EDITOR,

EXCITEMENT about our President’s inauguration is still in the air. Rwandans have made their choice clear on who will lead them for the next seven years and now new policies are being pondered and are about to be put in place.

However, allow me to comment on this article "Government mulls driving on the left” in the Sunday Times of September 5. I believe that I’m not the only one whose mind was very disturbed by reading it. I kept wondering how and when this policy proposal was put in the public domain for debate. 

I had to inquire from family and friends to see if I had missed one of the nation’s most important policy propositions. Well, it turned out that they were as disturbed as I was and all indicated frustration about this proposed plan.

This frustration is not baseless. Unless there’s solid ground for making these changes, I still do not believe that this proposed policy should be given a chance to see the light of day. I am asking our government to look closely at the time and resources it took Sweden to switch from left to right-hand, and recently, how Samoa closed its business for 3 days and banned alcohol to ensure a safe switch from right to left. 

Well, let’s assume all these facts have been looked at but are we ready to increase on the traffic congestion we are already experiencing? Is our country ready to become another motorcar dumping site? Talk about environment; are we ready to increase on the already existing carbon-monoxide? Forgive my strong sentiments but if this policy is implemented it’s going to escalate the already existing traffic problems.

I strongly believe, there should be some other way of solving the public transport problem. Just put the proposal out to the public and seek a better solution, that way we will move forward with positive policies. I’m personally appealing to the ministry to be careful about this proposition,

Best Regards,

Julianne K.