The Kinazi mining site and two relatives who went missing
Early this month, a stranger came to Edison Nibayisenge’s home in Kinazi sector of Gahana cell in Huye district with a message to his son Nibayisenge Samuel 21.
The stranger, a young man in his twenties told Nibayisenge that there was a job that would earn him good money to finish his studies in style.
The boy, a student at Kinazi high school tipped off two classmates of Senior six including his cousin Emmanuel Nsengimana and Irumva Moïse. They joined him for the work that they would do during the weekend, and consisted of work in a mining site.
After a verbal work agreement whereby the stranger only identified as Weasel agreed that they would be paid Rwf 2000 per day, the three boys started the job with a purpose.
“First of all, they are members of a tontine, a saving scheme which requires to raise Rwf 2000 per week. They expected to get resources that would sustain the scheme,” said Nibayisenge’s father.
Another pressing issues however pushed them to embrace the job with both hands.
“In the final year, students study very hard to be able to win national exams. They committed to raising funds and rent a house with electricity which would allow them to review courses for longer hours, even at night,” said Nibayisenge’s father.
The first weekend went well and the working environment was relatively good; a busy work from 7AM to 12 O’clock in the underground mine, then one-hour break where a lunch was served.
Emmanuel Nsengimana(L) and Nibayisenge Samuel some of the victims
In evening, they would go back home with the daily earning.
The money would be sent to Weasal’s Mobile account to be distributed among his recruits.
With the need to raise money quickly, the students decided to dodge school for the week of April 17-23 because they had found the house to rent, which they actually paid Rwf 20,000 for April and May.
They agreed with the landlord that they would vacate to the house on the following Saturday, April 22.
Hélas! They didn’t know that the worst was nocking.
On Wednesday, they woke up to work, proceeded in the mine underground where the work consisted of carrying some stones that were broken by excavators to the ground.
Barely had they resumed work after lunch, the mine swallowed them alongside 3 other people. Search started and this is one week that none of them was found.
Who Owns the Kinazi Mining Site?
News has it that the mining site which is located in Gahana cell, Gasaka village, just adjacent to Nibayisenge’s home has been there for nearly four years.
For all those years, local leaders, mining board officials report not knowing anything about either the owner, or the type of minerals the site offers.
Amidst these speculations and investigation officials working hard to settle the matter, Nibayisenge’s family and their neighbours are bereaved and don’t believe their children, brothers or friends will re-join them in the world of the living anymore.
For Nibayisenge’s father particularly, the grief is deep following huge expectations and what their son means in their lives.
Three years earlier, Bayisenge, the only son in the family of three children won the national exam-O’level and was admitted at a boarding school in Rusizi, Western Province.
However, since his mother is battling a breast cancer since the last seventeen years, he had no option but to stay at Kinazi day school, to be able to help the aging father.
“At O’level, he had a dream to join the army so as to contribute to country security and ultimately earn a living for us. His teacher advised him to wait until he finishes senior six,” his father says.
“My son had started to make bricks to build a decent house for us. He was very ambitious.”
Additional reporting by Muhire Jean Felix
