Cabinet ministers Louise Mushikiwabo of Foreign Affairs and Gen James
Kabarebe of Defence converse during a break at the national leaders
retreat in March 2014. PHOTO | VILLAGE URUGWIRO
By EDMUND KAGIRE, Rwanda Today
In Summary
- For two days the more than 250 leaders will discuss issues of national interest and, hopefully, come up with concrete strategies to help the country to achieve its development targets.
- Senior officials are expected to be put on the spot to answer why there has been little progress on key outcomes of last year’s retreat despite a report by the Prime Minister’s office showing that 70 per cent of the resolutions were implemented.
It is that time of the year when officials who
have not delivered to expectations get into a panicky mode or find
excuses to explain why they did not achieve their targets, or simply sit
back in submission and admit to their failure before the appointing
authority.
Many a time, a change of guard will be seen a few
weeks after the National Leadership Retreat, known as Umwiherero in
Kinyarwanda, with underperforming officials replaced by those expected
to get things done.
The 12th edition of Umwiherero commenced Saturday
at Rwanda Defence Forces Combat Training Centre at Gabiro. For two days
the more than 250 leaders will discuss issues of national interest and,
hopefully, come up with concrete strategies to help the country to
achieve its development targets.
But even as the annual activity — touted as one of
Rwanda’s impressive homegrown solutions — concerns remain on which of
the 43 resolutions the 2014 retreat adopted has been achieved, with some
of the key programmes expected to spur development either having
stalled or moving at snail pace.
Senior officials are expected to be put on the
spot to answer why there has been little progress on key outcomes of
last year’s retreat despite a report by the Prime Minister’s office
showing that 70 per cent of the resolutions were implemented.
Major shortfalls remain in the area of
infrastructure, energy, housing, healthcare and accountability with at
least five district mayors and their deputies resigning over the past
year alone. Admittedly, the government says the shortfalls in programme
implementation and issues of accountability will top the agenda.
Leaders’ accountability — rethinking the
government’s approach to delivery; leveraging public-private partnership
to tap the full potential of the MICE sector; reviewing the performance
of health systems and enhancing the quality of health service delivery;
and infrastructure development to support planned urbanisation are
cited as the four key topics that will be on the table, according to a
statement.
Minister for Cabinet Affairs Stella Ford Mugabo
said the government will not shy away from discussing issues that have
been of great concern not only to the country’s leaders but also
citizens — including accountability, where leaders have failed to do
what they were expected of them or accused of misused public resources
in one way or another.
“The issue of accountability is a pressing one,”
Ms Mugabo told Rwanda Today. “You have heard or read about what has been
reported about district mayors resigning and all.
“That is why we are bringing forward the issue of
accountability, for leaders to sit together in one room and discuss
where we have failed as leaders and point a finger at each other where
we have not been accountable.
“I think people have taken things for granted;
sometimes leaders failing to own the processes and actions we commit
ourselves to every other day. We want to sit and say that if people
commit mistakes and are not accountable to the people they serve they
should answer for that.”
She added that part of the retreat will be to
assess which of the projects that were agreed upon last year were
achieved and which ones were not, as well as cases where implementation
is not moving as expected, and people will be made answerable, where
possible, including the concerned technocrats and bureaucrats
70 per cent success
According to the minister, however, a joint
assessment by different government institutions on the 43 resolutions
adopted at the 11th edition of the retreat showed a 70 per cent full
implementation, 28 per cent partial implementation and two per cent
failed implementation.
The rate of success is measured using the colours
of traffic lights, with successful implementation or fully achieved
resolutions marked in green, partially implemented in yellow and
completely off-track resolutions in red.
“One of the key resolutions that were achieved was
the completion of Bushenge Hospital,” said Ms Mugabo. “The hospital was
fully completed, equipped and opened.
“We have also finalised plans for the construction
of Bugesera International Airport. We are currently on the
expropriation phase, which is a positive step.
“We have also resolved the issues which were
frustrating investors with Rwanda Development Board setting up an online
claims system to address issues of investors and it is already up and
running.”
However, most of the key programmes remain in
yellow or red. These include the transfer of the community health
insurance scheme Mutuelle de Sante to Rwanda Social Security Board
(RSSB) to make it more effective.
One of the most touted programmes in Rwanda,
Mutuelle de Sante has been marred by cases of mismanagement of funds,
low subscription and complaints from users who say they are
discriminated against in public hospitals compared to holders of other
medical insurance cards.
Mismanaged funds
Several mayors who resigned were accused of
mismanaging the scheme’s funds or making false declarations on the
number of subscriptions to impress their seniors. A national assessment
on how the scheme would be transferred unearthed the rot.
According to Ms Mugabo, transferring the scheme to
RSSB requires a lot of things, including setting up new systems and
staff to manage it. The government has given itself up to June to
complete the process.
Another area in yellow was low-cost housing, where
little was achieved. But according to the minister, developing a
national housing policy required a lot of time but has been tabled
before Cabinet for approval.
She said the government has embarked on
construction of 2,000 low-cost units through Rwanda Housing Authority
(RHA) in Gisozi while other projects are being undertaken by RSSB and a
similar GTZ programme is in the offing.
The housing policy will focus on land utilisation
and planned settlements, where condominiums and highrise residential
housing will be given priority.
One of the key resolutions not completely achieved
is a Rwf26 billion government project to generate electricity from peat
in Gishoma, Southern Province. The 15 megawatts pilot failed to take
off due to unforeseen challenges, mainly environmental as well as lack
of sustainable sources of peat.
“One of the challenges we have had, I think, is
that we ventured into a project that we had not studied very well,” said
Ms Mugabo. “I suspect a good feasibility study was not done and we set
ourselves targets without studying the project well.
“We only realised later that there were so many
factors that would affect the plans to convert peat into power. The
plant itself is almost done, about 90 per cent, but it cannot operate
without enough peat, without water or without electricity to run it.”
She said there were no tandem plans to supply
water and electricity to the plant. Also, according to reports, the
plant was also constructed in a location without enough deposits of
peat, while transporting it from other sources would be expensive.
Other key projects to be discussed at the retreat
include access to clean water to address the current shortages as well
as the issue of lack of a central sewage system in Kigali.
Analysts have warned that if the government does
not quickly address the issue of sewage control in Kigali, the country
will be sitting on a “sewage time bomb” that would explode in a few
years as each house in the fast-growing capital relies on its own sewage
pit.
According to Prof Venuste Karambizi, a
socio-political commentator, the retreat provides an opportunity for the
government to re-evaluate itself and see where things have stalled and
where progress has been made.
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