (rahimahullah) said: ‘Africa is intellectually backward but has vast resources of raw materials and unlimited animal and agricultural wealth’. (The Political Concepts of Hizb ut Tahrir)
Africa has immense resources in terms of mines, massive lands, rivers, lakes and human resources, yet instead of adopting an ideology that will boost it in its elevation, Western capitalist nations exploit it, leaving its people poor both in materially and intellectually.
Regarding politicians’ engagement in witchcraft for political reasons, this is a far reaching evidence of a serious scenario of social decay in intellectual backwardness. If politicians, the ones who supposed to lead the society depend upon superstitious issues, how about ordinary people? The recent Speaker of Parliament of Tanzania’s statement to pacify the members of the Parliament spotted an owl, (a bird that in most African traditions perceived to be omens of bad luck, ill health, or death) on the roof inside Parliament chamber. An owl that is seen during daytime cannot have any effect on anyone is an indication of existence of superstitious sentiments among them.A 2011 report by the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project of the United States, revealed in the six-member East African Community (EAC), Tanzanians were said to be the most superstitious lot and ranked third after Senegal and Mali, among the 19 countries that were surveyed.
Africa suffers a very unfortunate condition under the capitalist hegemony. It will never stop in exploiting its resources, yet motivating its people in all acts that will hinder it to be liberated. It is time to the people of this noble continent bestowed with all sort of wealth to wake up to the salvation of Islam.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Masoud Msellem
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tanzania