Sensitivity required in post-election violence debate

What you need to know:

  • At the time, I chaired the interagency Protection Working Group whose mandate included taking care of the mental health and psychosocial support needs of the displaced persons and others in the areas affected by post-election violence.
  • Claims of advance rigging poisoned the environment, and even as voting proceeded in the area, a van belonging to a local businessman was torched on suspicion of ‘carrying marked ballot papers’.
  • Many families had made arrangements to leave the area for some time when the tension became too much for them, but Jane and her family elected to stay put.

I first met Jane (not her real name) in February 2008. She was brought to me during one of our clinics for displaced persons with moderate to severe mental health and psychosocial needs.

At the time, I chaired the interagency Protection Working Group whose mandate included taking care of the mental health and psychosocial support needs of the displaced persons and others in the areas affected by post-election violence.

Before the 2007 elections, Jane lived with her family on a farm a few kilometres outside of Eldoret town. Although the farm was not as big as she would have liked, Jane and her family produced enough to feed themselves and sale some to take care of their other needs.

They had managed to put two of their children through high school, and one of them was in college while the other remained to help on the farm. Their last child was due to join Form Two in 2008.

Everything changed on Election Day. Claims of advance rigging poisoned the environment, and even as voting proceeded in the area, a van belonging to a local businessman was torched on suspicion of ‘carrying marked ballot papers’.

Many families had made arrangements to leave the area for some time when the tension became too much for them, but Jane and her family elected to stay put.

It took several sessions to get the full story because Jane broke down many times, feeling responsible for whatever befell her family because she was the one who persuaded them to stay.

Their house was broken into on New Year’s Eve shortly before midnight. It was dark, but she says there were more than a dozen young people armed with machetes, clubs and other crude weapons, singing war songs and ordering everyone out of the house.

Her husband went to meet them, hoping to plead with them to allow his family to leave peacefully and let them torch the house as they had done to several others in the vicinity.

He was hit on the head several times with a nail-studded club, and when he fell, the mob cut him to pieces, ignoring his cries for mercy. Jane’s sons managed to escape into the darkness as this was going on, and she never got to see them again.

She was gang raped and left for dead. She regained consciousness at a hospital in Eldoret, where she was treated for her injuries and discharged to continue with outpatient follow-up. It was at the follow-up appointment that I met her.

I still see Jane once every three to four months. She is better now, but every so often she is reminded of the horrific happenings of 2008 and lapses into depressive episodes that necessitate more intensive treatment. At the last review a couple of weeks ago, she made a specific request to me.

“Daktari,” she said. “You write in the papers. Tell these fellows (politicians) to stop reminding us of the nasty things that happened in 2008. Tell them we are still hurting, and we would like to move on quietly without constant reminders of our losses. Please remind them that their politics diminishes our suffering.”

There, I have told them, Jane. I have told them.

Atwoli is associate professor of psychiatry and dean, Moi University’s school of medicine; [email protected]