To our new leaders at City Hall: Infrastructure safety is crucial

In Rwandan folklore, there’s one which says that at an opportune moment a Rwandan or a certain community met their King, they would present their wishes to him and he would grant them. Some would ask for cattle herds (amashyo), others grazing land (ibikingi) – I hope I’m getting the translation right. That culture still runs through our society and it’s always on display whenever, say, the Head of State, meets the people. On one such moment, members of a certain community got that opportunity and surprised the King and those around him by asking for a lamb/sheep (intama). I want to assume meeting the new Kigali Mayor and I wish to add infrastructure safety in general, and fire safety in particular, to the list of ‘the tasks that await Kigali’s new mayor’ (The New Times, Tuesday March 1, 2016). Minor an issue as it may seem to some people, compared to say road networks, Master Plans, sewerage systems et al.; fire protection is actually a giant issue. I worry of no other immediate threat to our city’s new skyline than lack of adequate fire protection. Not floods, not earthquakes or any other disaster, for that matter. I wish to remind our new mayor, Madame Monique Mukaruliza and her team that they are taking over a city without single, well-equipped, professionally run Fire Brigade Station and no fire authority to address a host of fire -related issues - from community fire education and basic awareness, buildings’ fire safety approval and certification, inspection, regulation, fire investigation, to timely response in case of fire outbreaks. That for a city aspiring to achieve modern-city status, is a stain that she needs to prioritize. We have discussed this issue with her predecessor Fidele Ndayisaba and hope it will feature in the hand-over tray. Kigali has for long relied on the Police, sometimes with support from Air Force and Civil Aviation Authority for fire fighting response. I have always argued, and I have even told Police officers in our training engagement, that this is not their core mandate, and that Police leadership needs to work towards disengaging and ceding this responsibility to local municipalities, only keep a supporting role. In 2007 while still serving in the British Fire Service, we invited Claver Gatete (at the time Rwanda’s High Commissioner to UK) my base-station in Tottenham, North London and gave him a guided tour of our facilities and equipment. I felt the burden to inform him that London has 113 of them (including one dedicated to protecting London’s water-way, the River Thames) and our growing City of Kigali (and country) has not a single one. We concurred it was highly needed. Not long after this visit, fire outbreaks in Kigali nearly became the new norm and threatened to undo some of our infrastructure achievements. Limited Police resources were overstretched. That provoked fear, and an increase in fire fighting capability through Rwanda National Police (rather than through local government entities); now at least each of the four provinces has a fire fighting truck. This increase in resource capacity, albeit still not anywhere near adequate, coupled with professional training for Police Fire Crews, has improved response times and provided some relief and assurance to Rwandans. Congratulations, the City of Kigali has acquired its own two new fire trucks. They can be seen parked at UTC (they should be introduced to Kigalians in a road-show ceremony!) competing for parking space with Ethiopian Airlines customers. They are manned 24/7 by a good team of Police Officers I know very well. But they are Police officers first and foremost, only trained in fire fighting as an additional skill, and the management of these trucks is yet to be streamlined. These trucks need a home (a proper, modern fire station) and a team of professional fire officers to manage them and protect our beautiful city. This increased capacity is only reactive (fire-fighting) and the proactive element (fire risk management) is very much lacking. Over to you Madame Mayor- give me my lamb! Ignatius Mugabo is a fire risk management and training consultant & Managing Director of Mugolds International Ltd

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To our new leaders at City Hall: Infrastructure safety is crucial