Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) has called on the public to stop abusing toll-free emergency lines by making reckless and unnecessary calls that block genuine ones.

This follows several complaints from the Ministry of Health, Police and telecommunication companies concerning the abuse of emergency helplines by some members of the public.

Addressing a news conference, yesterday, RURA spokesperson Anthony Kulamba, warned that stringent measures would be taken against those misusing the lines as it undermines the purpose they should serve in emergency cases (to save lives and properties).

Also in attendance were officials from the Police, the Ministry of Health, among others.

Kulamba also said a lot of money was spent on both what is paid to telecommunication companies as well as the initial investment.

"We are not only looking at how much it costs but also its importance. For example, when a house gets burnt completely or someone dies because they received no support due to misuse of the helplines,” said Kulamba.

He said the regulatory authority and stakeholders such as the Police and other entities would embark on sensitisation campaigns after which stringent measure will be taken against those misusing helplines.

Chief Superintendent Elie Mberabagabo the Commissioner for Command and Coordination at the Rwanda National Police, said unnecessary calls to toll-free lines cause false alarms while they block genuine calls.

While there are no figures on how frequent helplines are used and abused, he said over 23,000 people attempted to call the police toll free line 112 while only 40 per cent of the calls were received. 

There were concerns by some that such helplines in public institutions are not working properly as many go unanswered, but officials noted that the cause might be many people calling the same lines at once.

According to Mberabagabo, in most cases, the same numbers call more times and mostly for nothing important. He added that figures are likely to increase in the coming weeks due to the fact that children are on holidays.

"There are times you notice that one number has called more than 20 times a day. This is a big challenge and it affects our service delivery,” Mberabagabo noted.

Police has other helplines such as 100, 110, 111, 113 & 114, which are also toll-free lines strictly meant for public safety and security in times of emergencies.

Figures from the Ministry of Health show that in October alone, 50 people made unnecessary calls out of 992 who called.

As of now, over 70 unnecessary calls were made. And, there are fears that the number will go up as most callers are children who are currently in holidays, according to officials.

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