EDITORIAL: New mayors should strive to outdo their predecessors

All mayors in the country will step down at the end of this month to pave way for fresh elections. The local government docket is one of the most important cog in a government’s wheel, but it is also it’s Achile’s heel. It is therefore not surprising that of the 30 districts and the City of Kigali, only about ten fulfilled their two term mandate with no major hitches. Most saw a turnover of mayors, executive secretaries or the entire district administrative team. The pressure to perform well even pushed some to cook up figures of their achievements with the misplaced motion that appearances and not actual service delivery was what was most important. But on the brighter side, many local leaders did a tremendous job and could be credited with helping uplift over one million people out of extreme poverty, especially by supervising government policies to that effect. While some districts will welcome a new change of guard, some will surely miss their old leaders, especially those who endeared themselves to their subjects by tirelessly working in their interests. Such leaders will definitely find a place in the Rwandan nation building journey where they can share their experiences to better improve service delivery for the population. To those who failed to deliver, their fate hangs in the hands of their electorate, they best know their mayors’ worth, their strengths and weaknesses. The next group of local administrators at least have a template to work from, they will not be starting from scratch as some of their predecessors. They should therefore strive to improve on what they find.

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EDITORIAL: New mayors should strive to outdo their predecessors