What Rwandans expect from Umwiherero

As the four-day 15th National Leadership Retreat draws to a close tomorrow, The New Times talked to selected Rwandans from different backgrounds on their expectations. The retreat opened on Monday at Rwanda Defence Force Combat Training Centre in Gabiro, Gatsibo District. Excerpts; Vanessa Rukundo, Software engineer Paperwork and bureaucracy in Local government disturb me a lot! There’s this incidence I once encountered when I was at Nyarugunga Sector in Kanombe, and then some guy came in to register his five year old baby and they told the man that he had to come back the following week, as the book where they record kids had no extra free pages and they were waiting for another stock. We were all wondering, at least I was, what kind of book they used that would take a week to be reproduced. As if that was not enough, to my surprise when he asked for the specific day he should come, they told him they also didn’t know. He laughed and asked sarcastically if he could visit every day to check, and they said if he wished. He asked again what kind book that is and said, should I give u money and you buy the book? Because you guys are going to penalize me if I dont register within 15 days. The argument got serious and the guy happened to know the sector leader and started to say is your boss here? and the guys started acting weird as though it had become a fight. The last I remember, they went to the leaders office; I don’t know how the argument ended. These are some of the things which shouldn’t be happening at this time in our country. My suggestion would be to automate those processes and link the birth certificates to the hospitals. Ritha Gatsinzi, International law student in South Korea Education system is one sector that needs a complete transformation if it is to produce skilled people who will deliver Rwanda to a knowledge-based economy. I understand there are a number of reforms and restructuring every other time but we are yet to see fruits of these changes. We need to see quality education in Rwanda where by parents are not forced to send their children overseas for some kind of education we would be getting in our country. Sanny Aline Ntaganira I think it’s high time some leaders moved on from the approach of solving local people’s problem only when they have heard that the President is about to visit their area. We are serving our motherland and we should all be committed to seeing positive change in our society. With this retreat, leaders should set up measures to eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic delays in public service and service people with dignity. Aline Rutishisha, Student Leaders should look into our curriculum designed to meet the current job market. There is still an issue in our education standards and the entire system. Eriezel Twizeyimana, 38, Resident of Nyarutarama Cell There is a big issue with land evaluation and expropriation not only in in our area but an issue that has happened before. For instance, in our area there are plans of relocating us from here to develop it as per the City master plan but property evaluation was wrongly done and my wish is to have it redone and properties given the rightful value. The so-called experts they brought to do the job did substandard work because they did not consider the actual value of our properties. When we point this problem out we are told to go get other valuers different from these but the others who come ask for Rwf60,000 and one can’t get this amount given the short notice of seven days. My house is big and has two bedrooms and a sitting room, in addition to two other annexes, a kitchen and my shop. It has a value of about Rwf15 million but I am told I would receive just Rwf2 million. I cannot opt for a studio in the new houses they tell us when I have bedrooms in my current home and annexes which I let out in addition to a shop, all which bring me regular income. The studio will be of no help to me. I and other residents appeal for justice from the leaders gathered at the 15th annual National Leadership Retreat and we hope our president will visit this place to listen to our views since our previous outcries had landed on deaf ears. Ritha Gatsinzi, International law student in South Korea Education system is one sector that needs a complete transformation if it is to produce skilled people who will deliver Rwanda to a knowledge-based economy. I understand there are a number of reforms and restructuring every other time but we are yet to see fruits of these changes. We need to see quality education in Rwanda where by parents are not forced to send their children overseas for some kind of education we would be getting in our country. Emmanuel Ainamani, Businessman Well, my concern lately has been on post-harvest management of agriculture products. We have agronomists who are trained and paid monthly, but if you took a visit around villages, more than 60 percent of agriculture produce is wasted and lost after harvesting. I think concentration has been put on production as a whole country and forgotten management of the produce. Its sad. Vegetables, for example would be a quick and good source of every day income all year for our citizens if they were taught on good post-harvest management practices.

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What Rwandans expect from Umwiherero