EngRegional
Umushyikirano has been Rwanda’s backbone for socio economic development
The annual National Dialogue Council, or Umushyikirano,
is back, convening thousands of Rwandans including leaders and representatives
of the Rwandan community abroad, civil society organizations, and the media, to
discuss the state of the nation, review the country's progress and shape the
future.
Governed by article 168 of the Constitution,
Umushyikirano is a forum where participants debate issues relating to the state
of the nation, the state or functioning of the decentralized structures, and
national unity.
Umushyikirano was first held in 2003. Ever since, it has
been held as a custom.
Themed ‘dialogue on Rwanda's development, unity, and
youth empowerment,’ the upcoming Umushyikirano comes as the country prepares to
hold presidential and parliamentary elections on July 15.
Being one of Rwanda’s home-grown
solutions, Umushyikirano has increasingly become a popular platform as it
offers an opportunity for citizens and their leaders to openly discuss development
programmes while identifying and eliminating the bottlenecks to promote
efficiency.
Umushyikirano has been a catalyst that helped key government programmes, such as Girinka, Ubudehe, Imihigo, Umuganda,
universal health insurance, Gacaca courts, Abunzi and access to justice bureaus, remain on track.
The latest
Umushyikirano will review progress of Rwanda’s development, unity and youth
empowerment and efforts to empower young Rwandans to lead national
transformation.
Umushyikirano
created a spirit of ownership for national development programmes, with the view
to increasingly make Rwanda less dependent on foreign aid and ultimately
achieve economic self-sufficiency.
There
has been notable improvement with regard to the role of internally generated revenues
in the financing of the national budget in recent years.
Over
the past three decades, Rwandans have not only gotten a new lease of life, but
also enough reason to hope for a prosperous future for their country.
Rwanda
made great strides to enhance unity and reconciliation amongst its people as
well as profound developments to enhance and promote the reconstruction process
of the nation.
The country
had a troubled past caused by bad leadership which promoted divisionism among
Rwandans. After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the RPF-led government challenged
the decades of divisionism and managed to unite Rwandans and help in
reconciliation.
Rwanda
has begun harvesting the dividends of its policy on unity and reconciliation.
Across the country, rural and urban communities live together in harmony and
with more mutual respect than ever before.
Thanks
to the discussions during Umushyikirano, among others, the government increased
the number of hospitals, health centers and health posts, so as to facilitate
access to health care.
There
are more than 510 health centers, 1,245 health posts as well as 56 hospitals. Rwanda
continues to take huge steps forwards. German biotechnology company, BioNTech, in
December 2023, unveiled its first African site in Rwanda’s
capital, Kigali, as part of the firm’s efforts to facilitate the
production of mRNA vaccines.
With
it, Rwanda, and Africa, will have one of the most advanced manufacturing
facilities in the world.
