President Paul Kagame on Friday urged members of the ruling party, RPF Inkotanyi, to undertake their respective tasks with a high level of discipline and work ethic, urging them to aim for maximum results instead of settling for less. He was addressing members of the Extended National Executive Committee, the party’s top decision-making organ which convened at the party headquarters in Rusororo, Gasabo district. Kagame, who also doubled as the party Chairman, was flanked by First Lady Jeannette Kagame. The meeting which brought together over 650 cadres and special guests including senior government leaders and youth representatives, aimed at among others discussing the mid-term review of the RPF manifesto on which President Kagame was elected in 2017 for a seven year term ending in 2024. Other items on the agenda of the two-day meeting include discussing the impact of Covid-19 on the national economy and lessons learnt from the pandemic that has ravaged the world for over one year now. “The ideology on which the RPF is built and what makes it have an impact requires a high level of discipline. Without discipline, you will achieve maybe 30 percent of what you set out to achieve and that will end up benefiting a few people. Some people tend to get comfortable with that 30 per cent,” he said. “That is not who we are. RPF is not about choosing a few to benefit. Not so and sos child and not people of a certain region. Our ideology is built around benefitting all Rwandans without discrimination.” He wondered why it may take someone a whole year to undertake a task that would have taken them a month to conclude, saying that procrastination has a lot of negative consequence, including loss of life. These are the lessons we should take from problems like the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, adding that Rwanda stood out in the global fight against Covid-19 because of understanding the cost of procrastination. He urged the cadres to always define the nation’s identity and identify its best interests before setting out to achieve them, again stressing that discipline is crucial. “If you are not disciplined, it will be difficult for you to come together and do what serves your best interest,” he said. Presenting the manifesto mid-term report, Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana said that despite the pandemic, a lot was achieved over the past three and half years, adding that on most projects outlined in the manifesto, implementation was above 50 per percent. Speaking about the lessons that Rwanda has been left with by Covid-19, health minister, Dr Daniel Ngamije said that the key takeaway is the need for the country to strengthen its health system to make it more resilient to future pandemics of similar nature. “We want to reinforce our laboratory infrastructure and this is already being done through the construction of a national health laboratory facility, a 10-story building to be built near King Faisal Hospital in Kacyiru,” he said. Private sector key Meanwhile, during a panel discussion that was held under the theme: Reimagining business and trade in the Covid-19 era, different speakers emphasised the role of the private sector in the recovery of the economy that has been greatly affected by Covid-19. “Much as many sectors were affected by Covid-19, recovery has not been at the same pace. Some are already recovering while others will take some time. There were also opportunities that came with the pandemic,” said trade and industry minister, Beata Habyarimana who was one of the panelists. To kick-start the government recently launched an initiative dubbed ‘manufacture and build to recover’ which sets out incentives for the manufacturing and construction sectors to facilitate rapid economic growth. According to Rwanda Development Board CEO Clare Akamanzi, the two sectors were zeroed on because of their ability to employ many people, thereby getting income to many households. Among the invited guests who attended the meeting was Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente.
