Careless human activities in most cases cause environmental hazards. This so happens especially when there is great mismanagement and degradation of the environment. People have persistently violated the use of land despite awareness programs put in place by government at all levels. The outcomes of environmental degradation are evident in most parts of Rwanda and there is no doubt that it has affected people’s living standards. They suffer from what we may call self caused problems. Careless exploitation of land has affected the lives of people living in both the rural and urban areas. Take an example of Kigali city that has a very congested population and yet its population has failed to embrace the government’s idea of proper settlement plan and the drainage patterns/systems are poor. They have at several occasions stubbornly violated the set laws governing construction. They take cover of darkness and come up with new buildings. This is mainly done in the city suburbs. This poor settlement has resulted (in some cases) into accidents that led to loss of lives and destruction of property. Even though the government initiated a new modern housing plan that is expected to transform Kigali city in general therefore, there is still a long way to go. People are still building funny houses under the cover of darkness in the city suburbs. Unfortunately they use mud blocks that are got by digging deep holes near there houses. The nearby holes and ditches that accommodate stagnant and moving water at the same time are so hazardous to the very people who dig them. The water does not only act as a mosquito breeding place that subjects people to the deadly disease of malaria, but also slowly permeates into the weak foundation of the houses and make them collapse. More vigour is hence needed to inspect construction activities in Kigali city suburbs so as to save the lives of people who unknowingly commit suicide through their poor construction. They real do not know that by destroying the environment, you may be digging your own grave. One Odette Musanabera, a resident of Bibare Cell, Kimironko, remembers a horrible scenario when her house almost collapsed over her,” I woke up in the morning as you usual, preparing to go and start work when I discovered that my house was almost hung in air. The near by ditch had been washed away by rain water and my house was about to be washed away too. It was horrible and I had to call people to help me move things out of the house through windows. The door could not be reached as no one was ready to risk falling in the already approaching ditch and running water”. Musanabera’s house was constructed in a wet land, close to water drainage and is currently on the verge of collapsing due to improper construction plan. She says that problems arose when the land near her residence started sliding in early July last year. She says that she immediately informed local leaders in the area including police who never reacted accordingly. Though, the running water has calmed down now, Musanabera’s house remains hanging ten to fifteen meters away from the ditch. It may collapse any time! According to her, the local leaders promised to faster the construction of a drainage that may divert water away from her house, but in vain. “I am scared of my house because at any given time, it can fall and kill us,” she complains. We get more scared especially at night and again due to the fact that the country is experiencing earthquakes now and then worsen our concern.” She explains. All those other factors remaining constant, constructions in swampy areas need professionalism and strong building materials and not the primitive poor mud building blocks commonly known as Rukarakara in Rwanda. People out of ignorance and the general capacity to use strong blocks put themselves in danger. Some places (e.g. swampy areas) are generally not suitable for human settlement. There is an urgency to stop these constructions otherwise people will remain vulnerable to environmental hazards and the environment too, will be totally destroyed. Robert Habimana, Executive Secretary of Kimironko Sector said that his administration considers the issue seriously and that it was even forwarded to the district level. “We heard about this issue last year and it was taken to the district level where it will be worked on soon. I however advice people at risk to shift to safer areas in the mean time,” the official said. In a telephone interview with Kambati, who is the director general of EMUJECO, a local construction Company that took over to construct the drainage, he said that the only solution is to faster the construction work. “We increased the number of employees to foster our efficiency but we can not jump a step and start in the middle,” he explained. He also said such an area covered with underground water, need much attention to set pipes that will direct water in a technical way and residents have to plant many trees around to raise the wet land. People therefore, need to be educated about environmental hazardous and protection for their own betterment. This will control environment degradation and save many people’s lives in the Suburbs of Kigali particularly and the whole country as well. Otherwise, we shall continue seeing ugly scenarios of people digging their own graves due to their negative environmental values. The environment is only a friend to someone who values it. The residents of Kimironko and others elsewhere in the same category are forewarned. Ends
