Gov’t scorecard impressive

The Government has performed relatively well on its initiatives and developmental projects but a few areas remain unmet. The New Times has established that since May 2010, about 124 decisions have been made by the Cabinet, a majority of which have been implemented; others are on track, while some are still pending.Out of the 124 government decisions, 48 of them have not been worked on, which is an impressive record by the East Africa Community standards.For example, a Cabinet meeting of October 27, 2010 decided that a special taskforce be set up to assess how much electricity Rwanda needs for development. “The taskforce was set up, chaired by the Prime Minister, and part of its finding is that Rwanda needed to have 1000 Megawatts of electricity by 2017,” said the Minister in Charge of Cabinet Affair Protais Musoni. The taskforce was also charged with building close relations with China and India as model countries that have progressed in the area of electricity rollout. Currently, Rwanda generates close to 100 megawatts of electricity and Government is wooing investors to explore the energy sector. Another Cabinet meeting, held on November 18, last year, resolved that the Ministry of Trade and Industry speed up the installations needed for a cassava milling factory to become operational. Information acquired from the Ministry indicates that an action plan is being developed to ensure that the factory becomes operational and cassava is supplied adequately. Stadium construction and renovation The Government is seeking to expand the Amahoro National Stadium or construct a new one. A Cabinet meeting of July 06, 2011 resolved that a study be conducted on how the national stadium can be expanded; however, up to date, the study is not yet out and funds are not yet available for the expansion. The New Times learnt that the deadline for the publication of the study was August 01, 2011.According to the Minister of Sports and Culture, Protais Mitali, prior estimates made indicated that the national stadium, with the capacity of 30,000 people, would be expanded to the capacity of 45,000 seats. However, it was realized that the expansion of Amahoro stadium would highly affect the neighbouring infrastructures and would consequently cost US$10 million. “Those were just estimates, studies are still underway; there is also a proposal of constructing a new stadium with the capacity of 50,000 people but it’s an expensive project which requires external funding,” said Mitali. He added that the Ministry is looking into possibilities of identifying the source of funding. Currently, China is among the potential funders of the project considering the fact that a Chinese construction company, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is on board with other agencies strategizing for the stadium construction. Recently, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Culture, Edward Kalisa, said the construction of the new stadium is expected to take three years, while renovation work at Amahoro stadium will be done in phases.Sources say Government may need to speed up the projects considering the fact that the country won the race to host the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN). In a related the development, Cabinet has continuously called on the lead hospital, King Faisal, to improve its standards so that the country can have a hospital that fits international standards. A Cabinet meeting, held on November 11, last year, resolved that the hospital be reinforced with state-of-the-art equipment and skilled personnel. This was in line with reducing the number of patients transferred abroad. The New Times is reliably informed that a proposal on reforming the hospital was supposed to be drafted and tabled before the Cabinet before the end of 2011. The same proposal of reforming King Faisal Hospital was re-tabled in the Cabinet meeting of January 13, this year; this time requesting that a roadmap to the reforms be drafted and sent to the Prime Minister on February 29, 2012. “We are on course with the reforms although, currently, are facing a problem of space; we receive many patients beyond the capacity of the hospital, this is something we have tabled before the concerned authorities,” said the acting CEO of King Faisal Hospital, Dr Alex Butera. He added that one of the proposals would be to expand the hospital or securing new space where a new hospital would be constructed. “We currently have over 400 specialists working with us; we are sending doctors abroad for further studies and, as we speak, King Faisal, is one of the best hospitals in the region… we receive patients from Ethiopia, Eritrea and other countries,” he added. Complaints about the services of King Faisal have been increasing lately, and, according to Dr Butera, a healthy hospital accommodates complaints. “The more you receive complaints the better you get to know the problem and come up with solutions; so, we highly welcome complaints,” he said.