President Kagame urged new leaders to go above and beyond and mobilise resources for their dockets.
President Paul Kagame urged the recently appointed Ministers to become resource mobilizers for their dockets, reminding them that their assignment is not just to sit in offices and wait for the government to provide all the resources they need to do whatever they have to do.
The Head of State was officiating the oath-taking ceremony of Nelly Mukazayire, Minister of Sports, Rwego Ngarambe, State Minister in the Ministry of Sports, and Godfrey Kabera, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, in charge of the Treasury on Monday, December 23, 2024.
President Kagame said that accepting an appointment is not about taking an oath for the office but about what one does in the office.
“An oath is not just a formality. It carries its weight and aligns with the work to get done. When you get appointed to such positions, you should understand that you take the weight of your responsibilities at heart. You must feel committed to upholding them,” President Kagame said, adding that often, not everyone adheres to the oath.
“Some take the oath but fail to fulfill what they swore to do. It does not diminish the significance of the oath or the importance of the work at hand,” President Kagame said, urging the newly sworn-in leaders to put the interests of Rwandans first.
President Kagame reminded the new leaders that there are many Rwandans who can do these duties but they were specifically chosen because they have what it takes to take on the assignments they were given and they should not betray that trust.
The Head of State said that sometimes officials fail to execute responsibilities and claim that they were not given the resources they needed to execute their tasks, something he said should no longer be an excuse.
“When one gets appointed into a position, it is not good to start looking for defense mechanisms for not delivering as expected. Some say, I was given the job but I was not given the equipment or the resources. This means that part of the duties you have been given include finding equipment or the resources,” he said.
President Kagame explained that the state cannot find all the resources needed for all the institutions to do everything they have to do, because the country does not have all those resources.
“The resources that the country has are not sufficient and are distributed across all institutions, which means that there is no institution that gets sufficient resources it needs. It is part of your responsibility to find these resources,” he said.
From left, Rwego Ngarambe, State Minister for Sports, Nelly Mukazayie, Minister of Sports and
Particularly on the sports docket, President Kagame said that there is a lot the country has to do, in terms of developing the sports industry and making it more lucrative and beneficial to the country and the new Ministers have the responsibility to drive that vision.
He tasked the new Ministers Mukazayire and Ngarambe to ensure that the country’s vision to develop and market sports as a business, to ensure that Rwandans enjoy the full benefits that come with the multi-billion industry sports, taking advantage of the sports infrastructure put in place.
“Sports is a business built on the talent of Rwandans or other people. We know there is a way to market it and generate income from it. That is our goal, and that is why we have been able to put in place the infrastructure that can help us to achieve this goal so that many Rwandans can have that opportunity to enjoy these benefits,” he said.
To the State Minister in charge of the Treasury, President Kagame said that it is not about counting the money the government has but rather knowing where that money comes from and how it can be multiplied.
President Kagame told the new Ministers that there is nothing difficult in the responsibilities they have, especially if they work in coordination with other institutions.
“In reality, there is nothing inherently difficult about this work. Often, challenges arise because people themselves make it difficult. When you choose to make things easier, they become easier; but if you decide to complicate them, they will indeed become complicated, sometimes even to your detriment,” President Kagame said.
