The authorities in Murang’a South Sub County have expressed concern over increased cases of suicides and homicides’ in the area.
Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Gitonga Murungi blamed the menace on domestic squabbles and depression occasioned by excessive use of illicit brews, drug abuse, lawlessness, and the general moral decadence of the societal fabric.
Speaking at Thaara Primary School in Kamahuha Ward during Jamhuri Day celebrations, Murungi noted that the Maragua area has many ex-convicts who are the same people implicated in the most heinous of crimes in the area.
“As a society, we must start talking now. As your administrators, we are coming to dialogue with you because we must reclaim sanity and sobriety in our society,” he said.
The DCC blamed parents and guardians, saying, “It is unfortunate that we know these young men; they are our children, but we swore to see no evil and hear no evil until the snake bites the very hand that has been feeding it!
“A man beheading his own mother has everything to do with the societal fabric that has decayed over the years,” he said.
Perturbed by the incidents, Murungi now opines that it has everything to do with the morals of society, and the conversation must start now.
“We must get to the root cause of this moral decay and find a remedy for the evils that are crippling our development as a society,” he added.
The DCC revealed that it was time for dialogue between the people, the authorities, and other stakeholders so as to establish the root cause of the homicides and suicides.
This comes barely two weeks after irate residents of Nginda in Maragua lynched a 40-year-old man after he allegedly killed his mother and covered her body with a heap of manure in a shallow grave outside her house.
The man, an ex-convict, had just returned home after serving a jail sentence, where he had been convicted after being found guilty of insulting and threatening to rape his mother.
In the same ward, another young man had been lynched by a mob in Gathera village after he hacked and killed his mother over a plate of ugali.
According to family members, the 36-year-old had demanded to be served ugali by his late 68-year-old mother, who had cooked bananas.
An argument ensued, and the man is said to have grabbed a machete and beheaded his mother.
Murungi noted that the situation is so dire that children as young as 11 years old are committing suicide. “Why would a child as young as 11 commit suicide?” he posed.
In Kamahuha Ward, nine young people aged between 12 and 29 committed suicide in the period between December 2022 to October 2023.
The most recent incident involves a 11-year-old girl who committed suicide on the eve of Jamhuri Day, an incident that was confirmed by the DCC.
Evon Wambui Muthoni, aged 11, who was under the care of her grandparents, is reported to have been playing outside their Gathaite village, Makuyu house, with her siblings when she ostensibly got inside the house at 1730 hrs.
“Her 14-year-old brother, prompted by her unusually longer stay inside the house, went to check on her only to find her body dangling from the roof top, lifeless.
On her part, the area member of Parliament, Mary Wamaua, has previously decried such unfortunate incidents while calling on the residents to stop protecting criminals who do not belong to society.
“The people doing such heinous acts even to the women who bore them are our children you know them but have decided to turn a blind eye to it just because it has not happened within your inner family circle,” she said.
“Security starts with you, so if, as a parent you protect your wayward child, eventually they will turn against you, and it will be too late,” she added.
The MP called on members of the society to embrace dialogue with the administrators so that the root cause of the suicides and homicides can be identified and a solution found.
“Help us fight drugs and illicit brews so that we can save our sons and daughters from the imminent ruins of over-indulgence,” implored Wamaua.
By Florence Kinyua
