Kulambiro deaths: Is it alcohol poisoning or witchcraft?

By Frederick Womakuyu

Kulambiro parish lies in a picturesque setting surrounded by two hills, a 10-minute drive from Ntinda Trading Centre, on a dirty road that ends at the doorsteps of contrasting permanent bungalows and temporary tin and wood structures.

For decades, the people of Kulambiro have led a happy and healthy life, having nothing to worry about except to earn their meagre but stable living.

But that is no more. Recently, it took me 20 minutes of bargaining to convince a boda boda rider to take me from Ntinda to Kulambiro.

Why? In the last two weeks, nine people have died of a mysterious, but sudden illness that presents dramatic symptoms of loss of vision, headache, thirst, paralysis of the lower limbs, general body weakness, sweating and vomiting.

Many residents are convinced that it has to do with witchcraft or spirits referred to as majini that a certain man is said to have brought to get rich.

“But they have run out of control. This has made people fear for their lives,” says Fred Bamwine, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Nakawa Division.

What is this strange illness?
John Kasula, the LC1 chairman, Kulambiro central zone, says at the end of July 2009, a 63-year-old woman called Nalweyiso died of a mysterious illness.

“She had been alright the previous day and did her work at home, but that evening, she lost her vision, complained of chest pain, thirst and she died.”

Before the village could recover from the loss, her neighbour, Tibamwenda, 50, also died.

“He presented similar symptoms. He had attended the old woman’s burial, but had not touched the old woman. He died three days after we had buried the old woman,” Kasula recalls.

Just after the burial of Tibamwenda, another resident called Katumba also developed similar symptoms and died.

“One bizarre thing about this illness is that the person gets sick and dies the same day. The deaths happen so fast that we can’t even rush the patient to hospital,” says Gertrude Lukwago, the LC1 vice-chairperson.

However, in Katumba’s case, he was rushed to a nearby clinic at Kisaasi, but the doctor failed to diagnose the illness. He died while he was being taken to another hospital.

Dr. Mulero Musazi of Musazi Clinic, Kisaasi, who attended to the patient, says: “They brought him (Katumba) here with uncoordinated symptoms of loss of vision, chest pain, paralysis of the limbs and general body weakness. I failed to make a diagnosis so I referred them to Mulago Hospital. But before they could take him, the patient died. This is a strange illness that we are dealing with because a patient develops sudden symptoms and dies instantly.”

Before the village could come to terms with the death of Katumba, two other deaths followed.

“Two men, Wanderema and Kigongo, were living in the same house and shared a bed. One night, Wanderema developed symptoms of loss of vision, chest pain and thirst and died. After two days, Kigongo also developed similar symptoms and died.”

Village action
Realising that many more people were dying from the mysterious illness, Kasula organised a crisis meeting between the villagers and the local leaders.

“During the meeting, people suspected witchcraft for the deaths, yet some people thought it was a disease. But the witchcraft believers overpowered the rest and so we invited a witchdoctor to help us,” Kasula says.

However, the first witchdoctor failed and so they called for another.

“When the second witchdoctor was doing his things, one man who was not a believer destroyed what he had made. The witchdoctor then told him that he will also die.”

Two days after the witchdoctor’s ‘prophecy’, the man died from similar signs of loss of vision, chest pain, general body weakness and thirst, Lukwago says.

“Alarmed by more deaths, the villagers mobilised, blocked all roads entering Kulambiro and demanded action from the Government,” Kasula says.

That day, a six year-old boy died, followed by his three-year-old brother a week later. “The villagers marched in protest to the home of the LC1 chairman. Realising that they were out of control, we called the Police for help,” Lukwago recalls.

Action by the Government
Last week, Bamwine organised a crisis meeting with the villagers, opinion leaders and local council leaders.

“During the meeting, I found out that many villagers believe that witchcraft was the problem, only a few think that it could be a disease,” Bamwine says.

“In their resolution, the villagers called for a witchdoctor to help them get rid of whatever is killing the people, but I also brought a medical doctor from Mulago Hospital,” Bamwine says.

He explains that Mama Fina, a traditional healer, came and claimed that the area was infested with majiini brought from Kenya, but they had run out of control. She performed some rituals and claimed that the majiini had been uprooted.

Bamwine adds: “The medical doctors took specimen samples from the dead to the Government laboratory and we are waiting for results. Meanwhile, there are no more reported deaths, but we are on the look out.”

Dr. Sam Zaramba, the director of health services said: “Our team has already gone to the ground and we are investigating the cause. We have not got the report, but soon the results will be known,” Dr. Zaramba explains.

What do doctors suspect?
According to Dr. Musazi, the mysterious illness could be alcohol poisoning.

“The patients were presenting symptoms of loss of vision and thirst, associated with methane that damages the liver. They could have taken poisonous alcohol with the high content of ethane, leading to liver damage. But further investigations should be done.”

He also added that the patient he treated presented alcohol poisoning signs of mental confusion, slow or laboured breathing and irregular breathing.

Juliet Lunyoro, a resident who shared a house, but different rooms with the two men who died, says: “The deceased used to drink a lot. Maybe the alcohol is to blame.”

Lukwago echoes the same, saying one common thing about the dead people is that seven of the adults were in their 50s and used to drink a lot.”

She added that even before the claimed majiini were brought to the area, three people had already died.

“Although, coincidently, the deaths have stopped, we doubt Mama Fina’s diagnosis. Her sentiments have made people in this village believe that witchcraft was the cause of the deaths. Government should find out.”

Kasula said all the people who died had little or no formal education. When they got sick, they did not even seek medical help from hospitals. Instead they used herbs and sought help from witchdoctors.

He adds that alcohol consumption among the people in the area is high, “with some people sleeping in bars. Government must act to stop this madness,” Kasula says.

According to Bamwine, although the Government is still investigating the cause, “preliminary findings from the postmortem carried out on one of the dead in Mulago indicate alcohol poisoning, though they are not conclusive results.”

Bamwine adds that as a precaution, he has suspended alcohol consumption in the area and anyone found consuming alcohol will be arrested immediately.

“I have deployed the Police to keep the security of the area. They are also supposed to report any strange occurrences to me.”

In Uganda, whenever a strange disease breaks out, the first blame goes to witchcraft, perhaps because of ignorance or lack of health education.

Kulambiro’s health situation is not good. In some areas, five families share a pit latrine, there are joints selling all sorts of alcohol, whether approved by the Government or not.

Although most homes are connected to tap water, the majority of the poor draw water from open sources.