Legislation should be left to lawmakers

Editor, I want to react on the article written by Sunny Ntayombya which was titled “Is sending errant moto riders to jail the best option?” published in The New Times on January 22. Since when did Rura, Rwanda National Police and the City of Kigali become lawmakers? What I know is that this decision to send errant motorcycle operators (otherwise better known as taxi motos) to jail will directly affect their families economically and financially. Rwanda is a country claimed to have order, but this kind of thing proves me wrong. A few months ago, the Ministry of Sports and Culture was on spot when they tried to trample on people’s rights by banning Halloween. Since when did every public institution become lawmakers? And why do our parliamentarians seem silent and remain indifferent amidst all this? Back to the moto riders. Sending them to jail isn’t a recommendable decision by any measure. Some of them are the products of rural exodus who came to Kigali with high hopes of finding greener pastures. They have children they have to feed and pay school fees for. By incarcerating them, you’re making their families suffer, preventing children from going to school, and putting the mothers into the situations where they cannot pay for Mutuelle de santé to keep the families healthy. Parliament should intervene and remind both the City of Kigali and Rura that they are not lawmakers, and remind the Police that they are law enforcers. The best option is to train and educate them to support the Rwandan family. The basic family is very important, and it’s what makes the country. If we can forgive those who committed the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and ask the survivors to forgive, is sending errant moto riders to jail the best option? Nonetheless, I am not in anyway condoning the recklessness that characterise some of these riders. Mutara Intore, Rwanda ************************** I think what is unusual is when the City of Kigali, Police and Rura become lawmaking organs. One wonders what this means to the lawmaking system beyond motorcyclists when law enforcers enact laws at their will. I also think the suggestion of “making it harder to get a taxi moto permit” defeats the argument against “unfairly targeting people”. Zamu Isma, Rwanda ************************** I also think that putting them (taxi motorists) behind bars would actually not solve these ever increasing road offences because as they imprison some, others will pick up the habit and the trend continue. It should be through their controlling/governing body together with the Police help to give the licence to the right, trained cyclists. Gideon, Rwanda ************************** Is there a new law? The City of Kigali, the Rwanda National Police and Rura have no power to make this decision. Only Parliament can enact a new law to imprison motorcyclists involved in accidents. Diogène, Rwanda

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Legislation should be left to lawmakers