The newly elected district executive committees for all the 27 districts where elections were held recently were Monday November 22 sworn-in and officially took over from outgoing teams.

The committees are made up of the mayor and the two deputies of economic development and social affairs and they all headed to Eastern Province for a leadership retreat.  

The swearing in ceremony marked an end of the local government elections exercise that had started one month ago.

Presiding over the swearing in ceremony in Rusizi district in Western Province, the Minister of Local Government Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi hailed the citizens and other opinion leaders for participating in the elections which he said were successfully conducted.

He also paid tribute to the outgoing cohort of leaders for their achievements in different areas, but asserted that the incoming team needs progressive mentorship in their duties.

"I know most of these new leaders are educated and experienced in the public administration domain, but they still need more capacity building to scale up their efficiency at the workplace,” he said.

They also need guidance from the higher authorities and their predecessors, he added.

After the hand-over ceremonies, all the district councillors including in the City of Kigali started preparations to head to Gishari Police Training School in Rwamagana district for an induction programme that will last for seven days.

During the retreat, they are set to cover a range of different topics including their roles, duties and responsibilities, the decentralization policy, foundations of governance and consolidation of Rwandan unity.

They will also be briefed on various problems affecting the citizens including human security, human capital development, covid-19 management, internal security and the liberation battle which is still ongoing.

Different dignitaries from the government ministries and affiliated agencies are set to visit the new leaders in the retreat and brief them ahead of the new term in office.