It has been a week of horror stories again. In Nairobi's Thome estate, a 32-year-old woman is said have killed her husband by striking him with an axe before killing their two children. She completed the macabre act by committing suicide.
In Migori, a house help is being accused of poisoning her employer’s children and another one belonging to her new maid. One of the children later died in hospital.
In Kajiado County, a former member of Kakamega County Assembly killed his wife and then turned the gun on himself.
And in Kisii, a nursery schoolgirl and another aged nine were murdered gruesomely. A bra was found tied around the neck of the nursery school pupil.
The number of people who have been killed or committed suicide this year is mind-boggling.
The murders and suicides? —which The Standard has reported consistently for the past few years—points to a deeper problem in our society.
Although the problem has been blamed on depression, no one has explained exactly why Kenyans have grown depressed to a point of being suicidal and murderous.
During his Madaraka Day speech, President Uhuru Kenyatta voiced his concern about the rising cases of depression, and directed the Health ministry in conjunction with county governments, ministries of Education, Youth and Gender to formulate "an appropriate policy response".
This ought to have been done as a matter of urgency. One month down the line Kenyans are yet to know whether anything has been done to address this nightmare. Meanwhile, the killing spree is still going on, perpetrated mostly by people of questionable state of mind.
A study by University of Oxford’s psychiatry department showed in 2015 that people diagnosed with depression are three times likely than the rest to commit violent crimes. However, it also pointed out that majority of depressed people are neither violent nor criminal.
It is no secret that depression has taken toll on Kenyans. Unfortunately, the state and he populace are not treating this problem with seriousness it deserves. This scourge should be treated with the seriousness the Government accords such diseases as malaria and Aids. It is only then that we will be able to turn the tide on the ballooning problem of murders and suicides.
