Nairobi, Kenya, Dec 8- President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged police officers to seek alternative solutions to challenges facing them instead of resorting to the gun.
Kenyatta, who was speaking Wednesday when he commissioned new General Service Unit (GSU) recruits said that expressing oneself is one way of dealing with mental stress especially in the police force.
“There are many challenges in this world and mental health is also a real problem, but it is a problem that can be addressed if you reach out. There is no need of doing the things that we keep on witnessing,” he said, “The gun is meant to protect lives.”
He spoke a day after a police officer based in Kabete, Nairobi killed his wife following a domestic quarrel before he went on a shooting spree on Waiyaki Way that left 5 people dead.
The officer then committed suicide.
The incident that sparked chaos for the better part of Tuesday morning brought to the fore the grim picture of the state of mental health among the country’s law enforcement officers.
Violent chaos in Kabete after cop killed his wife, 6 others before committing suicide
“I want to assure you that as a government we want to work towards addressing these mental health issues, however, I wish to appeal to you in particular, that in the event you are going through any challenges whether at home or at work, look for someone to talk to,” Kenyatta added.
In recent years, the country has also witnessed a rise in suicide cases among security officers serving in various parts of the country on what has been widely blamed on mental illness.
On January 4, a police officer in Garissa shot and killed himself.
A prison warder in Mwea committed suicide after killing a police officer in an alleged love triangle. The two incidents followed the January 3 murder-suicide at Kamukunji Police Station in Nairobi, where an officer killed his female colleague and injured another before taking his own life.
Similar cases where police officers kill spouses or members of the public are common and have been on the rise in various parts of the country.
To address mental health within the police service, the government has embarked on various campaigns targeting security personnel.
The National Police Service (NPS) said last month that plans were underway to roll out the directorate of counselling and chaplaincy based at its headquarters in Nairobi to all the 47.
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