Yei County Commissioner said yesterday that water from boreholes in town was safe and dismissed rumours that some wells were poisoned after a man was caught mishandling a water point.
David Lokonga Moses told journalists that he got reports that unknown people were poisoning boreholes in some areas of Yei.Mr. Lokonga added that a boreholes expert, Towongo Samuel Soro, checked the wells said to be poisoned and found the water was safe.
He explained that Taban Yosuf who was arrested while fudging with a borehole, was an unemployed mechanic that was opening wells to get money.
Mr. Yosuf was repairing boreholes on his own initiative and asked 50 pounds for his work threatening to poison the wells if women failed to pay him.
Mr. Lokonga warned that at least two people should be responsible for the maintenance of boreholes and they should be known by the local chiefs to avoid incidents like the current one.
Mr. Lokonga urged all locked boreholes to be opened immediately for public use.
He added that women were faced with the burden for fetching water from distance sources due to the public scare over town boreholes.