Environmental consciousness, lessons from Rwanda

04 Nov, 2016 - 00:11 0 Views
Environmental consciousness, lessons from Rwanda

The ManicaPost

Abraham Mudefi Focus on Environmental Issues

Welcome to my second series of your exciting column, Focus on Environmental Issues. Kigali is the Capital City of Rwanda. The talk of Rwanda in East Africa brings bad memories of the spine chilling genocide that occurred in 1994. This occurred in of 100 days between April and June of 1994. During this Dark Age 800 000 Rwandans mostly minority Tutsis were killed by extreme Hutu nationalists.  This is what most people know about Rwanda. This article is about to give you information you did not know about Rwanda. Rwanda is the smartest City in Africa. The level of environmental consciousness in Kigali is astounding.

The streets and residential areas of Kigali are sparkling clean. You will not come across a piece of paper in Kigali. It’s unbelievable but it’s true. Rwanda has managed to enforce a clean city without any harsh laws. This has resulted in a very beautiful city and many new weds are seen being photographed in most of Kigali’s magnificent roundabouts. Rwanda achieved this by harnessing its cultural principle of Umganda (Close to our equivalent of kunhimbe, kuzunde, mushandirapamwe etc.).

The word can literary be translated in Rwanda to mean “community” or “payment”. Just before the 1994 Genocide President Juvénal Habyarimana capitalised on the Umganda philosophy as the national ideal of a true Rwandan Identity. As a result True Rwandans provided their free labour to clean up Kigali and other projects like school building, road works, filling galleys, cutting grass and planting trees among many community activities.

Let us take a close look into some of the few simple measures enforced by the government to ensure that there is a high level of Environmental Consciousness in Rwanda. The first initiative taken by government is to ban the manufacture and use of plastic bags in Rwanda. Alternatives for plastics were provided at reasonable prices. This move literally put plastic pollution to a halt.

The second reason is the Umganda philosophy. This is now embedded in the country’s history and culture. It was later enforced by the country’s legislative framework. Because of this people simply don’t litter around not even the school kids do that, they know the right thing to do and they do it religiously.

The third reason why there is no littering in Rwanda is the Council and Government leaders in the hierarchy take the issue seriously they try to lead by examples. There is also no excuse for a business complex or residential area of a government leader to be littered. Everybody takes part in the mandatory community cleaning once every month. Households also ensure that there is no litter in the homes every time.

Cleaning of Kigali is not only restricted to the last Saturday of the month, it is every day. The last Saturday is only for bigger activities that require the effort of many people. The fourth reason is that cleanliness is taken from grassroots levels. This includes homes, school and villages. The government has now made it a culture that identifies the people of Rwanda and the people are proud to be part of this culture.

The fifth reason why Kigali is the smartest city in Africa is that all household are required to build waste disposal pits and basic hygiene facilities. The Civic communities also help in organised larger waste disposal. The City fathers of Kigali ensure that there are adequate facilities like bins and public toilets around the city.

The last reason is that the government has recently enforced this culture as part of its laws. It has also been introduced as parts of its curriculum.

Cleanliness is critical in Kigali and regularly forms the agenda in parliament. This only shows how far the country is willing to go in keeping the environmental consciousness of its people.

Peter Creste on the Aljazeera Website of 6 July 2012 comments that Rwanda is an enigma, “Motorbike taxi drivers all wear helmets drivers buckle up and nobody jumps a red light. Corruption is almost unheard of, pot-holes get fixed, and, once a month, everybody joins the national clean-up day to remove rubbish, cut grass and fix fences”.

Creste thinks there is an authoritarian force to this unusual national compliance. He however concludes that Rwanda could have harnessed people’s energies during the reconstruction phase after the genocide. Anneke Van Woudenberg The Deputy Director of the Africa Division in a Newsweek article published in the Human Rights Watch (October 15, 2015) believes there is foul play in his article entitled “The Dirty Secret Behind Kigali’s Clean Streets”.

He says President Kigali has a Centre where it tortures people who litter the city. She says “It’s a place where Kigali’s “undesirables” – street vendors, sex workers, homeless people and beggars are taken, beaten and arbitrarily detained. Their offense, they are told, is they make the city look dirty”. Whatever critics would like to call it I think Rwanda’s Model is something to learn from.

A look at other countries around the world shows that a litter free city is not impossible.

The method of enforcement varies but sometimes some people find it easy to comply when there is some “minimum force” applied. Singapore is an Island City-State, it has draconian laws that encourage people to keep their environment clean. Singapore is spotless clean, below are some of the fines introduced around the 1960s by Prime Minster Lee Kuan, the following fines are imposed on people who are careless about the environment. Anyone who drops litter is charged an equivalent of 500 Pounds.

A repeat offender is charged up to 1000 Pounds. Third offenders can be forced to wear signs labelled “I am a litter Lout”.

The following fines also apply spitting gum S$100, urinating in public places S$500 and failing to flush a lavatory in a public toilet S$100. Police are very vigilant in enforcing these laws. Though most of us could call them harsh fines but the result is an extra ordinarily clean and tidy country

The President of Rwanda Paul Kagame has invested so much into in this culture that he personally takes part in the compulsory Saturday cleaning seasons. This has created teamwork and every person fills personally indebted to participate in cleaning the City.

The Rwandans feel that they do not need any resources to keep their surroundings clean. They use whatever they have to make this dream a reality. This community cohesion has been used by the President to build the economy of the country. Rwanda is one of the fastest growing Cities in Africa.

The crime rate is close to zero percent. You can walk any time of the day in the City and feel safe.

Kigali’s Umganda is coming together in common purpose to achieve a community outcome. Over 80% of Rwandans take this concept seriously and this saves the country millions of dollars. Attitude and behaviour change is a process. Sometimes external influence is required to educate people to attain some level of consciousness.

Let’s take time to reflect on this article as a Zimbabwean and some of us as the local authority or legislators. Let’s rise to the challenge of getting our communities together to make our City and local areas clean. Let us pick litter, cut grass, stop veldt fires, and plant trees. Let us take action before mother earth starts to punish us into extermination. It is never too late to start now, it begins with you. Enjoy your weekend.

 

Abraham Mudefi is a Development Worker with a local Youth Organisation. Please feel free to suggest other topics of concern or just sent in your feedback to [email protected] or 0772 968 040.

 

Share This:

Sponsored Links

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds