EDITORIAL: Kigal City needs to streamline some of its decisions

A story that broke in our sister Kinyarwanda publication, Izuba Rirashe, this week revealed that the City of Kigali is losing millions of francs in frivolous litigations that could have been avoided in the first place The loss amounted from unclear city bylaws that impose hefty fines on motorists who knock down street lamps and palm trees that line up Kigali roads. Those who fail to pay see their vehicles impounded and sometimes auctioned to recover the money. It becomes tricky when the aggrieved go to court and the city loses the case because only a court can order the seizure of property, therefore leading to the city losing millions in damages. Of recent, insurance firms have been reluctant to cover damages inflicted on street lamps and palm trees arguing that there were no clear criteria on how the city came up with the valuation. While it is in the city authorities mandate to safeguard the population through various city regulations, it should not be done haphazardly but should follow legal procedures. The city should tread cautiously on the matter of accident fines as the courts have set precedence in various rulings that the city was in the wrong. Yet it continues to travel down the same road with heavy consequences. If the issue is about protecting and maintaining our development projects, then all stakeholders should come up with a viable solution that should not put the legality of some decisions in question.

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EDITORIAL: Kigal City needs to streamline some of its decisions