In Bujumbura City Council and even all over the country, the salubrious situation in different areas leaves to desire. Everyone and especially the government should be concerned by this big issue.-By Yves Didier Irakoze
Albert Mbonerane: “Burundi is a country blessed by the genius nature and how wonderfully green it is.”©Iwacu
“I’m very sensitive when I see someone throwing some waste dirty in an open area in a street or somewhere else rather than in an appropriate place,” states Dally Irakiza. For Edna Kanziza, Burundi has become a land of waste even for those who are foreign travellers. “I feel hurt when I’m travelling from Rwanda to Burundi and see some passengers throwing through their bus windows used-up bottles of juice or anything else and saying that they are landing on Burundi soil,” points out Kanziza. According to Dally Irakiza, protecting the environment doesn’t only mean to plant trees or protect areas, it also implies avoiding spreading dirty things everywhere. People should bear in mind that the environment protection should start with them, so, a great awareness of everybody is needed if not required.
For Alain Rukundo, people should have in mind that cleanliness has to occupy the first place to have a healthy and safe country. In other words, they have to be rigorous and fight the behavior of those who want to damage the country’s reputation. “People have to be aware that cleanliness doesn’t only mean cleaning near the areas they live in, but everywhere,” mentions Rukundo. He goes on saying that people also need to be sensitized to the bad consequences and impacts when people leave in unsafe areas. They also need to be indicated where to throw dirty things or waste. So, the government should make a follow up and take rigorous and appropriate measures to those who damage public places.
“However, what is pitiful is that there are no appropriate places where people have to drop waste and where the places are available they are hardly emptied up,” complains Irakiza.
The government must control the situation
According to Mbonerane, Burundi is a country blessed by the genius nature and how wonderfully green it is. But what is missing is the government’s will to preserve and protect it more carefully. He states that the Leader of the Country understands that it is very important to protect the environment in doing community work but people prefer to go where he is, leaving their homes and areas in insanitary conditions. “I’d like to see the local administration authorities at the base urging the citizens of each area to clean their gutters or the main culverts often plugged by garbage,” indicates Mbonerane.
He mentions that Burundians obey the authorities and if the government takes the issue in hands with harsh measures to protect the environment with clear laws, things can change. “What lacks is a question of leadership. Then, the government must set up the laws and follow up if they are respected,” states Mbonerane.
Albert Mbonerane cites the Former French President Jacques Chirac 2002, “Our house burns and we continue to look somewhere else” and Pope Benedict XVI “The earth talks, listen to it if we want to survive” and lastly, Albert Einstein “If the world has become very dangerous to live on, it is not because people are doing evil things, but it is because people remain indifferent and not active.”
He calls everybody to be concerned but the first responsibility belongs to the government.
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