Community development officer found dead in Mbale Guest House
People gathered at Visitor's Inn Guest house in Mbale town where the deceased's body was found. Photo by Yahudu Kitunzi
A 33-year-old woman attached to Bukwo District Local Government has been found dead in a guest house in Mbale town, Mbale District.
Nancy Chelimo, who was working as the Community Development Officer (CDO) at Chesower Sub County in Bukwo District, was found dead on Tuesday in Visitor’s Inn Guest House on Nkokonjeru road in Northern Division, Mbale town. The deceased went missing from her home last week. She was a mother of two and resident of Kapchorwa town in Kapchorwa District.
Preliminary investigations according to the Elgon Regional Police Spokesperson, Mr Robert Tukei indicate that the deceased had earlier sent text messages to her family members including her husband, threatening to kill herself.
“Before she committed suicide, she had reportedly sent a message to her husband identified as Mr Felix Kwemboi asking him to pick her body from the said Guest House,” he said.
Mr Tukei said the deceased booked a room at the Guest House on Sunday evening when she left her home in Kapchorwa town.
“The investigations have been initiated and we have summoned the management of the Guest House and the husband to record statements," he said.
“After the autopsy is conducted, the body will be handed over to the family members for burial as the investigations continue,” Mr Tukei added.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the deceased committed suicide by poisoning due to marital problems.
“She has been fighting depression ever since her husband abandoned her and married another woman,” a friend to the deceased who preferred anonymity, said.
However, Mr Kwemboi, the deceased’s husband, said: “She abandoned the children at home and told them that she was going very far and that she may take long to come back.”
“It was on Sunday that she started sending me threatening messages that she was going to commit suicide in one of the hotels in Mbale. I tried pleading with her not to do such a thing, but in vain,” he said.
A report by Ministry of Health (MOH); Uganda National Institute Public Helath (UNIPH) Quarterly Epidemiological Bulletin, indicates that Uganda has a high suicide rate of 18.67 percent with men at a higher risk than woman.
