Citizens have been called upon to raise their efforts to demand for accountability from their leaders in matters related to the execution of the latter’s responsibilities for better governance. The information is part of the recommendations of the annual Governance Scorecard, which was released last week by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB). From the report, citizens were not satisfied with how they participated in formulating district performance contracts, imihigo. The report reflected the state of governance in this year amid the pandemic. According to Usta Kaitesi, Chief Executive of RGB, good governance is a shared responsibility where citizens have to ask and keep up with development activities that they should benefit from. Overall, there was an improvement in citizen participation by 6.5 per cent which was prompted largely by how people are involved in different strategies to fight against Covid-19. Kaitesi noted that accountability and transparency underpin the journey of successful leadership. “We have a very strong common factor despite the things we do differently, which is making a difference in a citizen’s life,” she addressed actors in different sectors. This comes around a time when the country is preparing for local government elections which are slated in the last week of this month, after nearly a one-year delay. Dr. Joseph Ryarasa Nkurunziza, Chairperson of Rwanda Civil Society Platform said there is a need to educate people about certain policies for social development that the government has put in place. “The government, civil society and other stakeholders need to teach citizens about these policies, what is meant for them and what is expected of them. So that they may be able to rightfully hold their leaders accountable,” he said. In the scorecard, anti-corruption, transparency and accountability scored 86.77 per cent. This pillar assesses the level at which measures against corruption are enforced, the perception and incidence of corruption. It also gauges the availability and clarity of information provided to the general public about public officials’ integrity, processes and actions as well as how public officials are answerable for their decisions and actions.
