Minister Ruhamya appears before senate over deadly electricity cables

Senators yesterday expressed concern over the increasing presence of lethal non-insulated electricity cables lying in the open. The Senators, questioned the State Minister for Energy Colletha Ruhamya, on what government is doing to address the issue, considering the potential danger the cables pose to the public. Ruhamya explained that the non-insulated cables are a result of old electricity infrastructure, but hastened to add that the issue is being fixed. “Lack of master plans in construction led to poor laying of these cables. In the new master plans, we resort to using poles rather than underground cables,” she said. Following her brief explanation, Senator Joseph Karemera advised her to set up a taskforce which would identify all dangerous spots in the country and urgently fix them. “Such poor electricity connections can cause accidents. We shouldn’t wait for accidents to happen to solve the problems,” Karemera said. Senator Chrysologue Kubwimana, told the Minister to make the issue a priority.“I believe there is a quick solution to this problem. You can use locally made junction boxes to cover such live cables. I blame it to employees of Rwanda Electricity Corporation (RECO) who don’t report such cases,” said Senator Rwigamba Balinda. However the senatorial session took a new twist when Stephanie Mukantagara accused employees of RECO of corruption, saying that they solicit money from households before they make any repairs on electricity in their homes. “They can’t do anything for you unless you give them money for transport. This is corruption,” said MukantagaraHer intervention was backed by the vice president of the Senate Prosper Higiro who accused RECO for institutionalizing corruption by allowing its employees to solicit money. “This has become like a tariff. Reporting the matter to RECO officials is useless since there is nothing that will be done, you should look into this issue as well,” said Higiro. Ends

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Minister Ruhamya appears before senate over deadly electricity cables