KCC won’t compensate city traders

Kigali City Council has clarified that it will not compensate traders who were operating in the complex that was housing Nyarugenge market. The building was closed recently for what the city administration described as “enforcing the law.”KCC, last week, closed all the businesses that were operating in the Rwf20 billion commercial complex, after it accused the owners of opening the building without permission and lack of safety equipment.Following the sudden closure, the over 350 affected traders, especially those dealing in perishable goods, accused both Kigali city and the owner of the facility of making them incur losses and requested compensation.However, the city administration quashed their claims saying “there will be no remuneration for people who are operating in an illegal building.”“First of all, they are working in an illegal structure. It was clear from the beginning that the owners of the building were not allowed to open the building until they get an occupation permit,” Bruno Rangira, the Director of Communication and Media in the city, said.“The city could not look at what was going on illegally and fail to take action. What we are doing is to enforce the rules and regulations for buildings in the city.”He accused the owners of the commercial complex of allowing in tenants before the building was completed.According to Kigali city, the building, which is meant to accommodate over 500 traders, lacks safety requirement like CCTV cameras, walk-through machines, metal detectors and car-check mirrors, which have to be installed before tenants reopen their businesses.“It is very clear with the regulations of the city of Kigali that for anyone to start working in a new building you have to first seek an occupational permit,” Rangira said.The owners of the complex, last week, said they will not be responsible for the losses the tenants will incur and pointed a finger at the city administration, saying it should compensate the traders accusing the authorities of carrying out illegal orders. “Let it be very clear; it’s like somebody who constructs a house illegally and after they demolish it…he or she seeks for compensation.“First of all they [tenants] need to know that there was an illegal activity that was going on; that thing of saying that we should compensate them…they should know that there are rules that were broken and that’s why the city administration moved in,” Rangira explained.He could, however, not clarify on the circumstances under which Kigali city and Nyarugenge District managed to get taxes from all the owners of businesses within the ‘controversial’ building, even when they knew that the traders were operating from an illegal facility.The owners of the complex, Kigali Investment Company, insist they opened the facility legally and accuse the city construction office of failure to inspect the building and to grant them an occupational permit four months after they requested it.Rangira dismissed the claims saying that the city inspection team visited the facility back in November and requested the owners to install safety gadgets before re-opening, which they apparently defied.Article 405 of the penal code stipulates that ‘any person who carries out construction works, demolishes, orders demolition of buildings or conducts urban planning operations contrary to the Law relating to urban planning and organisation shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of at least between one and six months and a fine of Rwf500, 000 to Rwf2 million or one of these penalties.

National

KCC won’t compensate city traders