By Frank Kamuntu
Police is investigating claims a man died by suicide after his wife reportedly refused to cook chicken at their home in Uriri, Migori County, Kenya.
Officials said the 45-year-old locked himself in their house before setting himself on fire.
Witnesses told police the man is identified as John Rugala.
This was after the wife refused to cook chicken for him in a domestic quarrel.
The matter is under probe.
The woman is said to have told the deceased the chicken belonged to their daughter amid protests in the Tuesday incident.
The deceased is then said to have sent his wife away before taking his life.
Locals rushed to the scene in a bid to put out the fire but their efforts were futile.
Police said the body of the deceased has been moved to Migori Level Four Hospital mortuary pending police investigations.
Elsewhere, police are investigating an incident in which a 66-year-old died by suicide after allegedly jumping into a borehole in Molo, Nakuru County.
Police who visited the home of Peter Wanderi said they were informed he had threatened to die by jumping into the family borehole before he made true his threats on July 3.
His body was later retrieved from the 25 feet borehole that supplies water for the family.
The body was moved to the mortuary pending autopsy.
Such cases are linked to societal stress which has caused many murder and suicide incidents, police said.
Up to three cases of suicide are reported daily in the country in an alarming rate.
Cases of suicide have been on the rise this year and authorities blame the trend on mental distress.
Police handled 499 cases in 2019, and 575 in 2020. At least 313 people are reported to have taken their lives between January and July 2021.
The majority of the victims were male, police reports say.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says such cases are attributed to joblessness, the breakup of relationships or a death, academic failures or pressures, legal difficulties, financial difficulties, bullying, previous suicide attempts, history of suicide in a family, alcoholism and substance misuse, depression and bipolar disorder.
Globally, close to 800,000 people die of suicide every year with an estimated 78 per cent of cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
