A family from Amudat district in the North Eastern Uganda has dragged government to court over the alleged poisonous food that was supplied to them by the World Food Program and Amudat District Local government.
In March this year, there were incidents in Karamoja region where a number of people died and more than 100 others were rushed to nearby health centres after eating food distributed by World Food Program and showed symptoms of madness, fever, dizziness and stomachaches.
In the suit, Isaac Kolimuk and Grace Chepnyorio together with a non-profit organisation that fights for food and nutritional rights-Centre for Food and Adequate Living rights have decided to seek compensation for their violated rights to adequate, safe and nutritious food.
The couple which resides at Kadawa village in Amudat district says after eating the cereal with their 5 children on March ,29 ,2019 , they started shouting on top of their voices and walking while knocking walls.
That they were later helped by neighbours to check in a Health centre from where the entire family was diagnosed with symptoms of food poisoning as a result of the contaminated cereal.
The two through their lawyers of Dalumba advocates and Kwesigabo Walubiri are now seeking a declaration that the absence of national food reserves by government is a violation of communities' right to access adequate and safe nutritious foods.
The High Court in Soroti has fixed the application to be heard on 29, July, 2019.
Government recently said investigating teams from the Ministry of Health and WFP food technologists remain on the ground carrying out surveillance and epidemiological mapping to establish the associated factors and possible causes of the recent illness.
Government also said samples of Super Cereal stocks and water were taken from the affected areas including blood, vomitus and urine from patients were being analysed at the Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratory and the Central Public Health Laboratory.
Other samples were flown to South Africa for further analysis.
