Just like couples nurturing a healthy family by trusting and respecting each other, local government leaders should embrace the same to deliver the country where it has set out to get.

This was the message delivered Sunday by Local Government minister, Francis Kaboneka while closing a five-day retreat for local government officials.

It was held at the Rwanda Defence Force Combat Training Centre in Gabiro.

Four provinces were represented by governors and executive secretaries, City of Kigali represented by the mayor, while each of the 30 districts had the executive committee members and respective division managers at the retreat.

Minister Kaboneka (inset)called for teamwork spirit among leaders in the interest of public.

"When you work together, with everyone having a sense of responsibility, everything is smoothly accomplished,” he said, adding that several setbacks in implementing government programmes at the local level have been attributed to poor collaboration.

"Whenever a colleague shows weakness, you should talk to them and remind them what you learned here,” he said.

He gave them an example of the battlefield, where, if the fighters do not work together, consequences are always severe but added that when people work together, the objective is easily reached.

This is the same with local government and leadership in general, said Kaboneka. "You cannot achieve anything if you do not cooperate with your colleagues”.

Teamwork, the minister told the local government leaders, should be part of their performance contracts going forward.

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