MPs condemn local leaders’ stand on gender

Officials of the Gender Monitoring Office (GMO) and lawmakers have expressed dismay over the lack of gender responsive budgets in most districts of the Eastern Province.The concern was raised Thursday as the Governor, Odette Uwamariya, and district mayors in her province, appeared before the Chamber of Deputies’ committee on budget and national patrimony to present next year’s budget estimates and the 2011/12 budget execution.Emmy Mupende, the Director of planning in GMO, noted that gender situational analysis in some districts is well elaborated but, by and large, lacks a baseline.“The districts that have tried include Nyagatare, Gatsibo and Rwamagana. But even in these, more improvements are needed, especially in capacity building and technical support so that next time, things will be as good as we require. Our recommendations include carrying out gender mainstreaming for district staff and use gender disaggregated data in their reports,” said Mupende.Rwanda has for the past few years insisted on gender budgeting – a systematic examination of budget programmes and policies for their impact on women.On budget execution, the Governor told the committee that 94.9 per cent of the 2011/12 budget allocated to the Province (Rwf 62.4 billion) was executed despite delays in receiving money from some partners. The Eastern Province currently has Rwf66.6 billion budget. The Governor noted that its preparation was largely based on priorities established during the most recent national leadership retreat; the third integrated household living conditions survey (EICV III) findings, water shortage problems in the province as well as the impact of climate change on agriculture. She cited inadequate infrastructure like roads, hotels and energy among the challenges. According to Uwamariya, the province’s other key priorities would be provision of more water sources, agriculture and livestock development.

National

MPs condemn local leaders’ stand on gender