An unidentified man was a cause of rare spectacle in Thika on Monday after he was spotted by many kneeling for over 12 hours near Starehe Estate.
A section of residents who spoke to this writer via phone and who saw the man in the morning as they headed to work say they were dumbstruck to find the man in the evening still in the same posture as they left him in the morning.
"I was shocked beyond words because I do not think the man had moved an inch from where I had left him in the morning. That man from my little observation isn't just okay," Janet Waithera, a Starehe Estate resident says.
Joseph Wambua, another resident says that when saw the man in the morning, he thought that he was just 'praying' or 'meditating' but has since abandoned that thought after spotting him at the same place and posture in the evening.
"I strongly feel that the man has a mental issue and it's my hope he gets assistance because not many of us who saw him in the morning can dare go near him because we do not know what he could be up to. Many people were even afraid of taking his photos," he says.
Similar sentiments were shared by many social media users from the area after a grainy photo of the man was posted on a populous Facebook page by a renowned Thika-based blogger.
While some, commenting on the photo, blamed the bizarre spectacle on witchcraft, drugs among other things, there are those who observed that the man could seriously be suffering from a severe mental illness that needs immediate medical attention.