Declaration 2: Publication and Manuscripts
7.2 The purpose of umuganda
The initial purpose of umuganda had two elements. Firstly, umuganda was for poverty eradication. As was learnt from informants, umuganda balanced out inequality amongst community members. Even though there could be those who were regarded as more affluent, notably the cattle keepers, there was a mutual responsibility to ensure that everyone had shelter and food. Secondly, people being dependent on one another in the community
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automatically created a spirit of union. People focused more on the value that each person had in the community rather than on what could divide them (FGD-1b 27 December 2010).
Discussants noted that participation then in umuganda was more of an ethical obligation based on a measure of reciprocity. This reciprocity was not immediate and was not specified as a condition of involvement in umuganda. But a moral sense of duty was felt since it was expected that community members had to take part in whatever activities were organised, especially as those benefiting from the practice were part of the same community.
Umuganda was believed to have had great value for household well-being51 until the arrival of colonialism. According to the informants, umuganda as a moral force was weakened by the regulations of the colonial system, becoming forced labour that only benefited colonial masters and the King. This explains why some respondents reported that there was no umuganda in the colonial period, but only uburetwa (force labour). The motive behind umuganda had changed, when it was organised by outsiders (non-community members). The original purpose of umuganda became blurred when it was defined by and directly benefited the colonial masters.
Forced labour under the colonial administration aimed at mobilising economic activities for the state of the colonial economy, while sowing division among banya-Rwanda.52
The post-colonial regime did not change this state of affairs. Instead governments replaced colonial forced labour with new forms of organized collective labour. Umuganda continued to be viewed from the perspective of state development and economic growth. Hence, scholars such as Straus (2006: 109) and Verwimp (2003: 13) identify the post-colonial regime as a state imbued with a developmental ideology, based on its own understanding of development.
51 Respondents defined the well-being of households and community in terms of poverty reduction and the unification of people in the community.
52 Recall the ethnic identities initiated by the colonial system, which identified ba-Hutu as agrarian and best for forced labour, while ba-Tutsi - pastoralists - were identified as leaders (See Chapter Two).
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Some respondents noted that umuganda was directed towards nation–building. This is confirmed in promotional documents issued by the government.53 As quoted in Verwimp,
“Umuganda must be planned in order to reach its objective, developing our country by building the necessary infrastructure for its economy and allowing the new Rwandan to engage in his work” (2006: 20). Scholars have criticised this development ideology for increasing divisions between Rwandans that were created during colonial rule (Mamdani, 2001). This division is understood in the ethical orientation of umuganda, as the practice of agrarians, the sons of the soil/ the bahutu.
The idea of ‘national building’ is problematic, since it was seen as promoting a nation built on ethnic exclusion where one ethnic group was favoured at the expense of the other (OCM – 01 January, 2011). Umuganda was then regarded as the institution of the true Rwandan - meaning agrarian - while pastoralists were regarded as non-Rwandan (Verwimp, 2003, Mamdani, 2001).
Some of the respondents confirmed these arguments: that umuganda turned out to be an aba- Hutu movement, with which other Rwandan groups could not identify. As they said, aba-Tutsi were scared of attending umuganda because this divisiveness was being propagated through songs, for instance, thus preparing the way for genocide. A great deal has been written on how umuganda was used to implement the genocide policy (See the sources listed in Chapter Two).
Current reports indicate that Rwanda is still a very poor, unequal society, characterised by a sharp disparity between urban and rural areas (Uwimbabazi & Lawrence, 2011: 12). More than 80% of the population rely on subsistence (UNDP, 2010: 11). According to Mamdani (2001:
146), development in Rwanda was conceived more in terms of economic growth than in terms of social development. He argued that this resulted in development projects that were inappropriate and have left no sustainable positive effects on people’s lives (Mamdani, 2001:
147). This may mean that, even where citizens participated in activities, they were not involved in the planning stages and hence did not understand why particular activities were undertaken.
The lack of participation in planning leads to people identifying themselves with government or
53 L’Umuganda dans le développement National, (1990). Présidence du M.RN.D., service des affaires économiques, Kigali.
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privately planned projects and to “perceive these development projects as state/private-owned rather than their own” (Mukarubuga, 2006: 10). This in turn was replicated in how umuganda was conceived and practised.
Both scholars54 and participants in the focus group discussions speak out about the continuing misinterpretation of umuganda. The definition and objective of umuganda, as indicated in the law of establishing umuganda No. 53/2007, is indicative of how the current purpose of umuganda has not changed from that of the post-colonial government (Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda, 2008). The current law states that the establishment of the policy of umuganda aims at “promoting development activities in the framework of supporting the national budget and provides an opportunity for cordiality among people.”
The discussants identified two main purposes which underlie the present policy of umuganda.
The first is to re-unite the people of Rwanda. It is hoped that through collective action performed through umuganda people will be able to socialize and thereby reconcile. The second is poverty reduction. The post-genocide government hopes to attain its developmental goals through taking advantage of the free labour provided by umuganda.
Moreover, evidence presented from the field indicated that from independence onwards, umuganda has also served the purpose of communicating government decisions to the population. Through its communication style people have been sensitised to government programs. In the period leading up to the genocide, propaganda popularised the ruling political party and fuelled the genocide itself. Nowadays during umuganda the aim is to communicate government plans and decisions to the population so that they can be implemented.
Nevertheless, the kind of order and control which is evident in the current practice of umuganda contradicts the language of the government policy document which promotes unifying all Rwandans and aims to eradicate poverty. From the interviews and the focus group
54Mamdani 1996 and 2001; Verwimp, 2005.
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discussions, it was learned that in the umuganda gatherings government leaders present speeches based on themes that the central government has identified and transmitted to local leaders. Local leaders, in turn, are expected to make sure that people respond to the programs.
Thus participants in umuganda in this way are reduced to a passive audience.
Policy-makers, scholars and practitioners agree that participation is a process in which communities not only provide labour but also plan, take decisions and accept responsibility for the maintenance of projects (Swanepoel and Beer, 1998: 22). On the other hand, White (1996:
14) warns that while participation has the potential to challenge patterns of dominance, this may also be the means through which existing power relations are entrenched and reproduced.
Can it be that in the case of umuganda in the current Rwanda that ordinary people or government officials do not know the essence of participation?
Community involvement in the implementation of government programs can hardly be considered to be community participation, unless there is at least some degree of decision- making which brings together authorities and the community. Umuganda is a type of popular participation, as internal regulations and modes of operation have been pre-determined by government officials without local people’s consent. Although government policy claims to always respect the communities’ right to decide on their own affairs, it is unlikely that local officials will seek to have their own views adopted. This has been widely noted in gatherings of umuganda, where people merely follow instructions from their leaders.
Participation in the practice of umuganda is specified in the performance contract signed by leaders of the provinces. This is noted in Letter No. 02323/0306 of 21/10/2010.55 For example, in the Western Province, instructions directing different activities that need to be performed at the umudugudu level clearly stress that local communities are compelled to carry out umuganda. Although the performance contract includes Kigali city, it was found that the rural
55Western Province, a letter from the District of Rusizi to the Executive Secretary of Sector Giheke, 30 October 2010.
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population is pressured to carry out umuganda weekly, whereas the latter is only done monthly in Kigali city.
From the fieldwork, it was discovered that the ideology of community participation underpinning umuganda has been rendered meaningless by the belief that the power of the state has extended so far that it has diminished the possibility that ordinary people can become properly involved in order to address matters crucial to them. Umuganda, which is understood as a state-led practice, runs contrary to the civic inclusiveness of the original idea. Government leaders are the ones who decide what to do and who supervise what is being done, which gives little meaning and actual value to participation in umuganda by local people.