Please spare a thought for our officers’ mental illness burden
Anti-riot police officers manning Delta Corner on May 25, 2021 where impeached Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud was holding a press briefing.
What you need to know:
- Most of our men in uniform have many dependants.
- This, on top of the so many deductions on their pay slips, leaves them with very little to take home.
As a nursing student currently doing my clinical rotations in The Nairobi West Hospital, I have spent part of my time in the Psychiatry Unit, attending to police officers with mental illness.
Having spent my formative years in a police camp with my dad being a serviceman, I got a chance to experience the life of police officers first-hand. Using the World Health Organisation’s definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, there is an overt turbulence in the National Police Service.
The statistics are especially grave for male officers. This did not initially affect me personally until I actually got a chance to talk to them and listen to their stories. This young officer, let’s call him Suluhu, is a 29-year-old bachelor who has served for only five years. He has been transferred more than once with at least two episodes of drug induced psychosis coming less than a year apart.
Cases of police brutality
Suluhu was brought up by both parents with no history of any childhood traumas. He then spent six years in high school, with the first ear spent in one school and the other five in another due to truancy and drug abuse. After joining the police service, he continued abusing drugs and alcohol. Suluhu claimed that his overindulgence was recreational but also cited a poor relationship with colleagues as a cause.
I later met yet another serviceman who was brought in at night with alcohol poisoning. Having spent all evening drinking with his wife and friends, he ended up in a scuffle with his wife and a senior officer. His liver enzymes were radically elevated which is a sure sign of progressive liver damage. He blamed his overindulgence on work stresses.
Most of our men in uniform have many dependants. This, on top of the so many deductions on their pay slips, leaves them with very little to take home.
All these factors in play, the holistic health of our officers is compromised. This could explain the rising cases of police brutality, murder of family members and the increasing admission of officers to psychiatry wards.
Charles Kariuki is a finalist nursing student from The Catholic University of Eastern Africa.
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