DP Ruto: Most politicians seek help from Tanzanian witchdoctors

Recently, Deputy President William Ruto revived the debate on the use of witchcraft by politicians after he claimed that some leaders at the Coast had suspicious marks on their bodies. Speaking after launching a Duruma Bible in Kinango, Kwale, the DP said he had interacted with politicians from Coast who crossed to Tanzania to get “covert powers” from witch doctors.

“Most politicians’ bodies have been rubbed with ashes or concoctions from various things. Most of them have traveled to Tanzania and Ugunja to get the help of witch doctors,” said Ruto.

“It is good that we now have a Duruma Bible so that they can read and get saved,” said Ruto.

“My happiness is that as we launch the Duruma Bible, we save our politicians who are suffering in the hands of magicians and all manner of sorcerers, and ugly people,” said the DP.

Ruto pledged to buy more than 1,500 bibles to be distributed to 1,200 Duruma Churches across the country. The tales of politicians using magic and witchcraft to win an election are as old as the country’s political journey.

At the Coast, a story is told of how a senior politician from Changamwe was in 2002 buried up to the neck for three days in Tanzania in his quest to gain ‘powers to attract voters’. Other spooky stories in Coast include one claiming some politicians take a bath and then use the same water to prepare food for their supporters.

In 2007, an ex-MP in Kaloleni was forced to fight claims he was using snakes to intimidate voters. And in 1992, a petition was filed against a former Webuye MP accusing him of using magic to win the elections. The petitioner claimed that the MP and his team recruited and paid witchdoctors for them to help him clinch the seat.