By-elections often arrive quietly, triggered by unfortunate circumstances such as the death of an elected leader and a councillor in this case, yet they carry enormous political weight. These are moments when communities express their satisfactions or disappointments with the direction the country is taking by casting their vote. It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment.
We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it…
