MP's bodyguard dies in suspected suicide
Police are investigating an incident in which a police officer shot himself in the head and died.
A police officer attached to Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje shot himself in the head and died on Thursday, police said.
Constable Austin Owiti Oyuech Shariff, who is attached to the Administration Police (AP), allegedly shot himself in the head early Thursday morning.
Embakasi sub-county police boss Peter Thuo confirmed the incident and said the body had been taken to the mortuary.
“The matter is under investigations and all we can say for now is that we treating it as a suicide. After the scene was processed the body was taken to the morgue,” he said, adding that the motive of the incident remains unknown.
Mr Shariff, 43, has been guarding the Embakasi West MP since 2022, when he won the elections.
“The officer did not show any signs of distress. It is sad that he has even left behind a heavily pregnant wife,” Mr Mwenje told Nation.Africa last evening.
On Wednesday, Mr Shariff was with friends within Embakasi and had given no indication that anything was bothering him.
A police source said that the officer had been on leave and was yet to return to work.
The officer, who is attached to the Close Protection Unit, will be buried in Kisumu County on Friday.
Cases of police officers committing suicide and those related to mental health have increased in the recent past.
Former Inspector-General of Police Japheth Koome created a new directorate to deal with the rising cases of mental illness.
Mr Koome created a department called the Welfare Directorate which is currently being headed by Manasse Musyoka.
He ordered that experts be sought to help police officers.
Mr Koome’s predecessor, Hillary Mutyambai, had also said that more than 2,000 police officers were mentally unfit to serve in the National Police Service (NPS).
The findings were made public just days after all police officers across the country underwent medical examinations.
“We have subjected all the officers to medical examinations, and to our surprise, we got a big number. We isolated almost 2,000 police officers who are unfit to do their law enforcement work,” Mr Mutyambai said at the time.
The affected officers are receiving counselling and treatment.
In 2019, the police launched a new programme – Muamko Mpya (Healing the Uniform Initiative) – to provide psychological support to officers.
“The ultimate goal of the initiative is to provide officers with knowledge, tools and a framework to assist them to support each other while handling traumatic situations,” the National Police Service (NPS) said.
