Match ambitions to action, Kagame tells leaders

With clarity on their mission and ambitions to deliver the country to a bright future having been well defined over the last twenty years, top leaders need to move swiftly to serve with a sense of urgency to improve the lives of citizens, the Head of State has said. He was speaking yesterday at the launch of the 14th National Leadership Retreat, which kicked off on Friday at the Rwanda Defence Force Combat Training Centre in Gabiro, Eastern Province. The move away, which is expected to last for five days, is focusing on evaluating how far the government has gone in implementing the country’s Vision 2020 and brainstorm on how to design Vision 2050 as mandated in the recent National Dialogue held last December. “We are trying to cover an extremely huge deficit. We need ambition, a sense of urgency and the dignified life we deserve. Our primary task is to match our ambitions with our deeds and our activities with what we expect to be the outcomes,” he told the leaders in a retreat opening address. The country is three years shy of reaching the deadline for turning Rwanda into a middle income economy as defined under Vision 2020 but the president admitted that there is still a huge gap towards achieving that goal. Senate President Bernard Makuza and Speaker of the lower chamber of Parliament Donatille Mukabalisa during the retreat yesterday. He hence called on leaders to live up to the expectations of the Rwandan people and speed up the pace of implementation. “You can’t have ambition and the desires to leave our history far behind us and at the same time behave as if you can take your time,” he said. Kagame also called on leaders to reject the sense of entitlement: “ What are you entitled to? And who owes it to you in a situation like ours,” Kagame challenged leaders. “If you want to stand out on your own and feel more important than others, you are simply destroying the cause that pulls all of us together as a nation,” Kagame said, “You may be more knowledgeable than everyone in the room but you need to have your heart in the right place,” Kagame added. Kagame called on leaders yesterday to work with each other. “Lack of coordination and the failure to speak to one another and work with each other creates a huge cost,” he said. Rwanda Governance Board CEO Anastase Shyaka and other government officials sing the national anthem before the start of the retreat. About 300 top leaders from the central government, local government, and invited influential members of the private sector and civil society have converged at the retreat. Under EDPRS II, which is Rwanda’s second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, the government has targeted to spend about Rwf10 trillion between 2013 and 2018 in order to deliver the country to a middle income status envisioned in Vision 2020. As the leaders at the retreat assess what the country has achieved over the last few years and set strategies for achieving Vision 2020, they also have to brainstorm on what should be the country’s aspirations by the year 2050. The Head of State concluded the remarks with a call to reflection and action. “I hope that we have come here settled in our mind to do serious business, take stock, and re-examine ourselves,” he said. Justice Minister and Attorney General Johnston Busingye discusses with other government officials at the retreat. Officials said that this year’s retreat will take more days than the previous retreats, which would normally take not more than three days, because the issues at hand this time around require more time to enable leaders to come up with tangible resolutions to drive the nation to the next stage. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Match ambitions to action, Kagame tells leaders