Urban West Region leads in sexual child abuse case

 By Our Reporter

Isles Urban West Region leads in child sexual abuse social evil, Zanzibar Mail reports.

According to a recent study by the Office of Chief Government Statistician (OCGS) on violence against children in Zanzibar, almost half of the Isles children who suffered sexual abuse in the past four years from 2016-2019 were reported from the Urban West region.

At least 4,069 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in the Isles five regions during the period under review of which 2,052 (50.4%) cases came from three municipalities.

The study shows that Pemba South Region came second with 529 cases followed by Unguja South Region with 522 cases, Unguja North reported 489 cases while 467 cases were reported from the Pemba North Region.

In an interview with the Zanzibar Mail, members of the public opined population increase in the urban west region may have attributed to the increase in the problem.

“We see an increase of population in the region a situation that results in a large overlap of people which contribute to accelerate child sexual abuse,” said Issa Mussa of Mwembetanga.

However, he said there was need for the community to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in tackling violence against children because the situation is very serious.

Fatma Muhsini of Bububu said child sexual violence could be reduced if law enforcement agencies took severe measures against sexual offenders.

According to the OGCS report 1,154 cases of violence against children were reported in 2019 which was higher compared to the previous year in which 910 cases were reported.

The report indicates that majority sexual child abuse cases were reported in Magharibi ‘A’ District (247 cases) followed by Mjini and Magharibi ‘B’ with 212 and 180 cases respectively.

The same districts reported higher number of child violence cases in 2018 where 181 cases were reported in Magharibi ‘A’, 137 in Mjini and 132 in Magharibi ‘B’.‘B’.

Rape crimes still on the increase

 RAPE offences on girls under the age of 18 accounted for 38 percent of all the crimes committed in the isles last year, Zanzibar Mail Data reveals.

According to the report, rape offences increased by 18.5 in 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.

During the period under review, 594 rape offences out of 1,578 crimes were reported, while in 2018 out of 1,669 crimes reported, 484 were rape offences for the under-aged girls.

 “Every month, 50 cases of rape against children are reported in the Isles in what is becoming a worrying trend,” part of the report indicated.

The study shows, during the past five years from 2015-2019, out of 8,521 crimes registered, 2,043 or 24 in every 100 the victims were girls in ages under 18 years.

Isles Minister of Labour, Empowerment, Elderly, Women and Children, Dr. Maudline Castico, has reiterated the urgent need to implement the law which imposes harsher punishment for child rape.

She told the Zanzibar Mail that, despite the enacted new law against child sex offenders, some magistrates still pronounce lenient sentences against the convicts and thereby increase the offences.

“It’s inconceivable that well-known offenders in the community are sentenced to lesser punishments,” she said.

She noted the need for doctors to be exposed on gender-based violence issues in the society for proper handling of the victims who seek treatment in health facilities.

“It is painful at times to see solid cases ruled out easily because of the failure by doctors to produce evidence and those who do so seem not to know exactly what they were looking for when examining victims of gender-based violence,” she observed.

 Zanzibar Female Lawyers Association (ZAFELA) Director, Jamila Mahmoud, said that there were instances in which victims of gender-based violence were not issued with medical reports (P3 forms) at police stations and hospitals, making it difficult for them to pursue their attackers.

TAMWA-Zanzibar Director, Dr. Mzuri Issa, said there have been cases of rape convicts being sentenced to lesser punishments while the law clearly specifies that such offenders should get a 30-year or life imprisonment.

 “We have cases with evidence that the girls have been raped but the accused person was sentenced to five years jail which is contrary to the law,” she said.

Zakia Omar of Makunduchi village, Unguja South Region whose 16-year-old daughter was raped said that police should work closely with community members and Shehas to ensure that gender-based violence cases were reported, culprits arrested and prosecuted.

"My daughter was raped and the accused was arrested but the co-operation between the law enforcement agencies was limited which resulted in the accused being imprisoned for five years," she commented.

Isles number of specialist doctors quadruples

 By Our Reporter

Zanzibar has registered 57 local specialist doctors in 2019 from seven in 2015, a new report ‘Zanzibar in Figure 2019’ has revealed.

Medical specialists constituted 18.7 percent of the number of active and retained medics in 2019 where 304 doctors were registered while the number of assistant medical officers has also grown from 83 in 2015 to 52 last year.

According to the report, the number of dentists have increased at an average rate of 29 percent from 54 in 2015 to 76 in 2019 while there is a tremendous achievement in the nursing specialization where 1,385 nurses were registered compared to 1,089 recorded in 2015.

There is also an increase in laboratory technicians from 316 in 2015 to 391 last year while the number of pharmacists also grew from 208 in the past four years ago to 313 last year.

However, the report shows that there is a significant shortage of anesthesiologists in which until last year there were only 22 professionals in this field.

There has been an increase in physiotherapists where the number has increased from 13 to 27 in 2019.

The report also recorded an increase in the number of public health personnel from 2,428 in 2015 to 3,265 equivalent to an increase of 25.6 percent.

The increase in specialist doctors has reduced the problem of medical support by an average of 9.7 percent from 79 doctors in 2016 to 72 in 2019.

When tabling his ministry budget, Minister of Health, Hamad Rashid Mohammed, said despite the positive results, the health sector faced various challenges that to some extent affected the implementation of some planned activities including lack of health professionals.

Commenting on the achievements, some community members though commended the government efforts for strengthening the

health sector, said there is still a challenge to access timely treatment in health care facilities.

Ridhiwani Mussa of Kijitoupele at Unguja West ‘B’ District told Zanzibar Mail that, the services provided in primary health care facilities are still inadequate so there is an urgent need for the government to strengthen the sector by hiring more professionals.

Fatma Yussuf said that there is tangible success in the health sector in the last five years compared to the same period from 2011 to 2014, where health services centers have been moved closer to the community.

According to the report, in 2019, 25 doctors graduated at the Zanzibar State University of Zanzibar (SUZA).

Currently, one doctor serves 6,435 people (1: 6435) compared to 23,000 people (1: 23,000) per doctor in 1997.

The current national ratio is that one doctor serves 6,435 people compared to one medic per 23,000 people recorded in 1997.

Exploring the rich intangible heritage of Zanzibari spirits

By Our reporter

When our classmate, Haji Attata suddenly changed his behavior from being a sociable, easy-going person to a loner our whole class was puzzled. 

Haji Atta suddenly quarantined himself from all social activities, including playing football, which everyone knew he had adored sincerely since early childhood.

 When the night fell Haji Atatta exhibited other conspicuous behavior. He made sure that his bedroom was always scented with the sweet smell of jasmine flowers; and he never went to sleep without immersing himself in an Arabian perfume called Khalta Maryam. 

His old friend Othman Baya confided in me that Haji’s dramatic change of behavior had caused his family to seek help from alternative medicine to cure him. 

A well-known traditional healer in the village Mzee Kitazihad been consulted and with his guidance the family had concluded that their son was inhabited by a female spirit!Consequently, the healing process would involve, among other things, visiting to a powerful ‘msimu’ (a spirit’s home) for the purpose of conducting a sacrificial ceremony.

 The belief in spirits in Swahili culture is as old as human history itself, and is still widespread among the Swahili people along the East Africa coast.

 In Zanzibar different sorts of spirits, both male and female are believed to cohabit with human beings.

 Some people are remarked to possess them or vice versa; the humans are possessed by the spirits. There are local as well as foreign spirits, among them Arabs, Indian and Europeans.

 The European or “kizungu’ spirits as they are locally called are said to have come across the seas from Europe. Which part of Europe? It is anyone’s guess. Likewise, the Arab spirits are said to have accompanied the Omani Arabs who in the past came to rule the islands of Zanzibar.

 According to local hearsay it is believed that not only the people but also the spirits from faraway land were so intrigued by the beauty of Zanzibar that they have remained amongst Zanzibari people. Unlike Arab spirits that are found all over the coastal East Africa, 'kizungu' spirits are said to have their abodes only in Makunduchi in Zanzibar and Tanga in mainland Tanzania.

 Women are believed to be more susceptible than men to attacks by these specific spirits. However, experience shows that men are more liable to become possessed by female spirits, well known as being immensely jealous. 

With a female spirit, a man, if not dispossessed, may not marry for the rest of his life as the female spirit always hates rivals! Spirits are associated with, and frequently blamed for causing various natural phenomena such as illness, infertility, impotence and even business failures and bad luck in loves. 

Casting out a spirit from a possessed person is the best known solution to end a victim’s suffering. However, those who believe in spirits often take preventative measures and take various precaution not to be attacked by evil spirits in the first place. 

Believers, for instance, perform elaborate rituals before going to a distance place in the dark as demonic attacks are said to take place at that time. It is believed that the spirits reside in natural features such as caves, forests and large trees. 

These places in Swahili called ‘mzimu’ in singular or ‘mizimu’ in plural. Some families are known to own mizimu but other mizimu are public, such as the Slave Caves in Mangapwani which areinhabited by a good spirit known asMainda and appears in the form of snake. 

In Makunduchithe msimu called Tawakal is inhabited by a spirit called MwendaKazi. Traditionally mizimu are not visited without the owners’ consent nor are they entered without observingstrict and elaborate rituals. 

According to Ms. Julie Bardenwerper, who did research on ‘Spirits and Sacred Sites’, one has to call “Hodi!” or “Hello!” before enteringmzimu. What happens to a person who is possessed by a 'kizungu' spirit? Interestingly enough, it is believed that a person may be possessed by more than one spirits simultaneously, and may need to exorcize them. When it comes to exorcizing a ‘kizungu’ spirit, many of the rituals performed reflect some traces of western culture. 

During a dance of exorcism, a possessed person dresses in western clothes such as a white hat, trousers and a shirt and; the diet s/he asks for would consist of biscuits, cakes and whisky. 

Drumming and singing, used to entice the spirit up the possessor’s ‘head’, are slightly changed and given a foreign context which is not the case when a spirit is non-European. As the spirit rises, the possessed person loses control over him or herself and falls into a trance. 

Thereafter, he or she would put forward demands in Swahili with heavy English overtones. 

However, some possessed people express their demands in English. The demands may include things like a golden ring or even a cow. It is believed that it is not the possessed victim, but the spirit inside him or her that presents demands after being enticed. 

A victim is usually set free by the spirit after the fulfillment of these demands. However, at this point the exorcised spirit may attack another person. Similarly, if a host dies, the spirit is inherited by any of the host’s relatives. 

What happened to our friend Haji Attata who was sent to a spirit’s home for conducting a sacrificial ceremony? The ritual ceremony didn’t bring him the immediate relief. He continued possessed by the female spirit for almost ten years until finally his family decided to seek help from the most powerful healer from the village,Mzee Hapingwa who successfully casted the spirit out from him through medicinal herbs, drumming and singing for the whole week. Haji Attatagot married recently and is again a sociable person. It is said that his ex-female spirit is now looking for another person to possess!