Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

A worrying trend in suicide cases reported in Gatundu South constituency, Kiambu county, has alarmed residents who now urge people to share out their life challenges with friends, relatives, church and societal leaders.

Blaming self-loathing, unbearable emotional pain, hopelessness, isolation, family feuds among other factors, the constituency has experienced a sharp rise in people taking their lives in the last one month.

According to residents, most of the suicide cases have occur without alert signs by the victims, most of whom have been partying and or enjoying meals with their families at night only to be found dead by their own hand the next day.

For the family of James Mwangi, a father of one from Roi-Gacakai village, the incident on January 6, 2024 will forever remain stuck in their minds.

The family had gathered together at their grandmother’s homestead for celebrations and partying but ended up in tears as Mwangi, 23, died by suicide that night.

It is believed that he and his wife returned home tired after a full-day of merry making and went to sleep normally.

According to Mary Nyambura Njihia, a member of the family, Mwangi’s wife raised concerns after she allegedly found herself alone in bed later that night.

After a thorough search assisted by other family members, she found her husband dead in the kitchen, having committed suicide.

The man who was eulogised as simple, polite and hardworking had removed all his clothes apart from his underpants before he hanged himself using a rope.

Karanja Karuri who is Mwangi’s stepfather narrated that there was no sign that such an incident would occur as he was jovial on Saturday and interacted well with other family members.
Karuri who expressed concerns over the increased suicide cases in the village told journalists that the incident is not the first as several other people including Mwangi’s brother had taken their lives in a similar manner.

He stated that unlike in the past, it is now not shocking to hear that a man in his 20’s has died by suicide.
“We are saddened and troubled by Mwangi’s death. He has left a very big gap in this family as he has a young child. His wife is also very young and the void cannot be filled. It is time for our people to now start speaking openly about their issues instead of allowing them to accumulate only to give birth to suicidal thoughts,” said Karuri.
He blamed joblessness, abuse of drugs among other factors to the appalling situation and called for concerted efforts to avert further occurrences.

A few kilometres from the distraught family’s home, another family is preparing for the burial of another man who killed himself after enjoying dinner with his children and other family members.
Patrick Kamau, 47, is said to have turned to suicide after enduring a longstanding emotional pain that he could not cope with.

In an intriguing turn of events, Kamau had called all his children and grandchildren for January 1, 2024 celebrations at their home in Roma village where they had fun and got to interact with each other.

After an eventful day, the family took dinner together. Kamau, a father of four, requested them to allow him to enjoy it inside his room unaware that the conversation was their last memory together.

Unpredictably Kamau, according to Rosemary Mumbi, his mother, changed his direction from his room to the coffee farm where he ended his life using a rope.

The family noticed his demise in the morning after a disquieting night that got them restless as his whereabouts had not been established.

“We only realised that Kamau was no more in the morning after one of his brothers found him hanging. We had searched for him all night without success. It’s sad that the man who was taking good care of his family is no more. We are in deep pain and cannot believe that he is gone forever,” narrated Mumbi.

Mumbi called on Kenyans to begin speaking out on their problems before they became overwhelmed.
Residents who spoke to journalists called for urgent measures to tame the growing concern .

While calling on the government to embark on creating enough empowerment programs that will fully engage idle youth, the locals further appealed for serious prevention measures that addresses root causes of suicidal thoughts.