A three-old
boy in Bukangama village, Kyanzuki parish in Kilembe sub-county in Kasese
district died last night after eating poisonous cassava.
Reports from
the area indicate that two other children survived death after being treated
with local herbs that made them vomit the food they ate.
Their father
Julius Kabuthi Muhindo was also affected after eating the food the children had
cooked when their mother Rosa Masika was away.
The immediate
neighbor Siriro Muhindo says that the children uprooted the cassava species
commonly known as Kalinga that is not supposed to be eaten in food form
commonly known as Katogo.
Kalinga is a
cassava species that is only edible as mingled tapioca after being dried up and
grinded into cassava flour.
Muhindo said
that the boy passed away at about 4.00 am after the trio and their father
developed severe stomachache that led to diarrhea and vomiting.
Muhindo said
that Geoffrey Thembo who is being buried today was the second last born of Mr.
Kabuthi and wife Masika.
Muhindo
reveals that the oldest of the children an eight-year-old girl was in charge of
cooking the fateful meal.
The father
who is a welder working in Kasese town describes this as an accident because nobody
knew that the children could have cooked the poisonous cassava.
The same
cassava tubers kill livestock if any animal eat them and residents say if
fermented in the river, the aquatic lives also die.
Most of the
areas of Kasese have the Kalinga species as the main cassava plant after the
other species were eliminated by cassava mosaic a disease that hit the district
a decade ago.
The farmers
are appealing to the government and other plays in the fight against hunger to
find other cassava species that cannot be dangerous to mankind. END
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