President Peter Mutharika says claims that members of his administration sell bones of persons with albinism are lies.
The Malawi leader made the remarks in a national address monitored on MBC Radio One on Tuesday night.
Mutharika said prior to the 2019 elections, some people fabricated stories that members of his government were involved in the selling of bones of persons with albinism.
“This was of course a lie,” said Mutharika.
The Malawi leader also claimed that people who were deliberately killing men, women and children with albinism wanted to “create a negative opinion” against him and the government.
Malawi has 134,000 people with albinism, according to the 2018 National Population and Housing Census.
Between November 2015 and May 2019, 163 cases of attacks on persons with albinism were recorded in Malawi.
Last year, a police officer suspected of being involved in the murder of a person with albinism told a court that members of the Mutharika administration are involved in the killings.
In his national address, Mutharika also condemned criminal acts and mob justice related to rumours about bloodsucking.
Mutharika connected the bloodsucking violence to the 2020 elections, saying the rumours are aimed at discouraging people in the Central Region from registering for the elections.
