Susan Njoki, 24, left her parent’s Njoro home on December 27 last year for Nairobi after spending Christmas, like many of us, with her family. She was last seen on the night of December 30 and reported missing to the police on January 8.
On January 14, Njoki’s body was found at City Mortuary, ending a painful search for a young daughter and sister. This shocking turn of events seems to have become a trend, with such cases being reported almost every week. On January 29, the family of Mildred Odira reported she was missing after leaving her house to go to hospital. On February 4 her body was discovered at City Mortuary, with deep cuts,
Just last week, Dandora activist Caroline Mwatha’s body was found at City Mortuary after she had been missing for almost a week. Amnesty International and other organisations went into a frenzy and mobilised to look for their colleague.
There are many others that we could cite, begging the question of why such stories are becoming commonplace in Kenya. Have we lost it as a society, that young women continue to die in such mysterious circumstances?
Families have been left mourning, with some losing their sole providers. We have all lost a loved one and we are all aware of how painful the process of not only laying them to rest but also the healing is. Most of these heartbreaking stories share a common thread: A missing person, most likely one involved in defending the rights of others, and almost always the body is found in the mortuary.
We seem to have become desensitised to these deaths to the point where we seem to have come to the resolution that these things happen in our country, and they are ordinary.
Have we become this desensitised to the value of life? Why have we started treating death and murders as matter of fact, and things that happen regularly?
The moral fibre of our nation is decaying when the subversion of the sanctity of life is neglected. When we allow such heinous murders to continue happening, it shows that we as a society have taken the wrong path.
The common thread seems to stretch to every facet of society to unexplained murders that seem to lean towards extrajudicial killings, to a rot in relationships leading to couples plotting and killing each other.
It is simple. The killings and murders must stop.
There is no viable explanation and viable reason that will make anyone believe that what is happening is acceptable. Those who are murdered have families, children, loved ones, and a gap is left that no one will ever fill, in the lives of the mourning families and in the communities that they serve.
When we say that we are a nation that fears God and our anthem starts with the words ‘Oh God of all creation’, we must respect our religious teachings, including that killing is not a way of life.
We must come together as a nation and see if we can find some of the underlying issues that are leading us to butchering each other. We must find solutions on how to be our brothers’ keepers, not only for our own relatives but also our friends and colleagues. We must become a society that cares for each other in all areas,ensuring that we do not push each other to commit murder. We must face the reality that our society is broken and it is our duty to fix it.
Lastly, even as we send those responsible to jail, possibly for life, we need to debrief them and find out what things drove them to commit such crimes. We must try and find out what made them do it and how we can help others who may be in similar situations to avoid killing.
Political and communications consultant
@MachelWaikenda