The 10th edition of the Rwanda Governance Scorecard (RGS) has underscored the need to pay special attention and deliver tailored service delivery to people living with disabilities (PwDs). ALSO READ: Safety and security tops governance scorecard 2023 Launched by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) on October 31, RGS tracks and assesses the country’s performance in relation to its national, regional, and global governance commitments. The report is based on key pillars of governance in the country namely; the rule of law, political rights and civil liberties, participation and inclusiveness, safety, and security. Including also; investing in human and social development, quality of service delivery, economic and corporate governance, as well as anti-corruption, transparency, and accountability. Under the Investing in Human and Social Development pillar which scored 75.51 per cent, ranking 8th among all pillars, social protection scored 69.68 per cent. The report indicates that the level at which PwDs are categorised is 39.4 per cent while those covered by social protection are at 48.88 per cent. ALSO READ: Five challenges that people with disabilities need addressed Usta Kaitesi, Chief Executive Officer of RGB, noted that there is little progress in service delivery across sectors, more especially for people living with disabilities. According to her, efforts should be galvanised towards this section of the public as well as alleviating people from poverty. She called on to fast-track the completion of categorising persons with disabilities to increase their access to essential services such as health and education, among others. Jean Claude Musabyimana, Minister of Local Government, said the programme to have a complete database of people living with disabilities had been delayed due to different implementation factors, including societal stereotypes where parents would hide their children or relatives living with disabilities. This in turn, he noted, became an impediment to the government in terms of not knowing the exact number of people that needed tailored support, however, he added that they have put in place strategies to identify and register all people with special needs. ALSO READ: Rwanda to conduct first digital census for people with disability Cabinet Minister in the Office of the President, Judith Uwizeye, said the RGS study is an important tool that strengthens governance based on the accountability of different areas of priority as stipulated in the National Transformation Strategy (NST1). She called on different stakeholders in public and private sectors, civil society organisations, and religious bodies to consider recommendations highlighted in the report as their respective responsibilities in order to improve their areas of intervention. How governance pillars scored The Safety and Security pillar has continuously ranked the highest over the years, with 93.63 per cent which is shown by indicators like maintaining security, national security, personal and property, reconciliation, social cohesion, and unity. Anti-corruption, Transparency, and Accountability came second with 88.97 per cent, followed by Rule of Law with 88.89 per cent, but the report shows that the performance of the judiciary needs improvement, particularly in handling backlog cases. Political Rights and Civil Liberties ranked fourth with 88.01 per cent, and Participation and Inclusiveness ranked fifth with 84.04 per cent, while Economic and Corporate Governance came sixth with 79.98 per cent. Quality of Service Delivery and Investing in Human and Social Development scored 7th and 8th with 78.28 per cent and 75.51 per cent, respectively.
