President Paul Kagame has congratulated residents of the Western Province on their achievements and called upon them to work harder and together for their own development.

The Head of State delivered the message yesterday as he continued his Citizen Outreach programme in Mudende Sector of Rubavu District, where he met tens of thousands of residents on his second leg of the three-day tour that started in Gakenke District on Thursday.

[KINYARWANDA] President Kagame addressing residents of Rubavu District, March 25.

"There is a lot that you have achieved here and there is a lot we have achieved as a country but every day we remember there is still a lot to do. We are still behind in terms of development. Our country’s policy is about transformation. Everyone has to achieve development and everyone has to contribute in development,” he said.

Kagame called upon the residents to work hard, saying much as this may be tiring, the alternative of not working hard is even more costly, as it means poverty, disease or even death.

"The journey to development requires hard work but the alternative means poverty, disease and death… let us commit to the hard work needed to transform our country and reject the alternative,” he told them.

READ ALSO: Kagame reassures Gakenke on feeder roads, health centre

The President also cautioned residents against the habit of not sending their children to school; a mind-set that he said must change if the desired development was to be achieved in the current era.

He tasked the residents and local officials to do more to bring children through school instead of allowing them to be involved in trade, most of which is informal, as well as child labour.

"That kind of mentality is of which century?” he challenged residents. "Let’s leave behind the bad history because there are opportunities now for children to go to school,” he said.

[KINYARWANDA] President Kagame addressing residents of Gakenke District, March 24.

The three-day trip is part of the President’s routine meetings with citizens across the country during which he meets and interacts with people, focusing on issues of governance and development.

In Mudende, where residents from different parts of Rubavu District met at the playground of Kanyundo Primary School to receive him, the Head of State reiterated his call for leaders’ accountability and warned against corruption among some local officials.

"Leaders are elected so they can work for people. They should work in people’s best interests and we should be able to work together to bring those who fail in their tasks to account,” Kagame said.

He added that it is unacceptable for any leader to enrich themselves out of resources and programmes meant to help the poor such as the One-Cow-Per-Poor Family programme and Vision 2020 Umurenge (VUP) among others.

READ ALSO: Alternative to hard work is misery, says Kagame

Rubavu District’s mayor, Jeremie Sinamenye, as well as local government minister Francis Kaboneka welcomed the President in Mudende.

The mayor went on to highlight the district’s achievements which include conserving the environment through terracing, improving tea production, maize, Irish potatoes, and pyrethrum among other products and building two modern butcheries.

He also shared the district’s challenges with the president, including the need to upgrade the capacity of Rubavu Hospital, the need to connect three cells in Bugeshi Sector to electricity, and what they see as an economic potential for installing a plant to crash volcanic rocks that are plentifully available in Bugeshi sector.

The President tasked officials in the central government and local officials to work together with the private sector to find answers to challenges mentioned by the mayor as well as those mentioned by ordinary residents during their interaction with him.

The Head of State also held a meeting with opinion leaders in Rubavu District late yesterday and he is expected to conclude his tour today with another meeting with citizens at Umuganda Stadium, also in Rubavu District.

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