The Minister of Local Government, Francis Kaboneka, has urged all local government leaders to strive to deliver and serve Rwandans for sustainable development.
The Minister of Local Government, Francis Kaboneka, has urged all local government leaders to strive to deliver and serve Rwandans for sustainable development.
He said this yesterday while closing a three-day retreat by local government leaders held in Nyamata, Bugesera District under the theme; "A citizen-centered local government Rwanda wants”.
The retreat, which was chaired by Kaboneka, brought together about 350 senior officials from local government entities across the country.
They included all provincial governors and their executive secretaries, Kigali City Mayor and council, executive and council members of all districts among others.
This maiden retreat came one year after the local elections of February 2016.
The main objective was to reflect on the achievements, challenges and gaps and to forge the actionable transformational way forward and policy actions.
Representing the civil society, Eugene Rwibasira lectured the participants on transformational leadership and local governance.
"The biggest challenge we have today, is that; we all want change, but we don’t want to change ourselves. The change we want should be now and not tomorrow”, Rwibasira said.
Among the resolutions from the retreat was commitment to transparency and accountability, proper planning and execution of various government programmes, especially community development projects.
Vedaste Nshimiyimana, the executive secretary of Huye District said that it is high time for all leaders to be held accountable for their actions.
"We resolved to strive to deliver and avoid repeating the same mistakes that have been committed in the past and we agreed to be held accountable where need be if leaders don’t deliver,” he said.
Minister Kaboneka appealed to local leaders to be responsible and to act responsibly.
"You are responsible and you have a mandate. Involve stakeholders, consult them, listen to them, coordinate them and, finally, take a responsible decision as a leader”, he said.
He also urged them to be responsive to the citizens and to resolve all citizens’ complaints in due time.
"Legacy and delivery are the best yardstick for any leader,” he added.
Minister Kaboneka said that such a retreat shall be held every year, adding that the ministry will conduct an induction course for all sector executive secretaries from March 28, and he urged districts to do the same for all cell executive secretaries.