Two children aged between eight and three years lost their lives on Monday morning after consuming food suspected to have poison at Murtena village in Pokot south constituency.
Four other people, two children and two middle aged men are recuperating at Chepareria Health Center also after consuming the food and taking water.
Speaking at the health centre, the mother of the deceased children Susan Lorilema who is also nursing her other two children at the facility said the children consumed the food on Sunday.
“We had visitors in our church on Saturday where food was prepared. My neighbor packed some of the food in a polythene bag and took it to her house. On Sunday my children went to play in the homestead where they ate the food,” she said.
Lorilema said after two hours her children began complaining of stomach upsets.
“It was late and I decided to wait until morning before I rush them to hospital. Two were pronounced dead on arrival at Chepkobe dispensary,” she said.
The mother of seven has asked the government to supply the region with relief food since they are forced to go days without food.
Speaking Wednesday at the burial ceremony of the children Nominated Member of county assembly Teresa Lokichu attributed the deaths to lack of food.
Lokichu said the region experienced total crop failure during last planting season and many residents are going days without food.
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“The neighbor could not have carried leftover food from the church if this region had enough food. The children were forced to consume rotten food since they were hungry,” she said.
She asked well wishers, national and county governments to help those facing starvation in the area to prevent residents from losing lives.
Shalpogh location chief James Longiro said the two middle aged men never eat the food but they drunk direct contaminated water from river Yion.
Longiro said the region is dry and residents cannot access clean water for home consumption.
“Most of water sources in this location are dry. Residents are forced to dig holes in river beds and wait for some time before water percolates,” he said.
The chief asked the government to drill for them a bore hole in the area to help avert diseases related to water borne diseases.
He also said that lives of the children could have been saved if had a hospital in the region.
However, west Pokot county assembly deputy speaker Johnston Losirian asked National Drought Management Authority to release a report on the most affected regions in the county to enable various stakeholders to cheap in and assist.
Losirian said the authority had not released the report to alert leaders and the government on possible measures to be taken to help mitigate effects of drought in the county.
“The report should be out to help guide us on how we should distribute little food we get. Most parts of this county experienced total crop failure and we don’t want to lose any live,” he said.
