It has been revealed that the two children who died in Lokitelaebu Town Council, Kotido District on Monday after eating poisonous cassava tubers were starving and displaced.
The children , one of them only identified as Apichi and Kapel Lokwamoe had spent days without eating food due to stinking poverty at their home.
In November, the children were displaced after fire gutted their house, also destroying food produce that was stored in the granaries.
Kiyonga Nakoloi, the mother of Apichi, says after losing the entire food to the fire, she was left helpless, forcing them to look for food in the bush. She says that she had gone to Lokitelaebu Trading Centre when her starving children uprooted the poisonous cassava tubers.
James Keno Chinese, the LC 3 Chairperson Kotido Sub County who doubles as the Sub County Disaster Management Committee chairperson said he was not aware of the fire incident but promised to lobby for assistance.
Two other children only identified as Dodoi and Longoli from the same village who also ate the poisonous tubers are currently receiving treatment at Lokitelaebu Health Centre III.
Due to unreliable rainfall coupled with crop diseases in Karamoja region last year, a number of families are facing starvation and according to the district food assessment security report of 2018 ,in Kotido district 155,176 out of 203,300 people are already affected by severe hunger.
