Authority in Kapoeta municipal council says a man has allegedly died after consuming excessive local alcohol known as siko.
Elia Lokuuda Lonyia is the town mayor for Kapoeta South municipal council. He said the deceased was found dead on Wednesday morning along the street of a popular place that sells local breweries. He said the deceased is identified as Lokeno Logie Amathia aged 35 and is from Chumakori Payam of Kapoeta North County.
He said his dead is suspected to have consumed a lot of alcohol after doctors conducted the postmortem.
‘’his death is likely to have been caused by the influence of alcohol,” said the Mayor. He added that the doctor found some ethanol substance in his body.
Lokuuda urges the public to drink responsibly and avoid similar deaths during new year’s eve.
Ms. Elda Keji, an eyewitness, told Singaita FM how the incident happened near her shop saying the deceased was drunk and was sleeping next to her shop and where he was found dead the following day.
“This person came at around 5: pm and fell in front of my tea place, he was drunk, but we don’t know either he was sick or been beaten no one fights him. I thought that might be the happiness of Christmas. When we came for work, we found that the person was dead” Keji narrated.
LT. Col. Paul Lowi Iko is the Director of Operations at Kapoeta police; he said they are investigating the incident to establish the cause of death.
“In an actual sense, we don’t know what killed this person; we have taken his body to the mortuary for the investigation,’’ said Lowi
He added that they are still investigating the death of the deceased and to located the relatives. Paul asks the people to cooperate with the forces and report any incidences.
Early this year, the state authorities in the Eastern Equatoria banned the production and importation of illicit drinks.
This included Siko, guu imported from neighboring Uganda, and other liquors. The aim was to reduce excessive alcohol consumption by young people, which they said has led to poor food production and other actives.
The order also said the local brew is causing death to the local population when excessively consumed, or the abusers kill themselves when a misunderstanding arises.
The banned was supported by local youth association which issued a press release welcoming the decision as they advocate for the ban of importation of sugar and yeast used to produce Siko.