Man demands Sh147m damages from church
Magdalena Mkama at her home. It was on September 19, 2012, at school, when she drank caustic soda, thinking it was water. PHOTO | Beldina Nyakeke
What you need to know:
- Mr Edward Mkama, who has for three years endured painful years to save the life of her daughter, is accusing a church of negligence
Musoma. The father of an eight-year-old girl, Magdalena, who mistook caustic soda for water and drank it at her school in 2012 is suing the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania (FPCT) for Sh147 million damages.
Mr Edward Mkama, who has for three years endured painful years to save the life of her daughter, is accusing the church of negligence.
It was on September 19, 2012 when Magdalena, a child in kindergaten, entered a classroom to quench her thirst and mistakenly took caustic soda which was stored in containers similar to those they used to store drinking water at the school.
Reports indicate that the chemical that Magdalena drank, and which was to be used for soap-making training conducted at the school, was kept in the same store room as drinking water for children. The chemical blocked the girl’s esophagus, the tube which takes food from the mouth to the stomach, and severely damaged the intestine.
She cannot take food in a normal way and the blocked ingestion system has forced doctors to insert pipes to feed the girl. Mr Mkama has taken his daughter to several hospitals in and outside the country for treatment with little signs of full recovery. She was initially treated at Musoma Hospital where doctors referred her to Bugando Medical Centre and later to Muhimbili National Hospital. When The Citizen first broke the news of the girl’s suffering, the government intervened and paid for the cost of sending the child to Apollo Hospital in India where she underwent several operations. In the suit heard by magistrate Baraka Maganga of Musoma District Court, Mr Mkama is demanding Sh67 million as compensation for checkups, medication and transport.
He also wants the church to pay him Sh80 million in general damage and loss caused by the church’s negligence and failure to take care of her daughter at school. Representatives of the FPCT have not shown up in court for defence despite being notified. The court heard the case which was filed two months ago one sided. Mr Mkama’s advocate Ostack Mligo argued that the defendant breached the duty of care for his client’s child, causing the girl to drink the chemical which “was negligently stored into a room where the drinking water for the pupils was kept”.
