A disturbing police operation in Kicukiro involving teenagers as young as 15 has exposed a more uncomfortable dimension of Rwanda’s battle against dangerous alcohol and drugs: children are increasingly encountering harmful substances, sometimes for hours, while parents have little idea where they are or what they are doing.

Inspector General of Police CG Felix Namuhoranye raised the alarm during Umuganda on Saturday, describing a recent gathering in Kicukiro involving boys and girls aged from 15 to 28. It started at about 3 p.m. and was still underway at around 9:30 a.m., when police intervened.

What officers found, according to Namuhoranye, was disturbing. Some young people were heavily intoxicated and vomiting, some had been exposed to cannabis and vaping, while others became so unwell that they required hospital treatment.

Police eventually gathered about 50 of them and began calling their parents individually.

It was at this point that Namuhoranye turned the spotlight away from dealers and drinking establishments, and towards the home.

How, he asked, does a 15-year-old leave home, spend hours drinking and experimenting with harmful substances, and reach such a condition late at night without a parent knowing?

“Were you already asleep?” the IGP asked, challenging parents who go to bed without knowing where their teenage children are, whom they are with, or what they are doing.

His warning comes at a moment when Rwanda is confronting a much wider alcohol crisis. More than 500 people were treated after consuming unsafe alcoholic beverages during the first half of 2026; about 50 deaths were reported, while around 100 people suffered loss of eyesight.

Authorities have also seized close to 900,000 litres of illicit alcoholic beverages during operations this year.

President Paul Kagame addressed the same crisis during his August press conference, rejecting arguments that the crackdown should principally be viewed through the losses suffered by factories, traders or employees.

His argument was that when products being sold to the public are killing people, protecting businesses cannot take precedence over protecting human life.

Kagame also questioned how dangerous products were able to reach consumers despite the existence of institutions responsible for standards, licensing and public safety.

The matter, he indicated, was not simply about shutting factories; responsibility also had to be established where officials entrusted with protecting the public had failed to do so.

Namuhoranye’s intervention now brings the problem even closer to home.

The IGP described what police fear can become a progression: a teenager who arrives without drinking leaves having tasted alcohol; another who already drinks moves into vaping and nicotine, then cannabis, with the danger of eventually encountering harder drugs.

His message therefore expanded the “Hehe n’Icyuma” campaign beyond dangerous alcohol into what he called “Hehe n’imico mibi” — a rejection of destructive behaviour itself.

There is, however, a limit to what enforcement can accomplish.

Police can close illegal operations, confiscate dangerous products, pursue dealers and disrupt gatherings; regulators can tighten standards, while government can close factories that endanger consumers.

None of them can replace a parent who knows where a 15-year-old is at 9:30am at night.

That is perhaps the toughest message emerging from Namuhoranye’s remarks.

Rwanda may be fighting the alcohol and drug problem nationally, but one of its most important frontlines is inside the home.

When police have to telephone a parent late at night to tell them where their 15-year-old is, the intervention has already come dangerously late.