President Paul Kagame on Friday, February 28 urged leaders to prioritise the interests of Rwandans instead of being self-centred.

Kagame said this during the swearing-in ceremony of four new ministers and four new state ministers who joined the Governmentafter Wednesday’s cabinet reshuffle.

The ceremony also saw two new members of parliament, Emmanuel Karemera and Germaine Mukabarisa, take oath.

In his remarks, the President thanked new members of the cabinet for choosing to join hands with other leaders in the course of the country’s development.

"In your oath of office, you committed to not use your power for your own profit. This is where things go wrong and people show their weaknesses. Some recognise it as a mistake while others think it is a show of strength, but that is wrong,” he said.

"Serving the benefits of all citizens is what is important in rebuilding and moving our country forward from where we are to where we want it to be as Rwandans.” 

Kagame also noted that while personal development of leaders shouldn’t be neglected, it should come after shared benefits of Rwandans.

Working hard should be a culture

The President emphasised that Rwanda’s development is a result of people’s hard work, which he said should be a culture.

He said: "Our country continues to move forward, we even find ourselves achieving more than what was originally within our means,” adding that: "That means people are working very hard and using the resources available efficiently, which should become our work culture.”

Over the last three quarters of 2019, Rwanda recorded an economic growth rate of 10.9 per cent largely driven by the strong performance of services, industry and agriculture sectors.

New ministers and other officials during the swearing in Ceremony in Kigali yesterday. Village Urugwiro.

The President also highlighted the fact that the new members of the cabinet are still young, emphasising that this should foster hard work.

"I saw that all of the leaders who took oath today are still young and majority of you are women. Use those strengths and work hard because nothing will be impossible if we work together with the right values, and for the benefit of Rwandans.”

Four of the eight new ministers and state ministers are women, meaning 17 out the 32 members of the cabinet are women.