Ugize ikibazo hamagara 0730 19 22/0780 19 22 7… Who has not set their eyes upon those re-assuring inscriptions screaming from the rear windscreens of public transport around the country? But ugize kibazo hamagara has got one inherent problems with it. The first, and obvious problem is that it’s not easy to decode, unless, that is, your grasp of Kinyarwanda is firm. I know it for a fact that many of my non-Kinyarwandas peaking friends read the phrase like some piece of music –they simply enjoy the sound of the words, because what is music but sound anyway–organised sound. So to them, ugize ikibazo hamagara is music that can actually be danced to. What, then, this? Definitely it’s not a type of music and neither can it be some sort of food, or alcoholic beverage. And speaking of beverages, what is this new thing that has now been introduced by the makers of Gatanu lager which I hear is called Gatanu Panache? But more on Gatanu Panache later, by which I mean in a subsequent column –if they agree to my terms that is. Back to ugize ikibazo hamagara. Why do we see it at the back of every twegerane and Matunda Express and Belvedere Lines and Virunga Business Class mini bus? In fact, why do we see those inscriptions on every passenger vehicle that shows up on any road in any part of the country after NDP Contraco has completed its usual neat and clean job? Talking of neat and clean roads, who says “NPD Contraco at work” is the only symbol of efficiency in the public utility sector in the country? True, they do run an efficient machinery, proof of which is there for all to see, but there are several other contenders to the throne. Just because NPD Contraco make impeccable roads on which you can even sort your rice does not mean they take all the honors alone. Other people deserve a pat on the shoulder too, and one of those people is the inventor of the difficult-to-understand phrase, ugize ikibazo hamagara… Yet the question still stands –who, or what is ugize ikibazo hamagara? And why is it/he/she so appealing to the eye and to the senses? Why does it or he have such a soothing effect on all road users in general, and those on public commuter transport in particular? As a rule, the phrase is always followed by a string of local telephone contacts –which further begs the question; whose telephone contacts could they be? But before we even get there –to the issue of whose phone contacts they are, we need to first get this out of the way, once and for all. What is ugize ikibazo hamagara?
