Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, the new Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources is among the new leaders that were appointed by the President on Monday, March 9. The move also saw Feza Urujeni Bakuramutsa appointed Director of Cabinet in the President’s Office, a post she gets after serving as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Prior to being appointed as a State Minister, Ngabitsinze, 43, was a Member of Parliament. He was chairing the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Ngabitsinze has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics, a Master’s degree in Economics and a PhD in Agricultural Economics; Food and Environmental sciences from Milan State University, Italy. He is currently the Secretary-General of Social Democratic Party (PSD), a position he has held since 2015. For over 10 years, Ngabitsinze was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Rwanda, where he taught agricultural economics among other courses. Besides teaching and political work, has served on various boards of government agencies. In 2016, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) for two years. Prior to that, he chaired the National Land Commission under the Ministry of Natural Resources for three years. Ngabitsinze is expected to add fresh energy to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, in an effort to find solutions to challenges affecting the sector. Particularly, he is expected to reduce post-harvest handling of agricultural produce, boost marketing and value addition in the sector.
