Huye District has committed to significantly reduce malnutrition and eradicate extreme poverty in the next few years.

The district authorities said commitment from leaders and other players at all levels is critical to achieving this goal.

At least 5.7 per cent of Huye residents are said to live in extreme poverty, down from some 15 per cent in 2011, according to the 2013/14 Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey4 (EICV4).

Countrywide extreme poverty stands at 16.3 per cent, EIVC4 indicates.  

Huye District mayor Eugène Kayiranga Muzuka said they intend to eliminate extreme poverty in two to three years.

To achieve this we will need concerted efforts from everyone, he said.

He urged local leaders to address residents’ complaints.

He was speaking on Wednesday during an event where 14 sectors signed performance contracts with the district authorities to accelerate develoment programmes.

Grassroots leaders who were present at the event will also sign the Imihigo with Sector executive secretaries.

"We should expeditiously address people’s concerns because that is our responsibility. In a bid to achieve this goal, we have to adopt a system which will effectively cut the red tape and reach out to communities to listen to people’s complaints and address them immediately,” Muzuka said.

"People should not come from elsewhere and notice problems in our midst yet we are the leaders of these people. We should rather be the first to identify and address them.”

The district has set several targets in areas of social protection and livelihood improvement, infrastructure and economic development, and good governance.

The executive secretary of Rusatira Sector, Athanase Mbayingabo, which emerged the best in the 2014/15 performance contracts, attributed their strong performance to good collaboration between leaders at all levels and the residents.

He promised more interaction with residents to ensure socio-economic development programmes are effectively implemented.

"When you [leaders] just sit in your offices, you do not understand the real issues affecting the community. But when you visit villages, people express their problems freely,” he said.

Muzuka called on residents to work hard so as to achieve self-reliance.

"Those people who remain idle without working cannot derail development. They want to eat yet do not work, they might indulge in theft. So, everyone has to work hard,” he noted.

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