Streets cleaners in Kigali city have raised concern over poor pay, saying it is too low compared with current cost of living.

The majority of the disgruntled are women who said they wake up early every morning equipped with brooms and disposal containers to clean roads and streets to make Kigali clean. They complained that they are not only underpaid but rarely paid on time.

Speaking to Rwanda Today, Anita Mukamana (not real name), a 42-year-old from Kimihurura, Kigali said while Kigali city continues to receive compliments as the cleanest city in the region, the workers who put in their energy and effort to ensure the beauty of Kigali are sufficiently compensated financially.

Insufficient salary

“When people come to this country they become surprised to see how this city is clean and I think it is on record that Kigali is among the most cleanest cities in Africa and this comes from our energy that we spend every day, but what makes us unhappy is how we are treated with insufficient salary which doesn’t reflect our work,” Ms Mukamana said.

“In our company one person is paid only Rfw20,000 per month. How can you live on this amount with all responsibilities we have in our families, among them paying house rents, food and other family needs but because we don’t have a choice we accept to survive few days” she added.

He noted that those workers are insured even though some of them do not know about it.

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