Sierra Leone’s Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Maya Moiwo Kaikai, has expressed his admiration for Rwanda’s governance, especially its decentralisation system.

He and his delegation are in the country on a study tour of Rwanda’s decentralisation policy and other areas.

"Rwanda has given us great lessons in the area of governance under decentralisation system of governance. It’s the reason we are here to see and learn how the decentralisation system is exercised in Rwanda,” said the minister.

He added that they had received free consultancy in Rwanda and that they were sure things won’t be the same upon returning to their country.

"Rwanda and Sierra Leone share almost a similar history of wars and instability, but the issue at hand is not what happened in the past but mechanisms to build confidence and hope in our people that things can get better than they were many years ago,” he noted.

"It was sad seeing what happened to this country 22 years ago; I could not believe what I saw yesterday at Kigali Genocide site. It’s very devastating that Africans turned against their brothers and started killing them. However, good leadership has made it history and Rwanda today is on the right direction towards accountable leadership,”  he said.

Another member of the visiting delegation, Alhassan Joseph Kanu, the director Decentralisation secretariat, said Rwanda situation is a lesson to not only Sierra Leone but to the rest of the world.

"A country that was torn apart by the aberrant ideology of the Genocide to the bench of good governance today, is a milestone achievement, a message that I will whole–heartedly take back home,” he said.

"We have seen that there is too much political will in Rwanda, a country with no political will cannot succeed in its decentralisation system of governance”, he said adding that it’s the greatest ingredient of real democracy.

The Minister for Local Government, Francis Kaboneka, thanked the visitors for choosing Rwanda among all other countries to learn about its governance, adding that the relationship between the two countries was excellent and that it should continue.

"You can’t claim to love your country when you don’t love your people. In just 22 years, we are not just a mere nation but a strong nation which cares for its people,” he told the visitors.

He pointed out that shortly after the Genocide, all fabrics of socity were torn, and  nothing was functioning. However the same people  that stopped the Genocide found that going back to the people would be ideal and hence good governance was born.

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