Join hands to achieve more, President tells Rwandans

Rwandans should look at each other as partners who must work together to achieve the best that the future holds, President Paul Kagame said yesterday. The Head of State delivered the message yesterday in Kigali, shortly after joining residents of Kigali City’s Kibagabaga Cell in Gasabo District for the monthly community work, Umuganda. “The best is yet to come for Rwanda. When you know the best is yet to come, you do not give up and you do not get tired,” Kagame told the cheering crowd of thousands of people who had gathered at Kigali Christian School to receive him after Umuganda. During community work in Kibagabaga yesterday, residents dug water channels on a 3.5-kilometer marram road whose construction was financed by the residents through individual financial contributions. The residents in Nyirabwana village in Kibagabaga sector contributed more than Rwf200 million for the road construction, laying of fiber optic cable, as well as spreading access to water and electricity. President Kagame, who joined the residents in Umuganda with the First Lady Jeannette Kagame, highlighted the need for Rwandans to take advantage of the country’s security and stability and work together for their development. “We work together knowing where we are coming from and where we want to go. Rwandans should look at each other as partners, as people who gain more from staying together and working together,” he said. As Rwandans across the country joined their neighbours in Umuganda yesterday about a week before they mark the 21stcommemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi next month, the Head of State encouraged them to comfort each other during the forthcoming commemoration. “Let our past history strengthen us to build a better future and ensure it never happens again,” he said. According to the mayor of Gasabo District, Stephen Rwamurangwa, it helps a lot when the President joins the people in the community work because it sets a good example and encourages people to think positively about what they can do for themselves. “The President gives a good example. His working with us is an important sign, it spreads the message that we can actually be self-reliant,” Rwamurangwa said. Many in the crowd of hundreds of people who came to meet the President on the ground at Kigali Christian School described the President’s presence in the community work as inspiring. “It’s precious, it gives us morale and it encourages us to keep coming for Umuganda,” said 19-year-old Grace Mugenzi, a high school student in Kigali. Through community work, people no longer shy away from developing infrastructure projects such as roads themselves instead of waiting for the government to do everything from scratch, Rwamurangwa said.

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Join hands to achieve more, President tells Rwandans