The Government has raised the red flag over the rising number of suicide cases being reported in Nyeri County.
Nyeri County Commissioner Mohammed Barre said in the last three months alone, the county has recorded 15 suicide cases with all the victims being male.
Barre, who was leading celebrations to mark this year’s Mashujaa Day fete held at the Nyeri DEB Muslim Primary school grounds is now calling upon the public to support the State in addressing the challenge before it gets out of hand.
“The number of people taking their lives is still worrying in this county though the figures have reasonably gone down. We are still worried over the current trend in which all the 15 people who have committed suicide in the county over the last three months happen to be male. We need to speak with one another and identify the challenges causing this problem and address it urgently,” said the administrator.
During this year’s Madaraka Day (1st June) celebrations, Barre had raised the red flag over increasing suicide cases in Nyeri County and called for urgent measures to address the matter.
At that time, an average of 20 people (mostly men) were reportedly taking their lives in a single month.
“The number of our people who are taking their life in this county has reached alarming levels that need an urgent solution. Over the last two months alone, we have lost a total of 80 people through suicide. We urgently need to unearth the root cause of this social problem if we are to salvage the lives of your people before things get out of hand,” Barre had said during the June 1 national fete.
Some of the causes being linked to the problem include harsh economic times, domestic wrangles and increased cases of substance abuse.
Meanwhile members of the public have been advised to embrace former prison inmates in order to accelerate their quick integration into the society.
The County administrator said at least two former inmates have gone back to prison after allegedly relapsing into criminal activities a few months after being released from prison.
However according to Barre, the two cases are believed to have been framed by some members of the community who did not want to have the former convicts integrated into the society after having fallen out with the families they had aggrieved.
“We have cases of two former convicts who are currently serving jail terms after fresh criminal charges were preferred against them a few months after being set free. One of the suspects had served 30 years behind bars but was later immediately arrested on allegations of being involved in crime. However, information we are receiving is that both of these convicts may have been jailed on trumped up charges after the community refused to accept them back,” stated the County Commissioner.
Barre is now urging the public to show empathy to those leaving prison and embrace them as brothers and sisters noting that such people are normally individuals who have already agreed to reform their lives for the better.
On the ongoing drought the County Commissioner has assured the public of the government’s commitment in ensuring families adversely affected by the famine receive relief food.
He said so far, several parts of Nyeri that are reeling under the effects of the ongoing drought such as Kieni East and Kieni West have been receiving relief food, with the exercise expected to extend to Othaya, Mukurwe-ini and Tetu that are said to be receiving the brunt of the drought.
Barre has urged local leaders in areas affected by the drought to issue a list of all families needing relief food to enable the Government set out modalities of assisting them.
“The Government is committed to ensuring that not a single family suffers from the ongoing drought due to lack of food. We have already mapped areas that are in urgent need of food and also sent such assistance to alleviate the suffering of our people,” he said.
“So far, we have covered Kieni East and Kieni West and at the moment we are also setting our focus on Tetu, Mukurwe-ini and Othaya since we have noted a number of families in these sub counties are also in need of relief food,” he explained.
Kenya is facing one of her worst food crises in decades following four consecutive failed rain seasons. This situation has pushed more than 4 million Kenyans to the brink of a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of animals already reported to have died in the former Northern Frontier District.
World Food Programme Representative and Country Director for Kenya Lauren Landis in a statement to mark this year’s World Food Day said the international community is solidly behind the country in providing relief help to starving communities including scaling up food distribution.
She nevertheless called for a shift in alternative food rearing mechanisms including adoption of drought resistant crops able to withstand the adverse effects of global climatic changes.
“Humanitarian assistance alone will never be enough in Kenya’s increasingly dry and drought-prone climate. The key to better nutrition lies in profound agricultural shifts, such as adoption of drought-tolerant crops and water-efficient farming techniques; production of more nutritious crops like high-iron beans; improving postharvest storage; enhancing processing; reducing food losses; improving food safety and establishing better connections to markets” she said.
By Samuel Maina and Esther Wangari
