Members of Parliament on January 9, appealed for proper management of hundreds of pits found in various mining sites across the country, including those that date back to the colonial period. They warned that they pose a risk to people's lives.
According to the report of the Office of Ombudsman for the fiscal year 2022/2023, many deep pits were, or are still, used for the extraction of mineral or other geological materials but are not protected, and some of them have grass growing on them, making them difficult for people to identify.
For instance, the report indicated that in Rusunyu Village, Kangazi Cell of Nkanka Sector in Rusizi District, where quarry operations are carried out, there are residents who were left living on a slope, recommending that they should be relocated as a preventive measure against probable accidents to which they might fall victims because of the area.
"Will we let the lives of the people remain in danger as long as the plans [to effectively manage the pit in question] are not yet executed," asked MP Aimée Sandrine Uwambaje.
She wanted to know how the government is moving to ensure the safety of people around some 170 mining-related pits that have been identified so far, as per data shared by the Ministry of Local Government on Tuesday, January 9.
Such pits that are left after extracting minerals or other geological materials from the ground, point to gaps in landscape restoration post mining activities.
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The Minister of Local Government, Jean-Claude Musabyimana, said pits that pose a major problem are mainly those that were created decades ago and are no longer used for mining purposes. He indicated that new ones are protected such as to prevent people who might illegally enter them in search of minerals.
"We are also concerned by those old pits ... Protecting the lives of the nearby people is our responsibility," he said.
Musabyimana observed that there should be an effective way to manage them, pointing out that some of them are 100 metres or even kilometres long (in the form of tunnels) and are wide, such that filling them would be difficult.
He indicated that they were in talks with the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB) on effective management of the pits, pointing out that proposals include identifying those that can be covered, and those that can be improved and used for other purposes such as tourism.
As an effective mechanism to manage them has not yet been found, the minister said that they are talking with the nearby communities so that the pits do not cause problems for them.
MP Uwambaje suggested that the pits be demarcated with signs such that they become easily identifiable so people do not fall into them. Musabyimana said that this is an idea worth implementing.
