The Governor of the Northern Province, Aime Bosenibamwe, has called on the leaders from his district to expedite the eradication of thatched housing locally known as Nyakatsi.

His call, followed revelations that the statistics provided by the districts falsely indicated that the number of thatched housing was small.

According to Bosenibamwe, Gakenke district indicted that there were less than 100 thatched houses instead of over 800 that were discovered by the task force. This, the Governor said, has affected how the eradication programme has been implemented.

During the meeting to assess the exact numbers of thatched houses in all Midugudu, in the province, a special task force committee revealed a high number of the thatched houses compared to what the local leaders had announced.

The report from the special task force for the Shelter Scheme, comprising the Police, Army and local authorities showed that  Gicumbi has the highest number of Nyakatsi with 5033, followed by Musanze district with 4000, Burera 3500, while Rulindo which is poorest district remains with the least number of thatched houses.  

Bosenibamwe called upon the district and sector authorities to prioritize the government program of ensuring that residents get descent shelter.

"How do you intend to eliminate Nyakatsi when you don’t know exact figures, where as the mind set about Nyakatsi has changed among residents, we need to make residents understand the essence of eradication and they should own the initiative”

The meeting resolved to start eradication of Nyakatsi by removing grass thatched kitchens, and begin leveling plots where houses for the vulnerable families will be constructed.

The Province has set 15, January, 2011, for getting rid of the thatched houses, especially for the vulnerable families and begin a construction of the new houses.

The Ministry of Local Government has offered to supply roofing materials for houses.

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