Editor,

Allow me to respond to a letter by Jane Kasumba entitled "KCC should coordinate garbage collection” published in the New Times on Saturday 18th July 2009. In the letter she complained about how she is stuck with garbage for a whole month and asked Kigali city council to put in place a system for waste disposal.

I would like to inform readers that there is a solid waste collection system whereby private companies are hired to collect garbage from every home in the city.

These companies are supervised by Imidugudu leaders and coordinated by Sector officials and in case of any inefficiency the Sector has the power to advise them to improve their services and even stop them when they don’t deliver.

The City and District Sanitation Inspectors conduct tours daily to inspect if garbage is being collected from different parts of the city.

We also advise the city residents with a problem of delayed garbage collection or any other sanitary problem to contact their respective Imidugudu leaders or even table it during the Umuganda activity, where a "village council” (Umudugudu Njyanama) is held and every resident is a member.

We call upon the city residents to utilize this forum to present their problems and even hold their leaders accountable.

We would like to thank Jane Kasumba for raising this issue and the city council has requested the administration of Kacyiru sector and in particular Kanserege cell to follow up this particular case.

Let us all work together to keep our city clean.

Rangira Bruno
Director of Media and Communication
Kigali City Council