Sam Kuha says he has not eaten in 12 days. Photo / Peter De Graaf
Twelve days into a hunger strike, Kaikohe invalid beneficiary Sam Kuha remains determined not to eat again until Work and Income rethinks its food grants policy.
The 59-year-old, who lost a leg and the use of one arm in an accident 20 years ago, said he had not eaten since
September 14 when he was refused a $40 special needs grant to buy food. And he has got support from Far North GP Lance O'Sullivan.
Work and Income in Kaikohe said he had already received three grants so needed to see a budgeter before he could get a fourth. But Mr Kuha said he had prepared a budget last time he reached the three-grant limit, and doing another was senseless because neither his income nor expenses had changed. In any case, there was a two-week wait to see a budgeter, he said.
"If they were going to make me go hungry, I decided to take that out of their hands. It's my choice."
He then realised there was no point being on hunger strike if no one knew about it, so last Tuesday he made the 4km journey by electric wheelchair to Kaikohe and used a sledgehammer to smash two windows in the Community Link office.
