President Paul Kagame has this Friday appointed five councillors of the City of Kigali, who will be among the 11-person city council. In a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, the five councillors include Dr Jeannette Bayisenga, a lecturer at the University of Rwanda, who has been the chairperson of Gasabo District Council. The other is Gilbert Musengimana, who has been a member of Nyarugenge District Council and currently works with the National Bank of Rwanda. The newly appointed councillors also have among them Regis Rugemanshuro, the Chief Digital Officer at the Bank of Kigali. The others are Gentil Musengimana and Dr Ernest Nsabimana. The five will be joined by another six councillors who will be elected Saturday morning to fully constitute the council. For the councillors to be elected, each district will be represented by two, with at least one woman. After the council is fully constituted, they will among themselves vote the new city mayor, in accordance with the new law governing the city of Kigali. The new law invalidates the legal status of all the three city districts of Nyarugenge, Gasabo and Kicukiro. According to the new law, the city districts will no longer have mayors or their deputies, and these are to be replaced by administrators, to be appointed by central government. The new law also provides for a city managers. According to sources from City Hall, following the election of the new mayor and governing council, will trigger a series of changes in the technical staff of the city, to realign them with the new city structure. Besides the district administrators, other notable appointments from central government includes one of the City Manager. Defending the new city structure before parliament back in April, Local Government Minister Anastase Shyaka said that this was aimed at bringing about efficiency, by cutting down on bureaucracy that he said is impeding delivery of services. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
