Environment

Bujumbura residents concerned about rotting garbage inside households

Residents of the northern neighborhoods of the economic capital Bujumbura express their worries over rubbish accumulated in their households and in public places. They say the companies in charge of removing them from households have not worked for three weeks.

Tons of garbage thrown inside COTEBU market

In COTEBU market located in Ngagara area in the north of Bujumbura City, there are tons of rubbish thrown inside the market.

They give off an unpleasant smell while a swarm of flies fly over and around them. The sellers in that market continue to do their small businesses despite this bad smell.

Elvis Niyonkuru, one of the vendors working near this garbage dump says this pile of rubbish was caused by the irregularity of companies in charge of removing them. He says these companies spend three weeks without coming to remove waste from this market.

Emmanuelle Nzosaba, a fruit seller says she is embarrassed by this bad smell adding that she fears for her health as well as that of other traders.

Traders working in COTEBU market are not the only ones concerned by the situation. Residents of Ngagara neighborhood, too, complain about the garbage piled up in their households.

Marguerite, one of the inhabitants of Ngagara V area, says companies supposed to remove waste from households have just spent about three weeks without coming.”The last time they came to remove the trash was on 25 January,” she says.

Ngagara neighborhood residents ask administrative authorities to urge these companies to remove those tons of garbage piled up in their houses before they cause them illnesses.

Contacted, one of the employees of the Runa Bussiness Company has said this delay in collecting waste is due to the fact that the official Mubone dump into which they throw waste collected from various neighborhoods of Bujumbura is full. He promises that this problem will be resolved before the end of this week.