This archive report was first published on 20 September 2019.
On Saturday morning, a family from Najofu village in Kabuchai constituency, Bungoma was left mourning the death of two children from suspected food poisoning.
The incident occurred after the children, aged three and six, ate a meal of beans and sweet potatoes, locally known as kumukhenya, prepared by their grandmother.
The family had had the meal for breakfast, but the grandmother did not eat it herself.
According to Evans Juma, the father of the children, they began to vomit and experience diarrhoea an hour after eating the meal, complaining of stomach pains.
"She offered some to us and we ate it. Afterwards, my body began to feel very weak and I began to vomit," Juma said, recalling the events.
He added that he also noticed that the children were vomiting and rushing to the toilet several times, with one of the children fainting and being rushed to Bukembe Dispensary.
Medics from Bungoma Referral Hospital took samples of the food to the Government Chemist for testing and toxicological analysis.
Bungoma county commissioner Stephen Kihara said that police have begun investigating the incident, asking residents to be patient as they try to unravel the cause of the deaths.
The bodies of the two children were taken to Bungoma Referral Hospital mortuary.
