City politician Rachel Shebesh opened up about her battle with depression, revealing how it affected both her personal life and political career.
Speaking to Churchill on the ‘Journey Series’, Shebesh said she was depressed for a whole year while serving as the women representative.
“I disappeared for a year and people were asking where I had gone to. And even when I came back, most people thought I was coming to ask for votes,” she said, adding that she could not explain that she had been unwell for months.
“It affected my family, broke a lot of my relationships. It caused my political visibility to reduce and also took a toll on my health.”
When asked if it was the same time she was assaulted by former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, Shebesh said the incident was one of the triggers for her condition.
“When you have bipolar, you can get triggers from anything. I was triggered by so many things and at the time, I had not learnt how to deal with my triggers,” she said.
Shebesh told Churchill that the slapping incident also subjected her to cyberbullying and embarrassment.
“Cyberbullying is heavy. I was reading on social media, newspapers and everywhere, wondering when all this was coming to an end.
“If you don’t have a strong support system around you, you might collapse. If I did not have someone around me and they understand what I was going through, I would have collapsed,” she said.
Shebesh added: “It was a lot of pressure. It was the most difficult depression I have ever gone through,” she said, adding that she settled the matter with Kidero out of court.
“We are at peace. To me, it is just an incident that happened in my life and I have moved on with it.”
In a past interview, the Ministry of Public Service and Gender Cabinet Administrative Secretary (CAS) said Kidero paid her Sh30 million.
