KIGALI - The Mayor of Mbarara Municipality in Uganda, Wilson Tumwine has described Kigali as one of the best cities not only in the East Africa but across Africa.

The local government official said this yesterday at Nyarugenge District offices shortly after a delegation of 50 investors from Mbarara concluded a visit of the Kigali city council offices as well as the Kigali City Master Plan at the One Stop Centre.

"We are trying to elevate Mbarara municipality to city status and the best comparable city in Africa in terms of planning and development is Kigali because it has been developed from scratch within just 17 years after the whole country was devastated by the Genocide,” Tumwine observed.

He said that their visit would enable them to share experiences and ideas with their Kigali city counterparts on how best Mbarara municipality can be developed.

"Rwandans are our true brothers and sisters and I am optimistic that the lessons we have learnt from here will enable us to develop Mbarara town socially and economically,” said Tumwine, whose town is one of the major urban centres in Uganda located in western part of the country.

The group appreciated the way the City of Kigali is run and managed, saying that they were also impressed by the cooperation of communities and their involvement in city planning .

While at city offices, the vice mayor in charge of social affairs, Hope Tumukunde, briefed the group on the historical dynamics of the city.

Tumwine noted that while planning and implementing the Mbarara municipality development plan, they would invite officials from Kigali City to share with them their expertise.

Prof Kenneth Kagame, a lecturer at Mbarara University and a real estate developer in Mbarara, was part of the delegation.

"We came to Kigali to witness how they have managed to develop rapidly and what lessons we can get from here so that we give direction to our municipality,” Kagame said.

"Kigali is a clean and well decorated city and this is something that every Rwandan should be proud of because the city is very splendid.”

The delegation mainly comprised members of the business community in Mbarara municipality.

The group further visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial centre, the 14th International Trade Fair that started yesterday. Today, the delegation is expected to participate in communal work commonly known as Umuganda.    

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