Two clergymen have called on men in Nyandarua to always seek help from support groups to end the rampant deaths by suicide in the county. 

The county, according to Father David Munyeki of the Catholic Church and Rev Isaac Mathenge of ACK, has recorded 80 suicide cases all involving men this year. 

Rev Mathenge said about 50 suicide cases were recorded between January and February this year.  “About ten of them were due to sports betting, where the victims lost large sums of money,” 

 Economic hopelessness due to consumption of alcohol was named as one factor that had made most men in the County have no reason to want to continue living. 

Father Munyeki and Rev Mathenge said the County is recording high cases of suicide among men due to a lack of avenues for victims to vent their mental anguish caused by economic stress. 

Giving a pep talk to men drawn from around Rurii area in Ol Kalou constituency at the weekend, the clergymen urged them to seek help, either from peers, the church or health personnel whenever they have anything troubling them mentally, instead of keeping problems to themselves, leading to deaths. 

Father Munyeki said men have been forgotten, as only youth and women groups are talked about by society during forums to discuss the economy and finances. 

Rev Mathenge urged men to be doing things that benefit them economically, “instead of spending long hours idling at shopping centres gossiping about politics and football.” 

Pastor Daniel Kuria said the pressure of expectations placed on men in the county is so much “that a man admitted to the hospital is still expected to provide bus fare to a relative who visits him in the ward.” 

The gathering held at Huhoini Primary school ground was one of those organised by Nyandarua Woman Representative Faith Gitau to sensitise the men on mental wellness. 

The MP said the men’s meetings are supposed to promote conversation on their mental health in a bid to end silent suffering by the menfolk in the County. 

“Societal expectations have pressured men to suppress their emotional struggles, leading to deaths by suicide or killings that were seeing,” Gitau said. 

She hopes that her effort will see men regain their traditional status of being respected in the society where they control things.