- Police handled 499 cases in 2019, and 575 in 2020.
- At least 313 people are reported to have taken their lives between January and July 2021.
Image: The Star
Police are investigating five different cases of suicide that were reported to them in separate places in the country.
Authorities have termed the trend alarming and asked for serious attention to the issue.
The first incident happened in the Pangani area, Nairobi where the body of a man was found on a tree outside a residential apartment.
The body of the man aged about 30 was found by a guard on duty at the apartment on Monday, July 10 evening.
He had hanged himself on the tree using a belt, which was tied to his neck.
The motive of the incident is yet to be known, police said.
The body was picked and moved to the mortuary pending identification and autopsy.
In Kathiani, Machakos County, a 63-year-old man was found dead on the rafters of his house.
A nine-year-old boy had gone to seek help from the house of Stephen Mumo when he stumbled on the body hanging on the rafters.
Police who visited the scene said they found a suicide note in the house before moving the body to the mortuary.
Details of the note are yet to be made public. The man was alone at the time of the incident, police said.
In Muranga’s Gatanga area, one Jacob Mwangi Wacera aged 35 was found dead in his house after a suspected suicide.
His body was found hanging from the rafters of the house with a wire tied to his neck.
Police said the deceased was last seen on July 8 in the area when he instructed her to give his sub-hoofer to their mother in case of his death.
The body was moved to the mortuary pending autopsy.
In Mathira, Nyeri County, the body of one James Githinji aged 49 was found hanging from his single room with a yellow manila rope tied around his neck. The body was moved to Karatina Level Four Hospital morgue pending autopsy.
Cases of suicide have been on the rise this year and authorities blame the trend on mental distress.
Police handled 499 cases in 2019, and 575 in 2020.
At least 313 people are reported to have taken their lives between January and July 2021.
The majority of the victims were male, police reports say.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says such cases are attributed to joblessness, the breakup of relationships or a death, academic failures or pressures, legal difficulties, financial difficulties, bullying, previous suicide attempts, history of suicide in a family, alcoholism and substance misuse, depression and bipolar disorder.
Globally, close to 800,000 people die of suicide every year with an estimated 78 per cent of cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries.