President Paul Kagame has said that frequent changes of government officials are often the result of repeated failures to deliver on their responsibilities. He said this on Wednesday, June 17 during the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed Cabinet members and other officials at Village Urugwiro. ALSO READ: Kagame appoints new ministers, ambassadors “You can sit down with an official, agree on a plan, they even share their ideas, you approve everything needed, and after, let’s say six months, when you follow up, you find that the person responsible does not even know where the process stands,” Kagame said. According to the President, such cases are often handled with patience at first, as officials are given opportunities to correct mistakes and improve performance. “The first time, they may see it as a weakness or a mistake. The second time the same mistake happens, you ask what went wrong despite having corrected it before. You continue to give the person another chance. “But when it happens a third or fourth time, then there is clearly a serious problem, and that is when decisions have to be made,” he added. He said a key challenge is a culture where people do not listen or seek solutions or even correct mistakes. The President noted that if these recurring issues were not there, replacements would happen less often. “Whenever challenges arise in your work, there is always a way to resolve them if you are willing to work together, with those you lead and with other institutions. No problem should defeat us. If we are unable to solve one immediately, we should understand why, secure the necessary resources, strengthen our capacity, and return to solve it,” Kagame said. The officials who took the oath of office on Wednesday include Damien Murwanashyaka, the Minister of Infrastructure, Antoine-Marie Kajangwe, Minister of Trade and Industry, Armand Zingiro, Minister of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure, and Col Claudien Bizimungu, also Minister of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure. Other officialsnare James Wizeye, Deputy Secretary General of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Judith Mbabazi, Deputy Ombudsperson in charge of Preventing and Fighting Injustice, and CP Theos Badege, Deputy Commissioner General of the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS). Kagame urged the new officials to put the interests and wellbeing of citizens before their own personal interests.
