President Paul Kagame has called on all sectors, especially those involved in hospitality to do better in serving their clientele, saying that this sector has for long been dogged by poor service delivery. The President and Chairman of the ruling RPF-Inkotanyi made the call during the party’s extraordinary Congress meeting that took place at Kigali Arena on April 30. The congress brings together members of the party from various parts of the country and special guests representing various political parties to discuss the progress made in delivering on RPF programmes geared at improving socio-economic development in the country. He told the thousands of delegates that it is incomprehensible that Rwandans - including top party members present - seem to get comfortable with the status quo. “It is only Rwandans that can afford to accept and live with it,” he said, pointing out how people are given bad service in restaurants, complain and pay for it, and go back the next time to get the same bad services. The Head of State said that this sector just like the rest where service delivery is lagging behind should improve as soon as possible, especially at a time when the country prepares to host the high-level Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) slated in the week of June 20. Meanwhile, Kagame used the platform to thank Rwandans for the effort in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, and commiserated with families that have lost loved ones to the pandemic over the past two years. Cumulatively, 1,459 people have died of Covid in Rwanda, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health. Generally, we handled ourselves well in fighting the pandemic and I want to thank everyone, he said. He said that despite the hardships brought about by the pandemic, there was a silver lining, where some challenges faced actually became opportunities for the country. In commending the achievements made and gaps that still need to be fixed, different panelists briefed the delegates on how the country fared in terms of economy, social development, education, healthcare delivery, as well as governance. Kagame told the people to draw on lessons learnt from the time when borders were closed and bring the country to a level of self-reliance. “Rwandans are a people who strive for self-reliance, even within their modest means, and the struggle remains on how to get better and additional means to achieve even more,” he said. Given the geographical location of Rwanda being landlocked, he said: “In our daily thinking and daily actions, if we don’t think about how we would survive if our southern, northern, eastern and western neighbors decided to close our borders, does it mean our country would perish completely?” “As a people, we need to say we cannot perish, we need to build ourselves, the capacities that enable us to get what we need, and do as many times as possible.” He went on to encourage the private sector to leverage the enhanced bilateral relations with different African countries over the years to expand and not be guided by selfish interests. “The profit is seen from the development you have led others to and not for yourself,” he told them.
