Rulindo District has won this year’s Imihigo best performer award.

This was announced yesterday by Prime Minister Bernard Makuza as he presented a brief account of the evaluation of the 2010/2011 performance contracts, commonly known as Imihigo.

Rulindo District came top scoring over 90 percent.

It was followed by Nyamasheke, Kicukiro, Burera, Kirehe, Bugesera, Nyamagabe, Muhanga, Karongi, and Rutsiro districts, in that order.

Overall, the Prime Minister said that all districts performed well with 23 districts scoring over 80 percent.

When contacted, the Rulindo mayor, Justus Kangwagye was in buoyant mood.

He attributed the success to area residents.

"I am feeling very good because we have achieved what we have been fighting for,” Kangwagye said.

"There is no secret really – the people of Rulindo are hardworking and we have a committed staff that is motivated and has been working together as a team.”

At the bottom, in terms of relatively poor performance, is Gakenke District, which the Prime Minister said dropped down 11 places since the previous assessment.

According to the Prime Minister, major accomplishments were registered in the areas of business and urban planning as well as land consolidation "which has now become a culture.”

Makuza noted that in the previous review, 254,000 hectares of land were put to use compared to 503,000ha in the current review. A targeted 662,000 ha is set for the next phase.

This progress, he said, has factored into increased agricultural productivity.

The Premier mentioned other infrastructural feats including putting up of schools, health facilities, roads, terraces, small scale industries, water and electricity rollout among others.

There was significant improvement in the performance of districts compared to last year, the Premier emphasised.

Last year’s average score was 81 percent, compared to 66 percent the previous year.

Ends