Most Rwandans woke up on Friday morning with the news that two cabinet ministers had tendered in their resignations. For the former volatile minister in charge of Constitutional and Legal Affairs, the writing was on the wall. A few days ago, he became an internet sensation when he was outed on Tweeter for assaulting a female security officer. The minister failed a lesson in humility when he refused to pass through the metal detector at the entrance of a building and instead asserted his non-existent privileges. Aware of his folly, he was quick to post an apology on Tweeter and next day his photo trended on social media posing with the assaulted woman at the security company’s headquarters where he had gone to apologise officially. It was not enough to save the Titanic. But the other resignation came as a surprise. Unlike his colleague mentioned above, the State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education had not courted any controversy. He was very low key and only usually appeared in the media during the launching of the national exams or declaration of results. Now it seems there was more behind the affable façade and he is now under investigation. The two cases above illustrate Rwanda’s governance style. Public servants, especially senior officials, are held to the highest moral standards as both former ministers discovered the hard way. They both knew the risks of their actions but complacency had the better of them and now they know that there are no sacred cows in town. But what a shame.
