Kamenge residents complain about waste storage near their houses

Some Kamenge inhabitants of the 5th and 14th avenues complain that the associations in charge of hygiene and sanitation in Ntahangwa commune have chosen to store wastes from different homes of the quarter, in front of their houses.

The waste storage in Kamenge 14th avenue

“We, residents of this place, have a serious problem. It’s very smelly especially when it rains. A few days ago, we asked them to remove the wastes from the area but they did not”, says a shopkeeper living in front of the Waste storage in Kamenge 14th avenue on condition of anonymity.

Nathan Balthazar Nsabimana, Advisor in Ntahangwa commune and chairman of the association in charge of hygiene and sanitation in the whole commune, says the aim of their association is to help people clean their quarter. “We collect the wastes from different houses, store them in those places for a short period and then take them far away”, he says.

Jacqueline Niyonkuru, who lives in Kamenge on the 5th avenue (another waste storage), says they fear they can fall sick due to those wastes unless the association displaces them as soon as possible.

Niyonkuru says the association in charge of hygiene would have stopped to remove the wastes because the population lacks money to pay. “We have to pay Bif 1,500 per month and we are nowadays short of money. So, it may be the reason for the association to give up taking the wastes away.

Nathan Balthazar Nsabimana says the association stopped their activities due to the non-payment by Kamenge inhabitants. “We have got no money to pay our workers since October. How can they continue working without being paid? », he says.

Siniyunguruza Pascasie, an old women living in Kamenge 5th avenue closest to the waste storage, calls on the association to remove them as soon as possible. “The wastes have been there for one month”, she says.

As to whether the association could search for another place far from houses to store those wastes, Nsabimana says the problem is not the place of storage but the duration which is due to the non-payment.

Nsabimana also says they have held a meeting with the chief of Kamenge area this Monday 9 January 2017, during which they asked the chief to be involved in the payment of the money so that the workers of the association continue their activities.