The trending reports on certain incidents of killings which have said to mostly involve family members have led in rise of more worries across the country Tanzania, leaving many not knowing on what could be the reasons.
The incidents, if proven beyond reasonable doubt, would qualify to be termed as senseless killings, and they included allegations of a son killing a parent, a husband killing a wife; and so on, and so forth.
Last December, police in Arusha Region reported the arrest of a 24-year old man on suspicion of killing his mother who was in mining business, whereby her body was hidden in a septic chamber amid reports of a misunderstanding between the two.
In early January, Kilimanjaro police issued a statement saying that a young woman had killed her biological mother and buried her in order to inherit family property.
This week, police in Mbeya arrested a man suspected of killing his father for what he claimed his father did not love him.
Some psychologists asked to explain the incidents pointed an accusing finger at family relations, upbringing of the children and desire to make quick wealth as some of the reasons.
Tanzania Marriage and Children Care Foundation counsellor Enock Mlyuka said there were many reasons for young people reaching the point of killing their parents.
He said conflicts in marriage could sow hatred among children and result in killings or any other violent actions against one parent.
“It is very sad to hear a son or daughter killing their parents for the intention of getting quick wealth. But let me say that marriage conflicts may bring up bad people who will later kill or engage in brutal incidents,” he said.
Dr Mlyuka also added that lack of fear of God among some young people was also the cause for such conducts. He advised parents to share quality time with their children as a way of helping them to grow into responsible adults.
“If the father was not close enough to the children during their upbringing, it could lead to poor relationship between the children and him, hence lead into an abusive relationship,” he noted.
A senior parent, Ms Mariana Mdemu, who has five children said: “These incidents are scary. Imagine that parents who raised children and gave them everything end up being brutally murdered!”
She said in raising children, there were so many challenges but the reasons for one turning into being cruel might have been due to the very same parents.
“There is also a need for parents to reflect on these events and see if there are any mistakes in rising the children. A child cannot kill his/her parents for no reason,” she said.
For her part, the Legal and Human Right Centre (LHRC) executive director, Anna Henga, said there were a number of reasons that could lead to people killing their parents, close relatives, husband or wife and such incidents have increased in the past few years.
She also associated the trend with moral decay and unemployment which push the youth to engage in such acts for enrichment.
“So, they kill in order to inherit wealth from parents. Some steal their parents’ wills when they find they were not on the list and decide to kill the parents,” she said.
“The challenges are many and we encourage people to know the source so as to prevent. Killing is a crime like others but despite those punishments people are still committing them,” she said.
She said to advise the government, the centre has launched a programme called ‘Haki Jinai’ that involves the community in searching for the root causes.
A clinical psychologist from Somedics Polyclinic, Mr Saldin Kimangale, said: “There has been a very high rate of such incidents. In my opinion, I think it is time for more research to be done to find out what is happening,” he said.
“There are various theories in society on why a mother kills her child or a child kills a parent. In short, we as psychiatrists, killing a person in any case, we consider as part of a mental illness because all the reasons cited are related to a mental problems which push them to do so,” he added.