NYARUGENGE - Owners of the recently demolished kiosks in Kiyovu, Nyarungenge district have sued Kigali City Council over the demolition of their kiosks and confiscation of their merchandise worth millions of francs.

One of the kiosk owners, Alex Safari, revealed that he has filed a legal suit against KCC authorities seeking damages worth Frw35 million for his destroyed kiosk.

"I filed a legal suit seeking damages worth Frw35, 903,689  for my kiosk, but if they can relocate us to another place in town, am more than ready to comply with whatever they ask of me,” Safari said in an interview.

He said that he bought the kiosk through KCC during the reign of Theoneste Mutsindashyaka. He quoted Article 3 of the contract he has with city authorities which states that the kiosks should not be interfered with before a period of five years.

Kiosk owners are still protesting the evictions, saying that KCC did not warn them in advance. They say that KCC settled them legally in Kiyovu, and  insisted that they should also be fairly compensated.

"They evicted us forcibly without any warning and they don’t want to compensate u;, we don’t even know the fate of our confiscated property. This is unfair,” Safari said bitterly.

He wondered how they could be evicted without passing through legal procedures which caused them what they describe as profound loss.

Safari says that he recently received a letter from city authorities informing him that he had been relocated to an area which is far from the city.

He said that he’s not ready to go in areas far off from town, describing the relocation as unfair.
When contacted, Reuben Ahimbisibwe, a city council inspector, said that he was not aware of a legal suit against KCC.

"What I know is that those kiosks were located in wrong places and we had to relocate them. But currently KCC is looking for an alternative location in the proximity of Kigali City,” Ahimbisibwe said.

He said the council is currently developing detailed plans to reduce slums in various areas in the city and that the new plan is designed to make the city a major commercial and service centre in the East African community, as well as making it environmentally friendly.

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