Local government leaders are expected to formally commit, in the presence of President Paul Kagame, to new and ‘innovative’ Imihigo (performance contracts) as the country looks to new approaches of fast-tracking economic development and creating fast impact on livelihood.

Dr Uziel Ndagijimana, the state minister for economic planning, said this time round, Imihigo were reformed with new elements incorporated to ensure effectiveness.

Last month, during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi in Kigali, officials – including ministers, managers of major parastatals, provincial governors and district mayors – reviewed their performance contracts for the Financial Year 2015-2016 ahead of today’s signing.

Among the new ideas, Dr Ndagijimana said, was to integrate Imihigo in the process of planning and budgeting for 2015/16, especially because it was realised that, in the past, plans were agreed on after a budget had been passed, which meant that some projects could not have enough funds for implementation.

"The objective now is to ensure that key actions are part of the plan and are fully implemented. It will also allow enough time for implementation,” he said.

The new Imihigo will also align targets of central ministries with the districts to ensure nothing is missed in the implementation process.

There will also be ‘joint Imihigo’ since it was realised that many development projects are shared by several institutions. Related activities will be identified and put in clusters so that stakeholders sign Imihigo together.

The seven clusters to be spearheaded by the relevant ministries include agriculture, energy, urbanisation and rural settlement, exports, as well as job creation.

Others are social protection and service delivery clusters, both spearheaded by the Ministry of Local Government.

Revitalising Imihigo

"Another important change is that we want to revitalise Imihigo under what is sub-district Imihigo. This existed in the past but this time, we want to reinforce it in areas such as nutrition or school dropout, and others, which do not require a budget but community commitment,” Dr Ndagijimana said.

By signing Imihigo, leaders commit to implementing key activities within a specific time frame while the government commits to providing resources to implement the projects.

Broadly, targets under Imihigo in the current financial year include plans to increase exports by 20 per cent, 70 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, take 5,000 households out of high risk zones, distribute more than 25,000 cows to vulnerable households, and ensure that all Rwandans access health insurance.

Luis Rwagaju, the mayor of Bugesera, said: "I appreciate the role and positive impact of Imihigo in national development. They provide direction during implementation.”

This year, Rwagaju said he is looking forward to accomplishing many things, including extending electricity to Musenyi Sector, which has a population of over 20,000 people; constructing a water treatment plant in Kanzenze Sector; constructing about 30 kilometres of feeder roads; as well as constructing several 12-Year Basic Education classrooms.

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History

Introduced in 2006, Imihigo, which are signed every year, are credited with improving accountability and speeding up the pace of citizen centered development activities and programmes.

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