78 Years Old Man Commits Suicide After Wife Denies Him Food

Benjamin Ngah

          The sight was a pathetic and distressing to those who had the audacity to see the lifeless body of one Pa Mbamu Elias 78 eight years old from from Ako in Donga Mantung Division dangling from a tree branch.  He had taken away his own life simply because the wife had refused to give him “food”

          The story goes that Pa Mbamu returned home as usual, feeling very tired and hungry. He waited patiently with the hope that he would be served food as fast as possible. To his utter dismay, the waiting was long and unending. He decided to ask for food himself in order to avoid starvation. His wife, who had cooked nothing and also lack kind words to answer the husband, retorted provocatively and with no grain of respect, “there is no food. We have also not eaten in this house.”

          As it is a truism that a hungry man is an angry man, Pa Mbamu did not take the wife’s arrogance lightly. It weight on him and the verbal confrontation that ensued was fierce. The wife, true to a woman overshadowed Pa Mbamu and chattered at the top of her voice. He was helpless   and had no other option but to do the ultimate by committing suicide.

          Although many consider his action to be that of a coward, there seems to be more to it than the mere denial of food according to some family sources. The wife’s denial to offer the husband       the literal food that we all know was just a translation of her denial to offer the husband the real “food” that we all know.

.         Friends with whom he drank palm wine that day could not believe the piece of information but were taken aback when they saw his lifeless body hanging from a tree branch.

          Pa Mbamu’s family is reported in agony as suicide is considered a sacrilege in Mbembe land. As of now finger pointing has already begun and traditional rites are being performed to appease the gods.