With the conclusion of the case and conviction of all 12 suspects in the brutal killing of a 22-year-old man with albinism, MacDonald Masambuka, focus has shifted to some big fish who were implicated during the investigation as being at the centre of dealing in human tissue.
Masambuka was brutally killed in Nselema, Machinga district, in 2018, and a Catholic Priest, his blood brother, a police officer, and a hospital clinician are among the 12 people found guilty on various counts.
During the deliberations of the case, one of the suspects, Chikondi Chileka, a police officer at the time, disclosed that he was part a police taskforce that was instituted to find the market and pattern of bones for people with albinism.
He told the court among people in the list included former president Arthur Peter Mutharika, his aide Hetherwick Ntaba and some high profile politicians who were serving in the previous administration as being behind the attacks, abductions and killings of people with albinism in the country.
Ironically Ntaba was also chairperson of a committee tasked to fight against abuse of persons with albinism during the time of the murder of Masambuka.
During her ruling yesterday, High Court Judge Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga wondered why some the names that were being implicated by suspects were not part of the people being tried in the case.
Meanwhile the Association of Persons with Albinism (APAM) is demanding law enforcing authorities to swiftly move in prosecuting the big fishes who are believed to be at the centre of abductions, dealing in human tissue and killing of person with albinism.
However, after the High Court has handed down a sentence for the 12 convicts, Director of Public Prosecutions Steve Kayuni has stated that names of those implicated in the MacDonald Masambuka case may be reconsidered for prosecution.
