HUYE- President Paul Kagame, yesterday said that Rwandans together with their government have, within their powers, the capacity to address the challenges they face and move the country forward.

Addressing thousands of residents, at Huye Stadium in Huye District, Southern Province, President Kagame said that Rwandans are aware of the problems their country faces and know the solutions and what is remaining is the action to address them.

The Head of State told the Huye residents that being aware of the challenges and the solutions is not enough, but rather working hard to overcome these challenges is the most important thing.

President Kagame said that there are actions that Rwandans can take, together with the support of the government to deal with the problems the country faces and that his return to the Province after the campaign season was a fulfillment of a promise he made during the Presidential campaigns in August. 

The President promised the residents during the campaigns last year that, if voted into office, he would return to the province to deliberate and find solutions to the challenges the people face.

He reminded the residents that if there is no collaboration between different government institutions and the people, solving problems would be practically impossible because people have to support government programmes for them to be successful while at the same time government has to do whatever is in its powers to support the people’s initiatives.

The President reminded his audience that while the government will meet its obligations to build infrastructure such as roads, it is the people who will make use of them noting that a good road alone is not a solution in itself but rather how the people use and preserve it.

President Kagame cited stability as one of the key factors for development to take root, but noted that it is the people who bring about the stability and sustain it, with each individual playing a role. He emphasized that without stability development cannot be realized.

Once again, Kagame underscored the fact that the development Rwanda aspires to is the development for all and not just a few, whether in rural or urban areas, but mostly in rural areas because it is where the majority of the people live.

In reference to the problems that the district faces, that had been mentioned earlier, President Kagame said that Huye District, given its strategic position and other factors such as being the hub of education, infrastructure as well as a thriving private sector, is more positioned than any other district in the country, to develop.

The President cited various higher institutions of learning based in the district, strong religious institutions, different government and non-governmental institutions as well as a strong private sector as some of the advantages the district has over the majority of the other districts.

He noted that with such advantages, there is no reason for the district to remain underdeveloped.

The Head of State urged the residents not to waste time waiting to accomplish tasks that would be otherwise completed in a short period.

President Kagame who had earlier inaugurated a modern market constructed by Ingenzi Cooperative at a cost of Rwf1.5bn, in Huye town held an interactive session with the local residents, and resolved some of their problems, mainly to do with land disputes and social injustices.

According to the Minister of Local Government, a study carried out in 2005/06 showed that the Southern Province was home to some of the poorest people in the country, with the majority of them living below the poverty line but several government programmes have since transformed the area.

Before 1994, the region suffered massive poverty, hunger, shortage of land and a population that wasn’t pro-work but today several government programmes such as land consolidation and crop intensification as well as Girinka and Ubudehe have transformed the area.

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