Governance Month winds up

More than 85 percent of the citizens’ complaints were resolved during the Governance Month, according to Rwanda Governance Board (RGB). The Governance Month sought to reinforce citizen participation in governance through problem-solving meetings termed Governance Clinics, where leaders and citizens engaged in interactive sessions. The campaign that ended on January 30 facilitated the assessment of good governance by looking at issues such as service delivery and demands of ordinary citizens. In a period of almost two months, out of 2,189 concerns raised countrywide, 1,778 were solved, while the remaining 402 complaints were referred to respective institutions for immediate action. Speaking on the outcomes of the venture during the high level meeting on Monday to assess the findings, Prof. Anastase Shyaka, the Chief Executive Officer of RGB, said the campaign was successful as many of the complaints were fully addressed. Most of the complaints raised were land-related such as land taxation, demarcations and service delivery. Other concerns were non fulfilment of obligations among entrepreneurs, domestic violence, drug trafficking and consumption and slow execution of judgements. Reacting to the findings, Venantia Tugireyezu, the Minister in the President’s Office, commended RGB for the initiative. “With this tool, people’s complaints should be solved at the local level, no need to come to the President’s office for a solution,” she noted. At the meeting, the Minister of Local Government James Musoni, said that much more efforts were needed to expedite land registration so as to solve land related complaints and disputes. “The venture was vital in addressing the peoples concerns and we should make it an annual programme because it supplements other existing efforts,” he mentioned. According to Justice Minister, Tharcisse Karugarama, the slow execution of judgements was due to cases that were too complicated while the people working on them end up abandoning them incomplete. “With the help of district mayors, we are going to carry out a study on those cases that are still posing a big problem and find long term solutions. By the end of February, we shall have got a report of all those cases from all the districts countrywide,” he pledged.

National

Governance Month winds up