The twelfth annual National Leadership Retreat opens today at Rwanda Defence Forces Combat Training Centre in Gabiro. It is one of the home grown solutions that have helped transform Rwanda to be the country that it is today. In an interview with The New Times’ Edwin Musoni and Mary Ingabire, the vice-dean of the Centre for Conflict Management (CCM), Dr Eric Ndushabandi, gives an insight in the relevance of the retreat and how the initiative contributes to holding leaders to account.

Take us through the whole concept of the National Leadership Retreat and how this idea came up.

The Leadership Retreat is a brainchild of President Paul Kagame and it’s one of the unique initiatives of Rwanda’s leadership style. It’s something which is not constitutional but it is a Presidential Order that fits in the general politics of a democratic system.

The idea came up when Rwanda decided to set up a democratic governance system that matches all principles of democracy.

The idea was to bring senior government officials and some particular invitees from civil societies to discuss major issues of national concern.

 So this year, when we look at how it has been developing, it’s based mostly on priorities and these priorities are changing every year. This means that the nation treats this kind of mechanism as a platform for dialogue and a style for leadership.

When you talk of the style of leadership you also mention several issues, including the National Dialogue (Umushyikiriano). How different is this kind of style of leadership from the traditional system governance?

What makes it unique is that you can’t find it anywhere in the world. It’s a fitting initiative within a liberative democracy. So the retreat is a component of the dialogue mechanism which brings senior leaders and all stakeholders together who are in development and implementation of policies.

The main objective is to develop accountability which is a component of liberal democracy. I also consider this retreat as a framework that promotes popular participation which is also a mechanism where we encourage citizenry into political participation.

Here, people engage in the debate and through this kind of horizontal discussion on policies, the political culture is enhanced. So, from this political innovation theory, several political actions are well coordinated. This initiative promotes efficiency in leadership; also the retreat creates awareness towards the country’s shared vision.

Major commitments are made at the retreat, but there is a full year between  each retreat, isn’t this a long time for a review of the follow up? 

This may seem a long time for a review if there are not other means to check the progress on each commitment made. However, responsible ministries are tasked with coming up with mechanisms of continuously evaluating progress made. For example, one way of checking the progress is through performance contracts (Imihigo).

It is sufficient to take one year to come back and reflect on this popular participation.

I should as well point out that this leadership style which is very effective and visional is mainly aimed at empowering people and providing them with information on what is going on and what has been discussed from the retreat.

At the same time, we are shaping our knowledge on what the government is doing and what decisions are made, there’s a very important element which I also trust.

When people meet in these retreats and reflect on matters of national interest, the driving force is mutual trust and the only way to progress is through open discussion. So it is very substantial to make this consensus process as a component of democracy and it is bringing legitimacy instead of having every ministry taking decisions solely.

How have these retreats ensured that leaders are held accountable to the public?

The concept of accountability is related to the democratic process so the retreat is really a way to ensure this is practiced perfectly well. At the retreat leaders are challenged; they have to respond to their responsibility, this is how leaders are held accountable to the public during these gatherings.

You are a political scientist and a member of public, do you think these retreats have reaped any results to the general public?   

Sure people are reporting perfectly well. As a citizen, I am seeing changes happening; take an example of the health insurance; people are paving ways to see that it is well implemented. So, all these developments are recorded as positive impact to the people.

The retreats are not just debates and discussions there is quite some great work being done there.

Talking of the way forward, you speak so highly of Rwanda’s leadership style, in your understanding what should be done to ensure the rate of development is sustained or even improved further to achieve the country’s set targets in different sectors?

 As an analyst one of the important thing that must be sustained is the five-year evaluation and setting up sectorial policies as well as  engaging everyone in the process with that, the country’s progress and achievements will forever be consolidated .

Today, we are seeing a government that is focused and determined to deliver effective leadership to its people.

One challenge is that Rwanda is still facing very much opposition in terms of not trusting what we are doing. More of this form of opposition is outside the country and less within the country.

If you happen to ask every Rwandan what they want to hear from the retreat, everyone will give their own idea, so apart from what is on the agenda, yourself as Ndushabandi, what do you want the retreat to put in consideration?

We have achieved a lot in politics, social, economic and so on and as a citizen I am impressed by all this.

But my worry is for the youth who are just completing universities and are jobless; I base my concerns on a deep research I made. I met with all the political parties in the country and their provincial representatives, the unifying concern among them is unemployment and I’m aware of that too.

The solution to this should be along the lines of encouraging innovation and boosting investments to create more jobs.