RUNDU - Kavango East governor, Bonifatius Wakudumo has expressed dismay and lack of trust in the authorities who he said have failed to prove suspected food poisoning incidents in the region, including the Kayova village incident where 16 people from one homestead died in May last year.

Wakudumo registered his distrust in the authorities stating they have failed to deliver any results from the Kayova incident.

“Up to now we have not yet received any report from the police nor the health ministry on the incident of Kayova village where 16 people died last year of suspected food poisoning, and now we have this, it now becomes hard to still tell people that the event is being investigated. If the issue was the drought relief food, the whole village got it and they are fine, the problem is just in one homestead, yet it is hard to figure it out,’’ Wakudumo charged.

He further stated that it would not make sense to keep telling the public that it is poison while they fail to provide proof. 

The governor said there are soo many answered questions.

“Up to now we don’t know what to say, we are all suspecting that it might be poison but what poison? How did it get in the food?’’ he asked. 

He said if authorities provided some results in the Kayova case, then the public would have faith in them.

“If we tell people now that it is poison, they would want proof and they will say if at Kayova there has not been any outcome, then it will be the same outcome here, and if people see that the authorities be it the police or the health ministry is unable to prove anything, then people can do as they please as there won’t be any arrest or proof of some sort,’’ he stressed.

On Monday evening, a seven-year-old girl died after eating food suspected to be poisonous and on Tuesday, another died upon arrival at the Rundu Intermediate Hospital.

The deceased were siblings and all victims who are all minors are from the same family.

According to information shared with this paper on Monday, their grandmother prepared food in the morning using the drought relief maize meal and soup for the two grandchildren who went for the long weekend to go back to school, after eating they started vomiting, that was in the morning but the two managed to leave the village to get to school.

During lunch, Christof Shinyemba (13) who remained in the house with his four siblings, prepared lunch with the same drought relief maize meal and fresh Mutete as relish with soup and ate with his younger siblings, their cousin and the left over was also later consumed in the afternoon before 17h00. 

That is when they started reacting to the food.

It is alleged that one of the younger siblings, aged seven, became critical and she died at home as they struggled to get transport to the hospital.

The family lives far from roads in a remote hinterland village of Livayi in Ndiyona constituency where cars hardly ever visit.

Their father was not around, and although the mother was around, she was not feeling well. 

“Although a 13-year-old can cook, parents must watch what the child is preparing to avoid situations like the one at hand. They need to see what the child is putting together as food affects their lives. Parents must be responsible and observe where the food is coming from and what is in the relish and all that, children are now becoming vulnerable and we end up losing our precious children,’’ the governor said.

With the assistance of the police after being alerted at midnight on Tuesday, they managed to get the children to Nyangana District Hospital where they were later transferred to Rundu State Hospital where the youngest sibling died upon arrival on Tuesday.

Shinyemba (who cooked), his two young siblings, and their cousin are currently in critical condition at Rundu State Hospital, fighting for their lives.

The other two that left home after eating on Monday morning were also located and taken to Nyangana hospital where they are being observed despite appearing to be fine.

-jmuyamba@nepc.com.na

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