Ex-GSU officer who left the police service in 2005 after the death of four close family members which drove him to 19 years of depression is seeking to make a return and serve the nation.
While speaking on Citizen TV, Mbuti Lekapua narrated that he joined the service in the year 1990 and served the country for 10 years before transitioning to the Police Service in the year 2003.
Unknown to him, he stated, that two years later (2005), his mother, father, and brother suddenly passed away and after a short while, his wife also passed away.
This series of developments swiftly resulted in 19 years of depression making him exit the service too.
“To date, there is no person from the government who has ever looked for me. Yet, I have never made a single mistake while in service,” Lekapua expressed, in a somber tone.
Lekapua, who hails from Soit Pus in Samburu North, further pleaded with the government to consider reinstating him, offering him counseling, and allowing him to serve once again.
Additionally, Lekapua observed that despite time helping him learn to cope with depression, he still needs the service for healing and sustenance.
He stated that he has a young family that fully depends on him, yet he is not in a position to support them as he does not have a stable income, apart from engaging in small-scale tobacco farming.
He conveyed that he previously relied on his livestock, all of which he lost to banditry.
The only memories he retains from his time in service are photos of himself in the GSU regalia, appearing robust and in good shape before his struggles with depression kicked in.
"Nowadays he (Lekapua) just sits all by himself. He doesn’t like being in groups. I would like the government to take him back and begin by counseling him because of the depression that hit him while in service as a result of being shot at and losing all his family members and his wife," said one of his friends.
Lekapua is among the many men and women in the service battling depression, with a significant portion silently grappling with this illness.
Just this week, a senior National Intelligence Service (NIS) officer, Tom Mboya Adala, died by suicide on Tuesday (June 4), at his residence in Kilimani, Nairobi County.
According to the police, he shot himself in the head in the servant's quarters. What’s more, a suicide note written on a black notebook was also found placed on the bed.
Similarly, a day before, June 3, another Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldier, Jimna Mwangi Itehe, who had just been transferred from Narok to Wajir county also died by suicide by hanging himself in Kiangiciri area of Kasarani, Nairobi county.
