Get down to work, PM tells leaders

KIGALI - Prime Minister Bernard Makuza has called on both central and local Government leaders to roll up their sleeves and implement the country’s development strategies as laid out in the comprehensive government roadmap for the next seven years. The Premier was speaking yesterday at the start of a two-day meeting that brought together central and local government officials in Kigali. He requested them to spend more time executing the development strategies, rather than just talking about how things should be done. “You should pool your efforts towards the implementation of the plans that we have put in place and avoid the tendency of repeating the same issues every time there is a meeting,” said Makuza, who earlier this week presented the government’s broad strategies in Parliament. The PM urged leaders to change their mindset by putting into action what is supposed to be done in the planned timeframe so that the goals are achieved on time.In the meeting, a number of other issues were discussed including the local savings and credit scheme, Umurenge SACCO. The concept was initiated on the understanding that banks and other financial institutions are more concentrated in towns and less present in rural areas to serve the poor. As such, establishing a SACCO at every Umurenge (community level) would bridge this gap. This would, in effect, encourage citizens to fully engage with financial institutions. In the meeting, it became clear that there was need to strengthen these institutions by creating unions at the district level where the more sophisticated procedures like giving out loans can be coordinated, hence leaving the sectors to handle less sophisticated procedures. It was also suggested that salaries of the Umurenge SACCO employees be included in the districts’ budget instead of it going through the Rwanda Cooperatives Agency (RCA). Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the Premier said he was optimistic the leaders would respect the deadline. Ends

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Get down to work, PM tells leaders