Kenyans sue Coca-cola for selling them contaminated drinks

Kenyans sue Coca-cola for selling them contaminated soda

Mumbi Mutuko

June 13, 2019 9:01 AM

Court battle is on

Kenyans sue Coca-cola for selling them contaminated soda

Coca Cola of selling them contaminated drinks, in what promises to be one of the biggest consumer cases in Kenya.

The High Court in Busia started pretrial of the case, in which the 58 Funyula residents say they suffered ill-health after consuming Coca Cola drinks.

Three petitioners have sued the Atlanta-based company, its Africa subsidiaries (Coca Cola Central, East and West) and local agent Equator Bottlers Limited on behalf of 55 others.

According to the petitioners, they bought soda separately and more than 30 people who took the drinks were from Funyula Constituency, while the others came from other parts of Busia County.

Kenyans sue Coca-cola for selling them contaminated soda Pulse Live Kenya

Treated for food poisoning

They say some 60 patients were confirmed sick by then Busia County Referral Medical Superintendent Sande Charo as a result of taking the drinks.

The petitioners presented medical results in court showing that they suffered acute abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, with general body weakness.

Most of them were treated for food poisoning and given antibiotics.

Samples of the beverages collected from Funyula and tested by the Kenya Bureau of Standards revealed that they did not meet the required food standards.

Failed out-of-court settlement

According to reports, two have since died, although their deaths were not related to the drinks.

The residents and the company had been negotiating an out-of-court settlement but failed to agree on the Sh45,000 compensation Coca Cola offered each.

In December 2018, Coca Cola, through Anjarwalla and Khanna Advocates, requested the plaintiffs’ lawyers to consider the compensation package as a final settlement of the matter.

Mumbi Mutuko