A 40-year-old in man in Soweto village in Jinja city has died
after reportedly going two weeks without food. John Ochieng was confirmed dead on
Wednesday morning.
His neighbors claim that Ochieng
lost his job in April 2020 and resorted to begging food for survival but they couldn’t
do much since they are also struggling to feed their families.
It is alleged that Ochieng got frustrated with life and decided to
lock himself inside his rented room on June 24th, 2020.
Residents got
to know about his death when they noticed houseflies around his door and
decided to break-in.
Ivan Kayibanda, a resident of the area says the deceased would
spend days without food since he lacked sustainable income to feed himself.
Kayibanda
explains that Soweto slum hosts hundreds of youth who lost their jobs due to
the Covid19 lockdown, which has reduced them to beggars.
//Cue in: “Embera eliwano…
Cue out…njala emuluma,”.
Musa Kasigazi, another resident says the deceased had resorted to working on
private farms where he would earn Shillings 1000 daily.
He however, says he was
discontinued when the proprietor of the farms ran out of money to pay him.
//Cue in: “omusajja…
Cue out…tolina,”.
David Kitamirike, the Soweto block leader says his area has over 500 youthful
couples who were laid off from various factories citing financial challenges
caused by the lockdown.
He warns of more deaths should good Samaritans fail to intervene
and provide them relief food.
//Cue in: “okutwaliza awamu…
Cue out…mubulamu bwe’nsi,”
Paul Kasirimi, the deceased’s cousin says Ochieng has been struggling to feed
himself because of financial difficulties, saying they both lost their jobs in
the lockdown.
Mohammed Ssebuliba, the Officer in Charge Walukuba Police Station,
says a case of sudden death was reported at the station.
He says detectives inspected the
scene of crime but family members blocked them from conducting postmortem for
personal reasons.
