We need to learn from the tragedy of Nyagatare

On Wednesday, the Rwanda Housing Authority announced that it would institute a team to investigate the building collapse in Nyagatare, Eastern Province that killed six people and injured 30 others on Tuesday.Finding the causes and those responsible for the deaths and injuries is but a first step. We must go further.As Rwanda’s urban centres grow more and more, it is expected that buildings will go higher and higher. What that means is that such incidents are likely to increase as more people live and work in a single building. In fact, while it is tragic that six people lost their lives in the unfinished building, one can only shudder with the thought of the potential fatalities if the building had become completed and open to the general public.As the regulatory bodies in urban areas, local authorities must be the premier gatekeepers of public safety. But in order to do that, there is need for professional building inspectors whose job will be to monitor construction projects, particularly in our urban centres from beginning to end.Prevention is better than cure. If the construction companies worked in tandem with the building inspectors such tragedies of the sort that befell Nyagatare would become a thing of the past. Issues such as poor construction materials and shoddy architectural plans would become a thing of the past.

Opinions

We need to learn from the tragedy of Nyagatare