A former military officer who served in the Kenya Defence Forces for more than a decade has revealed a side of the military officers no one absolutely knew about.
In a candid interview, Major Rtd Lucy Wairimu Mukuria revealed that the Kenya Government is downplaying the psychological needs of the KDF officers who are usually having medical conditions.
Maj. Mukuria, who fought at the frontline in Somalia for one year, said the violence and shelling witnessed during the gun-battles often leave soldiers stressed out.
While Ms Mukuria was also a psychologist at the KDF, she says some of the past incidences of violence have left her serious traumatic memories.
Confiding to a BBC journalist, Mukuria notes that sometimes she would pull over from his car and experience Post Trauma Stress Disorder.
He noted that she remained paranoid, scared and did not love the company of people after exiting the army.
Kenyan soldiers are deployed to some of Africa’s deadliest battle grounds.
In 2017, Kenya lost some 200 soldiers in an attack by the radical Islamist terrorist group Al Shabaab.
In the early morning attack where the militants overran Kenya’s army base in El Adde, mass shelling was experienced, leaving the survivors traumatized.