It is in God that we owe allegiance. I was able to appreciate that people at different levels of spirituality can unlock some doors that were otherwise closed. Today, we are being invited to reflect together upon the theme of Leadership and Family Values - a topic that is close to our hearts, the First Lady, Jeanette Kagame, told the Rwanda Women Leaders’ Prayer Breakfast yesterday. The Prayer Breakfast, held at Kigali Serena Hotel, was hosted by Mrs Kagame, with Mrs Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda, as the guest speaker. Also present were wives of American Senators, guests from Jordan, Burundi and Uganda, as well as hundreds of Rwandan women leaders.

Quoting from the Bible, Mrs Kagame challenged women leaders to use their God-given attributes to promote their families by raising their children morally and providing support to their husbands, as well as become mirror before which societies see themselves. "Leadership comes with much responsibility and many expectations. Leadership, is said comes from God. The leader os a vehicle of social and family values and indeed a mirror before which the people see themselves. The leader has the tremendous responsibility of being as transparent as possible in everything that he or she does.” Mrs. Kagame said. "When I speak of leadership, I do not only speak of government authority or church leadership. It is leadership in its different forms, at different levels. You represent all those faces of leadership. It is that leadership that is exemplified by many who influenced the world by their works. Not the wealthy, not the powerful, not the office bearers, but those who, through the work they do, touch lives and change people's attitudes in profound ways.

"By the force of their characters and the integrity of their ways, they command moral authority and earn respect of others. This is what great leadership is about."

She urged the women leaders to use their powerful positions to serve other than wait to be served by the people they lead. Mrs Kagame went on to list seven core values of a true leader including servant hood.

"How many can, like Jesus, bend at his disciples feet and wash them?" she asked.

"Literally, it is hard to imagine, but it simply means using our positions of influence to serve others diligently, to feed them before we feed ourselves. It means being unselfish, sacrificing for the greater good of humanity and of the nation. Anything less is false modesty and fraud."

"We must, of necessity, ensure that we have leaders who are role models and who are capable of transmitting positive moral values to the next generation. "The First Lady of Uganda, Mrs Janet Museveni urged Africa to persist against influences that "seek to destroy the family setting as it was defined by God.” "The family matters in Africa; a mother and a father raising their children in a God-fearing and upright way. Unfortunately these days, people are trying to redefine a family by saying that a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, can start up a family,” Mrs Museveni said, adding: "If we go against God and introduce these strange family models, true family values will surely get extinct.” She urged women to jealously guard their families, protect and provide for their children in order to build a society that can stand for many generations. The Prayer Breakfast concluded with a prayer for peace and end of poverty in Africa.