Gasabo District’s Kimironko sector was on Saturday rewarded with a car for emerging best performing in safety and hygiene out of 35 sectors assessed by the City of Kigali.

The prize was awarded as the city concluded a six-month campaign to promote hygiene and security, which the City of Kigali does every year in partnership with Rwanda National Police (RNP).

This year’s campaign, which was conducted for six months from 25th January to 3rd August 2019, focused on keeping Kigali clean, green, and safe.

At its conclusion, Gasabo District emerged as the best performing district and its mayor, Stephen Rwamurangwa, received a trophy and a certificate, while the five best performing sectors across the entire City of Kigali were also rewarded with certificates.

Minister Anastase Shyaka hands over keys to a brand new car to Mapambano Nyiridandi, a local official of Kimironko sector yesterday. / Craish Bahizi

On top of certificates, Kimironko sector received a trophy and a car for being the best performing sector while Muhima sector received Rwf800,000.

The Executive Secretary of Kimironko Sector, Mapambano Nyiridandi, told The Sunday Times that partnership between leaders in the sector, its residents, and institutions working in the area was crucial for good performance.

He said that he made efforts to engage both residents and leaders in activities to fight crime and promote hygiene, at one point signing performance contracts with managers of companies like bars, restaurants, and petrol stations.

"There is no other secret apart from engaging residents and organising them in small groups called Isibo so they can follow up more on security and hygiene issues,” he said in an interview.

At the event to recognise sectors’ performances on Saturday, top leaders from the government, police, and the City of Kigali urged all Rwandans to keep their communities safe and clean.

The Minister for Local Government, Anastase Shyaka, urged all Rwandans to keep their homes and public places such as schools, hospitals, markets, bars and restaurants among many other places clean and safe.

Commending the police and the City of Kigali for their partnership to make the city safer and clean, he promised that the campaign will be scaled up countrywide.

"Kigali is one of the cleanest cities in the world thanks to this partnership,” he said.

He said that sectors that perform well in the city should always be rewarded while those that perform poorly need to be held accountable.

Gatenga was the worst performing sector, followed by Kigali and Bumbogo sectors.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dan Munyuza urged Rwandans to strengthen efforts to fight crime, end the habit of leaving litter on their streets and drug abuse.

"Hygiene and security go hand-in-hand and we have to promote them in everything that we do,” he told thousands of residents in Kigali City who were gathered at Amahoro Stadium.

The acting Mayor of the City of Kigali, Parfait Busabizwa, said that assessing sectors on their performance in the area of hygiene and security and rewarding the best helps them to learn from each other.

It is the eighth time that the annual campaign has been done since the police and the city partnered to conduct it regularly to keep the city clean, green, and safe.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com