Waste of all kinds can be observed in the gutters of the Bwiza district in the town hall of Bujumbura. People accuse each other of throwing rubbish here and there. The population is worried about health and the environment. Waste water, plastic bottles, food scraps, bags, pieces of clothing, papers are piling up in the gutters of the 8th and 9th avenue.Several people
Waste of all kinds can be observed in the gutters of the Bwiza district in the town hall of Bujumbura. People accuse each other of throwing rubbish here and there. People are worried about health and the environment.
Sewage, plastic bottles, food scraps, bags, pieces of clothing, papers are piling up in the gutters of 8th and 9th Avenue.
Several people indicate that they come from households and restaurants.
A young woman I met does not mince words. “There are people who throw household waste and babies’ faeces into sewers that don’t have covers or into gutters. Tenants of restaurants have no other place to pour the waste water”.
A shopkeeper confirms that some passengers urinate on the public highway and others throw bottles everywhere. Fashion designers on 8th Avenue also denounce households and women who sell vegetables and throw dry banana leaves in front of their workshops.
People accuse each other of throwing this rubbish into the gutters. “We remove the waste from in front of our plots, but our neighbors keep dumping it. We find them in front of our houses the next day”.
A young girl explains that collection companies refuse to collect waste from the gutters. They argue that they have contracts to transport only household waste.
The population fears diseases from dirty hands and malaria. The water does not flow easily hence the proliferation of mosquitoes. They are afraid of catching diseases of which they do not know the cause. There are a multitude of flies. “I am eating but the flies are touching my plate. The day after tomorrow I will fall ill, and I would say that someone bewitched me,” explains a man I met in Bwiza.
He also feels that there is environmental pollution. According to him, for lack of trucks that collect dirt; the inhabitants choose to burn waste that they have removed from the gutters.
The population asks the administration to make garbage cans available on different axes of Bwiza.
It also calls on decision-makers to conclude contracts with companies that collect waste.
According to André Ntakimazi, a resident of Bwiza, meetings must be held so that Burundians are more concerned about hygiene and severely punish those who do not respect sanitation measures.
Remember that, despite this situation; Rénovat Sindayihebura, administrator of the Mukaza commune, launched the clean Mukaza campaign on June 20.