The ticking time bomb that is our men and women in blue

Dr Fred Matiang'i (center) arrives at Kiganjo Police College Kiganjo in Nyeri where he presided over the official commencement of Kenya Police Service (Cadet). [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

His unsmiling face bears no sadness. He wears the countenance of a confident man in the jut of his chin and the knowing look in his eyes. But while that picture lives on in the interwebs, the young man will never again possess that resilient light in his eyes.

Because behind the confident façade was a man battling many demons. And one Saturday, while off-duty, he would lock himself in his tiny room in Nairobi’s Eastlands and turn his gun on himself. His name is just one of the many in the long list of Kenyan police officers who have lost their lives due to an invisible menace.