Public urged to support Agaciro fund

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning has revealed that his ministry will launch a national campaign to sensitize the public on the importance of the recently launched sovereign fund, Agaciro Development Fund (AgDF) Speaking to The New Times, John Rwangombwa said that several sections of the population have not acquainted themselves with the workings of the fund saying that more efforts were needed to promote it. “We still need to explain this development fund to people. We have just started the programme.”Since the fund was launched of the, several members of the public have contributed to the fund. Among them is 31 Councillors of the City of Kigali who have pledged to contribute over Rwf1 million.“We found it obvious to own this idea and send a positive message to the general public,” said Dr Dieudonne Sebashongore, the Chairman of the City Council.“This is the commitment of the Kigali City Council,” The councils’ contribution followed President Paul Kagame and members of the Cabinet who raised Rwf 33.5 million in individual contributions to the Fund.The proposal to establish the fund was brought up during last year’s National Dialogue (Umushyikirano) to mobilise resources to help wean the country off foreign aid, a development fund.The government is encouraging Rwandans to work harder to close aid gap.Development partners conntribute nearly 50 percent of Rwanda’s budget. The country’s 2012/13 budget stands at about Rwf1.378 trillion.