The Prime Minister on Tuesday presented results of Imihigo, a home-grown initiative that sees districts ranked according to their performance on different development indicators. Imihigo are evaluated based on the performance contracts signed by local government entities, which outline a number of activities that they committed to implement for the benefit of the people in the areas they lead. The initiative had been temporarily stopped in 2019, following a directive from the head of state who had asked that activities that districts must be evaluated on should address the most pressing needs of the population, including free housing for the neediest citizens and other social services. Good enough, the exercise is back and as emphasized by President Paul Kagame, they reflect the reality where districts that are known to have inherent social vices came last, while those whose leaders worked towards addressing the same posted good results. The case in point is Nyagatare, previously known for being a major hub for the banned toxic locally manufactured gin commonly known as Kanyanga, which not only affect people’s health but also inhibits productivity among the population. Nyagatare has of recent stepped up efforts to combat the consumption of the gin which is mainly smuggled into the country from neighbouring countries and the results are shown in the way they performed this year, becoming the best district in the country. Similarly, Burera District, which was ranked the last, has of recent emerged as the new haven for Kanyanga consumption, probably after smugglers were hounded out of Nyagatare. The underlying message in all this is that other that efforts by district leaders reflect in the way they perform in implementing Imihigo. Most importantly, like the President directed earlier, Imihigo should not be about districts competing for the sake of it, but rather yield results that directly resonate with the citizens, through socio-economic transformation. Imihigo is a good tool and credit to the leadership, it has progressively been improved to address the needs of the day and this should be sustained.
