Actions that citizen groups initiate to hold public officials, politicians, and service providers to account for their conduct and performance in terms of delivering services are believed to be far more important to drive citizens’ welfare and development. These actions are commonly referred to as social accountability. But it is not very often that many countries have strong citizen groups, like civil society groups, NGOs and other organisations that initiate such actions, experts observed on Thursday at the Social Accountability Symposium organised by Transparency International Rwanda with the support of the Germany Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), taking place in Kigali. Dr. Usta Kaitesi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), told participants that in promoting social accountability, Rwanda opted for unique approaches, like the home-grown solutions. “In Rwanda, we made a choice to not just hold leaders accountable, but also hold each other accountable – citizens, civil society, leaders and the private sector. This is how we have been able to achieve what we set to achieve,” she noted. One particular example she highlighted was the choice to reintroduce Gacaca courts to hold perpetrators to account but also build the social fabric. “We asked ourselves how we can bring to justice perpetrators, and we went the Gacaca courts way because we believed that that approach would build the social fabric of our society. This became the way of engaging different citizens,” she said. Gacaca courts settled nearly 2 million cases of perpetrators who participated in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Kaitesi highlighted that Rwanda put in place the Citizen Report Card, which is a professional way of interpreting the perspectives of citizens. These are surveys that evaluate the perspectives of citizens towards the domestic economy, their welfare, justice, and good governance. The latest report indicates that citizens have high satisfaction in security, justice and governance and respect for human rights. However, citizen participation, an important element of social accountability, was still relatively low. According to Rueben Lifuka, the Vice-Chair of Transparency International Global Movement, activities of civil society organisations, which essentially are supposed to take the lead, are slowing down. “These organisation’s activities are slowing down, funding is dwindling and corruption is rising in different countries. We also see limitations with political accountability in many countries where we operate,” he noted. Experts, however, still believe that one way to deal with the increasingly complex challenges was to put in place the right tools such as digital technologies that empower citizens. Marie-Immaculée Ingabire, the Chairperson of Transparency International Rwanda, stressed the importance of putting place the right tools for accountability, highlighting that it enhances trust and cooperation between policymakers and service seekers. “It is also the best ingredient for healthy cooperation between civil society organisations, media, and public institutions,” she noted, adding that organisations like Transparency International are taking the lead. One of the many initiatives is the Social Accountability Media Initiative (SAMI)—an initiative of Aga Khan University, established by Transparency International Rwanda in collaboration with other partners. “The social accountability media initiative has enhanced development outcomes by strengthening links between governments and citizens to improve the efficiency of public service delivery and increase the responsiveness of services to a range of users,” she said. Leveraging technology is another aspect highlighted by experts, most of who argued that it brings about transparency, ease of accessibility, independence and brings down the rate of bureaucracy. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
