Central Kenya region is losing at least five lives every day through suicide in what officials and residents say is a never seen-before catastrophe that should now trigger community reawakening to restore social ethics.
The worst hit, according to police records availed to Mt. Kenya Star is Nyeri County where on average, four people are killing themselves every day.
Kirinyaga follows with at least one death per day while in Murang’a at least four people commit suicide every week.
Despite the grave consequences of the matter, political leaders and especially the governors are yet to mainstream the issue on the region’s debate, leaving the burden to the regional administration and the church.
“Is it domestic violence? Is it in connection with land? Why is it that it’s mostly men killing themselves? These are the answers we can get from the leaders and try to stop the trend,” said Kirinyaga County Commissioner Jim Njoka.
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“The numbers are just shocking,” said Nyeri Police Commander Ali Nuno.
Nyeri is estimated to be losing at least 120 people per month to suicide, nearly all being men.
In Meru, recent cases of suicide have shocked residents.
Mbaabu Ncharing’o, in his 60s and a once reknown fisherman in Mukuni village in Kathiranga, set himself ablaze on a Sunday afternoon.
Two weeks later, Geoffrey M’Tuamwari of Mwanika village in Nkiriri North location set himself ablaze.
Unable to withstand the fire, he rushed and tried to throw himself down the toilet but he could not fit through the hole.
He was rescued by members of the public. But unknown to them, he had swallowed poison that eventually killed him.
Early this month, decomposing bodies of a male and female of Kenya Methodist University (KEMU) students were found in a house.
The body of Ms Ann Kanario Kaura, 21, was found lying on the bed in a pool of blood with stab wounds on the thigh, while the man’s body, which had a deep cut on the left thigh, was found dangling from the roof.
According to Murang’a County Police Commander Josphat Kinyua, barely a week passes without a suicide report.
Kinyua said youths aged between 20 to 35 years are the most victims and take their lives by either hanging or drowning themselves in rivers.
“Recently rivers Mathioya and Maragua have become deaths traps from which numerous bodies of many victims are retrieved.
Financial constraints and turbulent relationships have been the major contributing factors to these suicide cases,” said Kinyua.
“Clearly, there is a problem,” said Kinyua. Though cases of murders that are disguised as suicides are there, they are minimal, Kinyua pointed out.
“We have cases of people being killed and their bodies being thrown in the river but they are not many compared to suicides,” he said.
Abuse of drugs
Angela Muthoni, a psychiatric nurse at Murang’a Level 5 Hospital, said there is a high number of mental illness cases being reported at the facility attributed to drug abuse.
Majority of patients are men aged between 15 to 39 years.
She said tests done on the patients indicate that their conditions are triggered by usage of drug substances that overwhelm their bodies.
James Mbugua Mburu, also a psychiatrist said the department receives between 10 and 20 patients in a day.
Most of the patients are discharged after receiving treatment but the mental ward which has a bed capacity of 20 is always filled up.
He said in a span of eight months, the psychiatric ward has received over 60 mental assessment requests on murder suspects from within Murang’a County.
The disorder also counts for the majority of the suicides that are reported in the county, he added, aggravated by societal changes and increasing life pressures.
He underscored the need for programs to be rolled out at the community level to create awareness and sensitize locals on the need to have mental disorders treated in time.
“We need policies that will put more emphasis on mental health and more investment in the sector in terms of human capital and provision of drugs,” he said.
The riddle of a Churchman in Kirinyaga, the County Commissioner Jim Njoka says over 87 people have committed suicide in the last three months.
The commissioner said the community elders including chiefs and their assistants must from now make a deliberate effort and try to understand the reason behind the deaths.
He said records of the suicidal cases indicates that over 90 percent are men aged between 14 – 75 years, He said among the victims includes an ACK church prelate who was found dead and hanging inside his house at Kiangombe village in Kirinyaga East sub county last month.
The prelate is said to have attended the funeral of a young man aged 35 years earlier during the day who had also committed suicide.
“It is shocking that the Church leader during the burial ceremony advised the residents to learn to take their burdens to God and at no one time someone should contemplate of taking one’s life.
He had also advised those who attended the ceremony to seek professional counselling but to the shock of the residents, the Church leader was found hanging in his house some just some hours after the burial ceremony.”
He said the other cause could also be high economic dependency rate which in Kirinyaga, for instance, is 43 percent.
This means that this share of adults depends on other people to eat and meet other financial needs.
Nyandarua County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich said police statistics indicate that at least five suicide cases are reported every month since July last year, with 43 cases being recorded in the last 11 months, majority of them being men.
Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) cleric, Reverend Samuel Kariuki Wamucii of ACK Bahati Parish, Ol Joro Orok, said the Church is carrying out a research to establish why it has escalated to worrying levels in Nyandarua.
“In the African traditional religion, suicide cases were treated as against their norms. That is why one who committed suicide was buried at night. In other communities, one was left to be eaten by wild animals for that spirit to go away from the community.”
Embu’s County Commissioner Abdullahi Galgalo called for leadership on the matter.
“Each one of us especially leaders should counsel our people when we meet them during Barazas or Church events. We have platforms which can be used to counsel people of different ages. Elderly people should also be in touch with young relatives as it was done before,” he noted.
“If you kill yourself, you create a way for more challenges to those who are left—children among others. According to my denomination, the one who kills goes direct to hell. Therefore, there is no need to punish yourself twice—here on earth (committing suicide) and burn in hell,” he said.
Bishop Paul Kariuki, the Embu’s Catholic Bishop said introducing guidance and counselling training especially in the learning institutions could help control these cases which are on the rise as well as the high rate of drug abuse by young people.
