Boniface Mwangi, a renown activists and a key participant in the nationwide anti-government protests that were witnessed a few weeks ago, has revealed that he contemplated taking his own life on August 3, 2024.

Days earlier, Mwangi drafted his will and said his goodbyes to a few people.

According to him, he had reached the dead end because he could no longer take the trauma, grief and pain that innocent Kenyans were going through because of the protests against the government.

“It was my farewell. I wanted to die. Exit this world for good. There was simply too much pain, grief, and trauma in my life that I couldn’t bear it any longer. I couldn’t continue watching helplessly as our country was sucked into a sickening, deadly vortex of State-sanctioned violence, targeting innocent Kenyans,” he wrote.

His family and friends however ensured that he reconsiders his decision even by making him seek professional help.

“Although I wanted to commit suicide, my family and friends threw a ring of love and empathy around me that made me reconsider. They forced me to seek professional help, and to take a health break to focus on my mental wellness. That helped to re-center me. I have a fresh and new lease of life now, and truly appreciate the overwhelming love and support that was extended to me and my family during that time when the darkness threatened to overcome us,” Mwangi stated.

The events of the protests, including the killings and abductions, triggered the trauma that Mwangi faced before while working as a photojournalist.

“After all, I have faced many dangers since I started my career as a press photographer. I covered the crackdown on the Mungiki and their subsequent executions. I was a journalist when police used to execute suspects and display their bodies to the media. I documented more bodies in the aftermath of the 2007 post-election violence, when I witnessed the horrors of Kenyans who had been chopped up by their fellow neighbours, and houses razed to the ground with the occupants still trapped inside.

“When Ruto talks about the discovery of bodies in River Yala, where police hit squads abducted, tortured, and dumped bodies in the river, it was myself and other activists who raised the alarm. In my brief life, I have witnessed the worst version of humans towards their fellow humans. But what breaks me is that perpetrators are never held accountable. These old traumas were triggered afresh by the police brutality witnessed in the recent youth-led protests,” Mwangi said.

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