<<Print>>

A pupil (name withheld) has died as a result of an alleged food poisoning at Sowadin Memorial Junior High School (JHS) near Ashaley Botwe School Junction in the Greater Accra region, Today has learnt.

Several other pupils, according to plausible sources close to the school, have also been hospitalised in various hospitals in Accra after eating waakye and stew by a private caterer on the school compound.

The incident which occurred on Monday, June 8, 2015 sources close to the school said, the pupils immediately complained of abdominal pains, headache and difficulty in breathing after eating the waakye by a woman seller whose name was not immediately known at the time of filing this report.

The number of affected pupils could not be ascertained but inside sources disclosed to Today that they were eight in number.

The sources told this paper that three of the affected pupils were sent to the Madina Polyclinic while others were rushed to the Legon Hospital all suburbs of Accra.

What made the situation more worrying, the sources said, was the fact that the authorities of the said school headed by one Mumuni Ibrahim and the caterer in question tried to cover up the incident.

The sources alleged that the two succeeded in influencing parents of the affected pupils including the one who could not survive not to tell anybody about the incident.

The sources further alleged that the authorities of the school and the waakye seller managed also to influence the family of the deceased pupil to bury the dead body on Saturday, June 27, 2015 without informing the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ministry of Education and Ga East District Health Directorate.

That worrying situation, Today was reliably informed, created intense tension between the authorities and the pupils, while the disgruntled paents of the pupils called on President John Dramani Mahama to, as a matter of urgency, set up a committee to investigate the matter to unravel the cause of the problem.

That, the parents of the pupils said, would go a long way to ensure proper enforcement of healthy standards and regulations for effective and efficient service by all food sellers in schools.

Speaking in an interview with Today on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 some of the affected pupils confirmed that they were rushed to the Madina Polyclinic and Legon Hospital for medical treatment.
The pupils who refused to give their names further told Today that they started having abdominal pains and difficulty in breathing after they ate the waakye at lunch time on that fateful day.

“Some of us were rushed to various hospitals in taxis but an ambulance was called in when the number of other affected pupils increased. And we are sad to hear that our colleague died as a result of this sad incident,” the pupils lamented.

Some non-affected pupils who agreed to speak to Today on condition of anonymity also confirmed the incident and conceded that it was on a mass scale but thanked God that there were no more fatalities.

The pupils who wondered what might have gone wrong on that day said; the food vendor for the past ten (10) years had been selling food particularly, waakye to them.

Meanwhile, Today’s investigations at the various hospitals where some of the victims were admitted showed that some parents were finding it difficult to foot the medical bills of their wards as the school authorities had failed to pay.

Today’s finding further uncovered that the school authorities also failed to visit the pupils who were on admission.
Earlier, when Today visited the school, the authorities including the pupils failed to comment on the incident, an indication confirming the earlier allegation that they had been warned to keep quite over the issue.

On our follow-up visit to the school on Friday, July 3, 2015, none of the teachers who were contacted was willing to talk.

This paper was only told that the headmaster had travelled.