City awards hygiene promotion

Officials in the City of Kigali in partnership with the National Police on Friday ended a six-month hygiene and security campaign and awarded best performers. The campaign, entitled Partnership in Policing, hygiene and security, was marked by celebrations of achievements that concluded by awarding the best partners who showcased good practice or helped the awareness campaign in Hygiene and Safety. Companies, institutions and individuals departed with various prizes, the biggest being a up vehicle awarded to Kimihurura Sector in Gasabo District, followed by a motorbike that was awarded to a motorcycle taxi operator. Agruni, a cleaning company departed with a cheque of Rwf 500,000. The competition saw Jean de la Croix Tabaro, a journalist from The New Times and artist Jean de Dieu Tuyisenge were also awarded with a cheque of Rwf 200,000- Rwf 300,000 plus a digital camera and a video recorder respectively. Cumulatively, Kicukiro District was ranked as the best district in hygiene, followed by Gasabo District. Kicukiro was awarded with a trophy. Excited, Mapambano Nyiridandi, the Executive Secretary of Kimihurura Sector who accepted the prize, said that the achievement is a result of collective efforts in hygiene and sanitation of all the inhabitants of the sector. “I would say that we couldn’t manage if local leaders, the cleaning companies and even the residents had not played their respective role in keeping our environment clean,” he said. The official urged Kimihurura residents to double their efforts so they can win the best prize even for the next phase of the campaign. “I know we can win because hygiene and sanitation has become our culture,” he said, adding that pavement and greening were amongst the activities that led them to success. The Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel Gasana, whose institution was the major partner in this campaign, opened the next phase of the campaign. He committed to offering bigger awards in June next year. Gasana lauded the participants for their continued collaboration with police in hygiene and security but called for more efforts because security is a day-to-day concern. On his side, the Mayor of the City of Kigali (CoK), Fidele Ndayisaba, commended the National Police for continued efforts to ensure security and sanitation for the city. “We have partnered in this campaign. It is clear that we have attracted competition among companies and institutions. We hope to get better performance than this in the next campaign,” he said. According to the evaluation team, the hygiene and sanitation assessment was carried out in 35 sectors, 200 restaurants, 50 hotels, four hospitals, 30 health centers and 55 schools. Within six month of this campaign, 50 hectares were greened, while six hectares were paved and 12 ravines repaired. About 75 per cent of homes in the city have compost bins, while 95 per cent of the households have signed contracts with companies that collect garbage. The Minister of Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi, who was the guest of honor, encouraged sectors that didn’t perform well to do better in future. They include Muhima,Rusororo, Gatsata, and Kigali. The OneUN’s Resident Coordinator, Lamin M. Manneh, lauded the city and police officials for their commitment to make Kigali an excellent city in hygiene, sanitation and safety. “Kigali is cleaner than Geneva,” he said.