How Rwanda Became The Cleanest Country in Africa

Hello Displorers, Welcome back to another exciting video presented to you by Displore and thanks for watching, In this video we shall be looking at how Rwanda, a small land locked country in Africa became the cleanest country in Africa. For some time now Rwanda has been on the map not only because it is an emerging country with an emerging economy, but also how clean the country is. Officially known as the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge. One of the smallest countries on the African mainland, its capital city is Kigali. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. Rwanda has a population of over 12.6 million living on 26,338 km2 of land, and is the most densely populated mainland African country. Rwanda hasn’t always been the cleanest country in Africa, the country has suffered one of the biggest crisis in history which made the country dirty, polluted and dilapidated in the early and mid 90s, fast forward to 2020, Rwanda especially its capital city has become the pride of Africa when it comes to cleanliness and Green cities. Everyone that has ever set foot in Rwanda always comment on how clean and fresh the country is. The big Question now is How did Rwanda became so clean?
Before we dive into how Rwanda went from Dirty to cleanest country in Africa, If you are new here welcome, be sure to subscribe and turn on notification so you don’t miss any of our videos.
When paul Kagame took over as president of Rwanda, he introduced a strategic development plan for the country in General and Kigali in particular. Some of these measure included
1. The ban of Non Bio-degradable bags
In 2002, As part of the campaign by the world Health organization to reduced air pollution and destruction of the Ecosystem caused mainly by plastic bags, several nations were called upon to take stringent measures with regards to the production and usage of plastic bags in their countries.
In 2002 Rwanda was the first country in African and second in the world after Bangladesh to ban the production and importation of plastic bag. Rwanda has zero tolerance towards Plastic bags and Traffickers caught carrying Illegal plastic bags in Rwanda are liable to be fined, jailed for up to six months or forced to make public confessions. The banning of Plastic bags in Rwanda greatly improve the hygiene condition of its cities as most of the streets of Rwanda became plastic bags free. Rwanda becoming a plastic bags free country has greatly improve the hygienic condition of the country.
2. Implmentation of the umuganda
Umuganda, a Kinyarwanda word that translates as “coming together in common purpose,” is the name of the monthly community cleanup held on the last Saturday of every month, this holistic community effort to clean up the country “is one reason that Rwanda is renowned in Africa for its cleanliness.”
But cleaning up Rwanda is not a volunteer project. On paper, Umuganda is a Utopian community fantasy project, in which people come together each month to keep their neighborhood, town, city, and country clean. During the Umuganda “police monitor the streets and can stop Rwandans who aren’t participating and make them clean up on the spot.” The penalties for not taking part in Umuganda are severe for Rwandans. Fines can be issued for up to 5,000 Rwandan francs, nearly $6. That’s not an insignificant amount when the average income translates to roughly $150 a month. During the Umuganda, everyone including the president and expatriates join in cleaning the streets and Watering plants. What do you expect from a country where its president joins in the cleaning of its streets? Perfection Right?.
3.Restriction of Street Vendors and Hawkers
In many cities in Rwanda, street vending and hawking is greatly discouraged especially in the city centres. The Rwanda Government greatly encourages hawkers to sell their products at assigned markets so as to avoid littering of the streets. Defaulters are most often than sanctioned. It is forbidden to throw dead animals, papers or any other related waste on the streets. Trach bags and cans are littered around major cities I Rwanda and citizens are highly encouraged to use them. This measure taken by the Rwandan government has greatly help maintain order and cleanliness in most Rwanda cities especially its capital city Kigali.
4. Planting Trees to Clean up the country.
Did you know that Rwanda is one of the only countries in the world that has a positive rate of forestation? Every year more trees are planted and protected in Rwanda than cut down. This is no easy feat considering

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