Busia soft drink victims appeal to government over compensation.

Thirty four soft drink victims have appealed to the government to take stern legal action against Coca-Cola Company and Equator Bottlers Limited in Kisumu for allegedly producing and selling contaminated soft drinks to Funyula residents in Samia Sub-County, Busia County. The victims led by Josephat Okello told The Weekly Visiononline in Funyula last week that scores of residents had bought the soft drinks they claim contained injurious chemicals like coli forms that causes diarrhea, vomiting and kidney failure between October 2011 and February 2012. “This is a cross-cutting issue that calls for urgent intervention aimed at safeguarding the people from consuming contaminated drinks,” they said. The victims wrote a memo dated 29th July 2013 to the officer –in-charge of Kenya Bureau of Standards, Busia branch requesting for the chemical analysis on the samples of contaminated beverages which included Sprite, Fanta Black Currant, Krest Ginger Ale and Coca-Cola. “We the victims having taken the soda started complaining of acute stomachache, diarrhea, headache, vomiting and abdominal pain. We went to the hospital where it was confirmed we had actually taken contaminated soft drinks,” stated the memo. However, the test results of the analysis carried out on the said soft drinks showed that the same wear not contaminated and that it had no impurities as claimed. Dissatisfied by the test result from the Busia Kenya Bureau of Standards, the complainants submitted the samples to office of the Chief Public Health Officer at the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation for further analysis to establish the truth of the matter. The samples were subsequently submitted to the Government Chemist for analysis and laboratory analysis showed that the soft drinks actually contained some extraneous foreign matter. “According to the laboratory analysis results of the samples you submitted, the soda does not conform to the requirements as provided for by the Food, Drugs and Chemical Substance Chapter 254,” stated the memo dated 30th July 2012 signed by the Chief Public Health Officer Kepha Ombacho to the complainants. Although the lab tests carried out by reliable institutions had showed that the samples of the said soft drinks actually had foreign bodies, Equator Bottlers Limited has threatened to take legal action against the complainants. In a memo dated 29th August 2012 addressed to one of the complainants, Justus Wafula, the company through its General Manager Ashish Parekh, has claimed the complainant is using intimidating, harassing and threatening language in a bid to solicit compensation for damages, pain and suffering of a nature unspecified or unknown to the company. The memo states in part; In the event such conduct continues, we will construe this as an attempt at extortion and blackmail and will have no option but to consider legal action against yourselves personally,” The company’s threat promoted the victims to register their grievances with the Commission on Administrative Justice [office of the Ombudsman]. The commission subsequently did a memo dated 24TH October 2013 addressed to the Chief Public Health Officer requesting the office to update the commission on the action taken by the Ministry against the manufacturer of the contaminated product partaken by the residents of Funyula constituency in Samia Sub-County, but no action has been taken to date ‘We are therefore appealing to the government to intervene as a matter of urgency so that we can get compensation from Equator Bottlers to enable us get specialized medical attention because we are yet to heal from the chemical effect,” said the victims. At the time of posting this article nothing substantive has taken place by any government agency.