Why cell phones are driving married men to suicide
By DAVID MACHARIA, @DavidMacharia1
Couples in Nyandarua County have been urged to avoid going through their spouses’ mobile phones to reduce marital conflicts as well as bringing down the number of suicide cases.
Deputy Governor Mr Waithaka Mwangi Kirika has made the plea, citing mobile phones as a major contributor to suicide cases among young husbands in the county.
Speaking in Ol Kalou town, Mr Kirika also asked men to keep off their wives’ phones.
“Men keep off your wife’s mobile phone because it is like her inner garments which keeps her secrets. Young men don’t kill yourself just because your wife has run away,” he said.
The Deputy Governor said he encountered an attempted suicide case at the North Kinangop Catholic hospital where a young man wanted to kill himself because his wife had ran away following a related conflict.
COMMITTED SUICIDE
And there seems to be figures that back up the Deputy Governor’s claims. According to police records, at least five young men have committed suicide in the last eight months in the county arising from mobile phone-related domestic conflicts.
Nyandarua Central OCPD Mr Wilson Koskei said the cases were reported between May 2 and December 15. Two of the cases occurred in Kaibaga location where two young married men hanged themselves.
Similar incidents were reported in Munyeki, Rurii, Mawingu and Olkalou locations. There are more cases in the rest of the other districts of the county namely Kipipiri, Kinangop, Mirangine, Nyandarua West and Nyandarua North.
The Deputy Governor blamed the advent of technology for challenges that it poses to the family set up, so much so that even church leaders are overwhelmed by arbitrating over domestic conflicts related to mobile phones.
“Some of the SMS messages causing marital conflict are in fact wrongly sent to a husband or wife by strangers and need not lead to result in suicide,” he explained.