President Paul Kagame has said that leadership is not a myth but a set of deliberate actions that lead to measurable results. He was addressing the Bureau Politique meeting of the ruling RPF-Inkotanyi which concluded at the party headquarters on Saturday, October 21. The two-day meeting attracted over 2000 party delegates, representatives of other political parties and representatives of the private sector, youth and civil society, among others. “Leadership is like regulation; to make sure everybody benefits in a way they should. The problem is when a leader does something bad, and even those who would have benefited keep quiet. We cannot accept this,” the President said, adding that “you cannot turn leadership into a myth. Secondly, it's not something for which you pay money to learn. In defining leadership, the RPF chairman said that leadership is something inherent in each and every one. “All you have to do is to make a choice from many values in oneself. All these must project quality. We may not tick all the boxes but you can evaluate and put on a percentage. When the percentage is high, then it means your leadership is benefitting many. Others may be in between. It means you are neither here nor there. You are not victimizing anyone but also you are not benefitting anyone. This is also not desirable,” he said. On the second day, members heard from a panel discussing social economic development and how Rwanda is managing current global shocks like the pandemic, climate change, and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war. Finance Minister Uzziel Ndagijimana said that in trying to mitigate the impact of such global shocks, government introduced incentives including subsidies on fuel. He said that such subsidies are determined basing on the impact of the commodity on the national economy. For instance, Government chose to subsidize fuel because of the multiple ways and where there is no intervention, fuel prices can easily devastate an economy Ndagijimana said. Other panelists included the state minister in the Ministry of Local Government, Assoumpta Ingabire, who tackled different social issues including school dropout among children. It takes a community to raise a child. We need to go back to the point where a parent will meet a child in the neighbourhood and ask them why they are not in school. Teachers too must play their role in curbing school dropout, she said.
