As the mayoral elections draw close, Jean Damascene Ndagijimana, the incumbent Mayor of Nyabihu District, has stepped up campaigns to see him re-elected.

In an interview yesterday, Ndagijimana said he is confident of being voted back into office.

"After serving for two and a half years as Mayor of Nyabihu, I have been able to understand the district better, and in the next term, we shall focus on development issues,” he said.

Ndagijimana hopes to capitalise on his modest past achievements to get re-elected.

Settling Gishwati Forest problem which had been persistent over the years, better service delivery and stemming ethnic divisions are among the achievements he cites.

 "Nyabihu has also been exemplary in the fight against corruption as we emerged the least corrupt district in the country. We are setting up strategic mechanisms to double our achievements in the next term because there is potential," said Ndagijimana.  

 The 44-year old mayor says that in the next term, he will improve agriculture, especially tea production, utilizing the forest resources and livestock promotion.

Tea production in Nyabihu has been key to the district's development with cultivated hectares increasing from 729 in 2006 to 1,024 today. The district intends to triple this by the end of 2015.

Other achievements cited by the district include sensitizing over 47,000 people to form cooperatives with over Rwf500 million in savings.

He however, singled out challenges that await the new district leadership as being the nature of the landscape with only 27 percent of the land fit for use.

He advised the electorate to elect leaders with potential other than basing on friendship and family ties. 

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