Gasabo District has cancelled up to 800 construction permits after it discovered that some of them were issued fraudulently.

Gasabo mayor Stephen Rwamulangwa said the district cancelled the permits after detecting that some were issued erroneously while others did not fit into the City of Kigali master plan.

The affected are those who obtained permits between 2012 and 2014. They will now have to apply afresh in the process of which district authorities will verify valid permits.

But the question that continues to hang in the air: Where were city inspectors charged with ensuring that all developers follow construction guidelines as provided by the city master plan?

This is a serious blight on departments in charge of issuing permits in districts, but it is not the first time fingers have been pointed in that direction.

It has been alleged in the past that land departments had become hotbeds of graft and it therefore comes as a relief that the issue is at last being addressed. The next step now is for other districts to follow suit and clean up their backyards, because the malpractice could be widespread.

To send the message home, those who wilfully flouted the law should not be let off freely but be made to pay dearly as a deterrent.

But Gasabo and other districts should take a step further by carrying out sensitisation drives to educate residents about their master plans and the process of acquiring building permits so that they do not fall prey to corrupt district officials.