Musanze mayor calls for strong fight against drug abuse

{As the fight against trafficking, sell and use of narcotic drugs continues to gain momentum, the mayor of Musanze District Winnifride Mpembyemungu has urged the residents to be the main force against the vice in the district.}

Mpembyemungu made the call on January 21 while addressing hundreds of residents of Muhoza Sector. She was speaking shortly after a public exercise to destroy assorted illicit drugs seized in varied public-facilitated police operations conducted in the last three months.

The destroyed drugs include over 12, 420 dozens of Blue Sky, 1, 846 litres of Kanyanga, 70 cartons of Diproso, a bleaching chemical said to be fake, and about 500 rolls of cannabis.

While speaking to about 600 residents of Muhoza and those from the neighbouring communities, Mayor Mpembyemungu noted that “fighting drug abuse is like fighting any dangerous disease.”

“You can’t talk of fighting diseases and leave out illicit drugs because they also pose side effects to health. You should therefore not give room for such drugs and you should leave no effort to partner with police by reporting anyone dealing in these dangerous substances,” Mpembyemungu said.

The awareness against drug abuse was also attended by the District Police Commander, Senior Supt. Bénoit Nsengiyumva and Janvier Munyaneza, the chief prosecutor for Musanze intermediate court.

“Selling illicit drugs is abetting double loss; first the hard-earned family income is blown away when these drugs are caught and imprisonment means the household is left with no one to provide basic needs. The government can’t allow that whatsoever, neither should you because the result is that the children in such affected families will employ other means like theft, to survive,” she noted.

SSP Nsengiyumva thanked the residents for their role in fighting criminality and drug abuse in particular, which continues to improve the level of security in the district.

He urged them to maintain the spirit, embrace the concept of community policing through tightened night patrols and neighbourhood watch.