Govt Closes Mukumu Girls After Death Of 2 Students
The two students died with the majority discharged from the Kakamega County General Teaching & Referral Hospital and St Elizabeth Mukumu Mission Hospital, with only 25 still admitted.
Marvin Chege 
Mukumu Girls High School in Kakamega County was on Monday, April 3 closed indefinitely following the deaths of two students in a case of suspected food and water poisoning.
Jared Obiero, the Western region’s Education director, who visited the school, reported that the Ministry of Health and medics from the county government were investigating the cause of a bacterial infection from contaminated food and water which reportedly saw 246 learners hospitalised in one week.
The initial number of students hospitalised with diarrhoea, vomiting and dizziness was 124 but the number increased, with some of them also complaining of fatigue and breathlessness.
The two students died with the majority discharged from the Kakamega County General Teaching & Referral Hospital and St Elizabeth Mukumu Mission Hospital, with only 25 still admitted.
Entrance to Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital. /VICTOR MATARA
Their samples were collected and sent to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) for analysis to arrive at the cause of the outbreak.
Mukumu Girls' board of management chairman, Dr Josphat Kaswira, on Saturday, April 1 confirmed the death of the first student, who was from Bungoma County. The second one died at home in Navakholo the following day after falling sick.
Parents flocked to the school to collect their children after learning of the death of the two students. In an April 2 notice to parents, school principal Fridah Ndolo said the two students who died were in Form One W and Form Two C.
“Let’s pray for our students and the Mukumu community. If we take a child home for treatment let us take her to the hospital and monitor her. We have lost two students. God, give us grace and wisdom to go through this trying moment. May the departed souls find eternal peace.”
Dr Kaswira added that out of 2,108 students in the institution, 400 were yet to report to school after the half-term break.
“There are 20 new cases of students being admitted to hospital, presenting the same symptoms. This is a serious matter that must be addressed," he noted.
The incident led to a section of politicians demanding urgent measures to be taken to curb the increase in cases.
"It is sad that more than 200 girls are affected. This calls for the attention of all leaders in the county. I propose that the principal is assisted by the Ministry of Education in closing the school because the lives of students are in danger," Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale stated during a tour of the school on Friday, March 31.
On Monday, Khalwale told the media that the school, which gets its water from the Lake Victoria North company, was supplementing the supply by pumping water from a nearby spring, whose water was said to be contaminated.
According to the former Ikolomani Member of Parliament, students from the school also fetch water in unsanitary containers from a borehole outside the school, exacerbating the situation.
At the same time, a committee investigating the incident discovered that the cereals consumed at the school are supplied by a syndicate within the administration. The cereals are also said to have been preserved using a poisonous preservative that was further putting the students at risk.
"Because of a desire to make sure their cereals are consumed, they use an unscrupulous chemical called Nova to preserve the cereal," Khalwale said.
The senator added that the symptoms exhibited by the students who are still in the hospital are consistent with the side effects of the preservative the school store has been using.
"This information was not given to doctors at the hospital, so doctors have been fumbling and investigating COVID, HIV, and so on and so forth instead of treating food poisoning," Khalwale added.
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