Police in the Kyuso sub-county in Kitui are investigating an incident in which at least four people from Nganda Village in Kimangau location died of suspected food poisoning.
On Monday, the Kyuso OCPD Edwin Otieno confirmed the deaths.
He said that the people who died were among villagers who on Sunday had gathered at the home of Muthui Kasovo in a get-together to help him dig a pit for his home latrine and were served plenty of food.
“When the villagers returned to their homes in the evening, they developed stomach complications and they were rushed to Kyuso Level IV hospital,” said the sub-county police boss.
Otieno said that three of the persons who were rushed to the hospital were confirmed dead on arrival while the fourth passed on while on treatment.
He said five others were admitted for treatment in critical condition.
Although sources from Nganda village had told the Star that the victims had taken the traditional Kaluvu beer that was laced with poison, Otieno said she does not have information about Kaluvu drinking.
“The information we have is that three people who were helping in digging the pit latrine on Sunday died. We do not have any information indicating that they drank Kaluvu,” he said.
He said already police officers had commenced an investigation into the deaths and would ultimately establish what exactly happened.
He however said that that since the deceased are believed to have eaten poisonous food from the home of their host leading to their death, the wife of the host who also died has been arrested.
“We have arrested the wife of the man who hosted the group because she is the one who served them with food. Unfortunately, the husband of the arrested woman is among those who died,” said Otieno.
He said that there was a high possibility to charge the arrested woman with murder should the postmortem report indicate that the people who died could have been poisoned.