Editor,

I think the greater problem is not lack of training for those ladies, or employer (City of Kigali) not providing them with protective gears to wear while at work. I believe our labour laws are still evolving and have not caught up with what is happening elsewhere.

I may be wrong but what is clear is that if such laws really exist, then the enforcers are still sleeping on the job.

In countries where labour laws developed much earlier than in Rwanda, there are laws that protect blue-collar employees from workplace related injuries. Such laws make it mandatory for all employers to provide protective gears to certain employees while at work. They also stipulate how frequent such employees would take a break if working in certain places such us factories or other manual work.

I would be interested to know if those ladies are entitled to any pause at all.

I am confident though that things will change, thanks to Mwene Kalinda’s awakening reaction. I suspect the laws and the enforcers are not sleeping anymore and something will soon be done.

Seth

Reaction to the letter, "Let us keep Kigali street cleaners out of harm’s way” (The New Times, May 26)