Mayor halts construction at new settlement

RWAMAGANA - The district has halted construction activities at the new Muyumbo settlement and ordered the demolition of all houses earlier constructed, due to their poor state. The houses were recently built by new settlers who had been evicted from Kicukiro, Kanombe, and Gasabo in Kigali City. Speaking to the residents last week, the Mayor Valens Ntezirembo warned the residents that poor structures cannot be tolerated. “Let us agree in principle that all ongoing construction is to be halted immediately until we get you a plan to build. The construction programme has not been approved and you must stop it,” he said. The residents however, expressed dissatisfaction, arguing that they had started the construction with the knowledge of the local leaders. “We have a decentralised system of governance, when I process my documents from Mudugudu, cell, to the sector, I do not need to go to the district…so, when they talk of following right procedures, it beats my logic,” Samuel Ndahimana, one of the residents said. Residents say that a big chunk of land was sold to the new settlers at not more than Rwf2 m. At the meeting, security officials however, warned the incoming migrants against buying land without following the laid down procedures. Ends