EditorI was first deployed to work in Rwanda in July 1997, spending the formative years of my corporate life there, and since then, coupled with other historical factors, the country is as good as my second home. What else would one call a place where in any restaurant or office, you will meet at least two people who will greet you as ‘someone from my village’! The leaps and bounds that the country has taken over the last decade, or so, can only cause analysts to scratch their heads for explanations, and only light up the hearts of those of us with fond attachments to the country.Yet this is simple as revealed by Arthur Asiimwe in his article that appeared in The New Times March, 8, focusing on the National Leadership Retreat. One word sums it up all: discipline. And this is real discipline. Not just ‘good manners’. It is discipline of that common sense of purpose that binds a team together, towards a common goal. Simple. In basic management, it goes as ‘ what is my role and input in this success or otherwise...what do my team members expect from me’...And from the short snippets I watched, I can’t agree with Asiimwe more. Where else would a head of state admit not having done as was expected of him? This is what President Paul Kagame did in respect to attaining the targets in the energy sector.Very humbling, inspiring and challenging at the same time, all capped with the liberating reality that poverty is in the mind...not elsewhere!! And wealth isnot diamonds, gold or timber, but discipline! Matsiko DB KahungaKampalabukanga@yahoo.com Editor,Good piece, Arthur Asiimwe. However, in my view the compound word is good leadership from which discipline emanates. I, therefore, submit that Rwanda is where it is today due to that leadership that has instilled the values of discipline, accountability, result-based management, to name just a few, in its governance. I also believe that with good leadership a people can achieve all they desire for no matter whether their country is endowed with natural resources or not. Rwanda is already doing that.PatriceKigali
