The Minister of Health, Dr Diane Gashumba has resigned from her position, the Prime Minister’s Office has said, citing habitual gross errors and leadership failure.
According to a statement from the PM’s Office, which was issued on Twitter, "Today, Prime Minister Dr Ngirente Edouard received a letter of resignation from Minister of Health, Dr Diane Gashumba. The resignation follows a series of habitual gross errors and repeated leadership failures on the part of the Minister.”
Her resignation comes a week after that of two State Ministers – Evode Uwizeyimana who was in charge of Constitutional and Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, and Isaac Munyakazi, who was in charge of Primary and Secondary Education. Both tendered in their resignation letters to the Prime Minister on Thursday, February 6, 2020.
Evode's resignation came only four days after he was seen shoving to the ground a female private security guard who demanded he undergoes security procedures required prior to entering public buildings in Kigali.
Some reports have attributed Munyakazi’s resignation to a case involving last year’s national examinations where a school was promoted to the top 10 best performers without merit.
It is alleged that Munyakazi was involved in that process.
About Diane Gashumba
Dr Diane Gashumba has been the Minister of Health in Rwanda since October 4, 2016.
Prior to that, she served as the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion from Mach 29, 2016.
According to information from the Ministry of Health, Gashumba is a pediatrician by profession with more than 17 years experience in global maternal, new-born and child health with a focus on gender issues.
She previously worked with the USAID funded Rwanda Family Health Project as Senior Team leader for quality and as Deputy Chief of Party focusing on improving the quality of and access to services in maternal, child and newborn health, family planning, reproductive health, HIV, nutrition, malaria, and gender equality.
Gashumba holds an MD (Doctor of Medicine) degree from the University of Rwanda and a Master of Medicine specialising in pediatrics.