President Paul Kagame has told the new cabinet members, that they should not take the country achievements for granted because there is still a big room for improvement.
The President presided over the swearing ceremony of 21 ministers, 9 ministers of state and a chief executive officer of Rwanda Governance Board, the team that will help him implement his program in the next five year term.
The President first addressed the issue of the cabinet members, who did not bounce back-three ministers and two ministers of state and said they were not dismissed.
“They were not dismissed but their positions were changed and you will get to know them when time comes,” Kagame said.
“We happen to dismiss officials, but the case here is different.”
To the new cabinet, Kagame said, they should not think that they will do their work as per the routine, but things have to change.
“This is not a switch off-switch on, business as usual. There are things which did not go through in the past. We should aim to work even harder to achieve them,” the President said.
Kagame said, the officials should always do an auto evaluation, to listen to their hearts and be able to adjust. He even advised them to listen to those who criticize them on social media.
“Listen to those criticism, don’t take them for granted. You may not stop people from criticising you, but use these criticisms for auto evaluation. Do not be scared with criticism on social media, read them and adjust where applicable and leave the rest and move on,” Kagame advised.
The President said, the globally, the country has been achieving a lot, 8%-9% in Growth Domestic Product, but he said, the resources that allowed the country to achieve that, can allow the leaders to do even way better.
“I am not asking you to perform miracles, but to do what is possible. Why not 10% for example?” Kagame asked adding that the way to go is by working together, because one person, however much greater can be, cannot achieve much.
“Institutions should work together and by institutions I mean people working together,” he said.
The president requested officials to be accountable, because in some cases, development partners challenged the country.
“You know a development partner will ask us what we did with their fund after six months and say; we were ready to offer more, but what did you do with the previous fund? Really?” Kagame said adding that Rwanda should not fail anyone to that extent.
Kagame said, officials should stop long meetings where he even call them and finds they are in endless meetings. He wonders when they do the work because they remain in meetings.
He said some officials even do not know to manage their team effectively.
