Household wastes are deposited in different areas of Ngozi town. The population fears for its health and requests the establishment of a landfill site, away from the areas where they live.
Women sell grilled corns and fried sweet potato near the filth.
A few meters from the private University of Ngozi in the neighborhood of Rubuye in the city of Ngozi, there are piles of wastes of all kinds: leftovers, coal, bags, bananas, corns,.. Passers-by hold their nose because of nauseating smell. Children with bags in their hands, eat what they find here and there.
Nearby, women, some with children on the backs, sell grilled corns. They argue over customers and passers-by: “See these, they are big and delicious.” A lot is made of five corns for BIF 1000.
At two meters, there is a restaurant named “WhatsApp”. Its customers are the lower class people.
At the sight of a camera, women and children who are not worried by the presence of filth ask to be photographed by journalists. Only a corn seller says: “Take photos! Maybe you’ll ask for a cleaner place for us.”
An inhabitant of Ngozi met in the neighborhood complains: ” Everywhere one passes, on the streets, behind the houses in empty plots, there are household wastes. The city is being expanded but there are no sites reserved for garbage. He says that in his household, they put the garbage in a bag and their cook throws them elsewhere. ” It’s up to him to know where to put them. But we know that he throws them where others drop them. ”
Another inhabitant says: “We hide behind the darkness to get rid of wastes”. They all give the same reason: lack of dump where they should carry the wastes from their households.
“Promise not honored”
“It’s been almost two years that the authorities promised to give us special dumps. Until now, we are still waiting. Yet, these special dumps are stored in the premises of the company in charge of supplying water and electricity-Regideso in Ngozi “, say the inhabitants of Ngozi who fear for the health of theirs.” We risk catching dirt-caused diseases and contagious ones “.
Keep the Town Clean (KTC), an association created in 2014 to collect household wastes, does not work accordingly due to the lack of human and financial means. “Some of our employees stole our equipment. And the administration does not support us sufficiently in sensitizing the population, “says Antoine Niragira executive secretary of KTC.
“Some citizens have never paid the amount required since the beginning of our activities. The administration should help us convince them, or even force them to contribute to the cleanliness of their neighborhood”. He reiterates his request for support to Ngozi commune.
The communal administration reassures
Athanase Ntunguka : ” The sites where containers will be installed are already available.”
Athanase Ntunguka, technical advisor in charge of development in Ngozi commune, says the preparatory works to make the city of Ngozi cleaner are almost over.
“We are waiting for some equipment to implement the program. The terms of reference have been prepared for managing facilities and infrastructure through public-private partnership for a better management of them “. He adds that sites where the containers will be installed are already available. The population will be organized via the associations to collect household wastes and deposit them in these containers. Tractors that will carry the wastes to the landfill site on Gatonde sub-hill in Rusuguti area are available.
“The procedures are underway. Soon we will make available these containers and the population will be able to get rid of their wastes”, concludes the technical adviser in charge of development in Ngozi commune.
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