Should we regulate the number of children a couple can have? (It’s a necessary concern)

With a fragile economic future, why are people giving birth to children they won’t be able to raise? Shouldn’t society regulate this? I deeply believe that this policy should be imposed on each and every one, more so for people who have no business bringing dozens of children into the world. It’s not pretty to say but it’s the truth; people with insufficient funds seem to be the very ones popping kids left, right and centre!

Thursday, July 11, 2013
SHEILLA RUKUNDO

With a fragile economic future, why are people giving birth to children they won’t be able to raise? Shouldn’t society regulate this? I deeply believe that this policy should be imposed on each and every one, more so for people who have no business bringing dozens of children into the world. It’s not pretty to say but it’s the truth; people with insufficient funds seem to be the very ones popping kids left, right and centre!Imagine someone who earns about Rwf100, 000; he has rent, school fees, health insurance and food to pay for. He also has other needs to take care of. Don’t you wonder how such an individual actually handles all that with his salary? But as you still try to make sense of this, the same individual is on a mission to have a son since all his other children are girls! Why is he bringing kids into the world to suffer? With his salary, he’ll be forced to throw his kids into schools that serve weevil infested beans and badly cooked rice or posho for lunch. However, as much as the financially handicapped should be the ones controlling procreation, this policy should be imposed on all Rwandans because no one knows what the future holds. Rwanda is a small country; when I look at how our population is increasing I imagine Rwanda will be like China in 20 years. According to online websites, China is the fourth largest country in the world at 9,596,961square kilometres but even with all this space, they are struggling to contain their over one billion population mark. Whereas it’s one child policy comes off as brutal and inhumane, others will argue that if the population isn’t controlled, there might not be any room to breathe!That’s why I support restricting people before it gets too crowded. Having very many children may not seem a problem now but it is our children who will suffer the consequences. We need to support the government.  We need to forget the tired mentality of having an engineer, doctor, lawyer, politician and business tycoon all in one family! We simply can’t afford to clog the country.Rwanda is a dot compared to China; you don’t have to be a genius to know how disastrous it will be for us should we become baby-making machines!