Something should be done about Quartier Mateus

Kigali’s downtown business district, popularly known as Quartier Mateus, is regarded as the nerve centre of trading in the country. Billions exchange hands every day and it always resembles a beehive; the narrow crowded streets are swarmed by trucks loading and unloading their wares. The fact that Mateus is one of the oldest parts of the city means that most shops have seen better days and their installations haphazard and a menace. It is not surprising that whenever a fire breaks out, it spreads quickly and access becomes problematic, and in a short while, hundreds of millions are lost in the infernos.