The High Commission of Rwanda and the Rwandan Community in Ghana in collaboration with the Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources of Ghana has launched Umuganda in Ghana with community engagement and a clean up exercise.
The exercise, the first to be held since the High Commision of Rwanda in Ghana was established in 2020 was joined in by top Ghanaian local government officials, the diplomatic corps, the Rwandan Community in Ghana as well as residents of Ayawaso West Municipality.
Umuganda in Kinyarwanda, the indigenous language of Rwandans, means ‘coming together to achieve a given outcome’ and it is part of Rwanda’s homegrown initiatives which have contributed significantly to the country’s unity and reconciliation as well as national development following a devastating genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.
In Rwanda, Umuganda is held every last Saturday of the month to allow members of the community to come together to collectively undertake projects of common good and address social and economic challenges.
As part of the Umuganda launch in Ghana, members of the neighborhood in Dzowulu, a suburb of Accra where the Rwanda High Commission is situated undertook various communal activities including unclogging gutters, planting trees, clearing of rubbish, weeding, sweeping, among others.
The High Commissioner of Rwanda in Ghana, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira in her remarks at the event highlighted the objectives of Umuganda and how the monthly activity has helped communities in Rwanda to address developmental and societal challenges and served as a platform to unify.
“Umuganda has been instrumental in rebuilding our unity, propagating a culture of ownership and a shared responsibility for community and national development, resulting into communities coming together to solve challenges previously seen as out of their reach”.
She added “Rwandans have built classrooms, homes for vulnerable members of the community and paved neighborhood roads, contributing to improved standards of life”.
Representing the Government of Ghana at the Umuganda launch, Sandra Owusu Ahinkorah Chief Executive of Municipal Assembly of Ayawaso West lauded the initiative.
He reiterated that it is in line with the initiatives launched by President Akuffo Addo; Greening, cleaning and enhancing the sanitation of Ghana.
Those include the latest “clean your frontage” campaign. She assured the High Commission of continued and stronger collaboration.
The Diplomatic Corps also actively participated in the exercise led by its Dean Claudia Quinterro, the Ambassador of Colombia to Ghana.
