President Paul Kagame has called for greater accountability among African leaders, arguing that national sovereignty should not shield governments from scrutiny when they fail to deliver for their people.

Kagame made the remarks on Tuesday, August 25, during a presidential panel at the Africa Mindset Reset Forum in Kigali, where he said Africa’s development challenge is increasingly about turning its existing resources, policies and ideas into tangible results.

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He said the continent has made progress over the years but continues to fall short despite having many of the ingredients needed to succeed.

"Africa seems to have everything in place to succeed. It has people, it has resources. But the question is how do we change from a position where we have everything we need and are clear about what we have to be, to actually having the Africa we want?” Kagame said.

He said the continent has spent years discussing its challenges through institutions such as the African Union and other platforms, but that discussions alone have not been enough to produce the desired change.

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"We cannot stay in one place where we are discussing our problems, evidently convincing ourselves that we have more or less what we need to be where we want to be, but we are not getting there,” he said.

Kagame said the gap between Africa’s ambitions and the results should force leaders and institutions to identify what is repeatedly going wrong and confront it directly.

"If we have everything in place, it means there is something we have to identify that keeps failing us, and therefore take the bull by its horns and deal with what we have to deal with,” he said.

Kagame said accountability should also apply to leaders whose decisions negatively affect their citizens, arguing that national sovereignty should not become a reason for people to remain silent when governments fail to serve them.

He said legitimacy at national and continental levels should be accompanied by responsible leadership and measurable results.

"If there are leaders who are not doing the right things, people should point it out. You cannot just mess up a country that has sovereignty and then we keep quiet,” he said.

"Sovereignty and legitimacy should indicate that people are doing the right things for the people,” Kagame said.

Kagame said governance should be viewed alongside other development priorities, including infrastructure and food security, because the quality of leadership and institutions determines whether such investments produce the intended results.

"The governance aspect of it is vital. Infrastructure and food security are key, but depending on the governance structure, these are going to happen and give the results you expect or not,” he said.

Kagame also criticised a pattern in which governments formulate policies and agree on what needs to be done, only for implementation to be slowed by delays, excuses and bureaucracy.

"African countries must instead develop a culture in which what leaders say, plan and want is matched by what they actually do. We can’t continue saying things about what we have to do and then start doing different things. We have to match what we say, want and do for us to match the results,” he said.

Kagame also warned that excessive caution can itself become an obstacle to progress.

"Even if you are afraid to do something, you are already making a mistake,” he said.

He said Africa risks remaining trapped in a cycle of discussions and commitments without measurable progress if leaders and institutions do not change how they implement decisions.

"We can’t keep running in the circle, sometimes congratulating each other, hugging each other, but after a year, three or five, we look back and we are in the same place where we were or even moved backwards,” Kagame said.

The Africa Mindset Reset Forum, hosted by the African School of Governance, brought together African political leaders, former heads of state, business leaders, academics and emerging leaders to discuss governance, institutions and the culture of execution needed to accelerate the continent’s development.