Rwanda | Leaders urged to collaborate with residents.

All Sector Executive Secretaries must improve their coordination mechanisms if they are to effectively serve residents at the grass root levels.

The leaders were asked to let residents play a major role in the administration and decision making process as a way of encouraging citizens to drop the ‘fear of leaders’ and instead participate in development aspects of the community .

The call was made at the end of a two-days training workshop for all Rwanda sector executive secretaries, held at Rwanda Institute of Administration and Management (RIAM) institute, in Muhanga district

Kenneth Kahumuza, who trained the leaders underscored that citizens should not fear their leaders adding that leaders should consult open dialogues with locals to find solutions of issues facing the community.

“A good leader should be social to residents and should strive for the benefits and development of the ruled this is only achieved by mutual working relations between leaders and locals.” said Kahumuza.

Jonas Shema the Executive Secretary of Jabana sector in Gasabo district revealed that Rwanda’s past history contribute much to what some local leader’s impose to their residents. “in the past , citizens would see a leader as an un usual person which made them fill so special but now in a democratic nation citizens should perceive leaders as their fellow citizens” Shema said.

Leaders however indicated the issue of some locals who still have the culture of fearing to contribute their ideas publically and asked them to be free saying that democracy and decentralization are two things in common which work for the benefit of citizens.

The government of Rwanda adopted the decentralization policy and strategy for its implementation. The main thrust of the strategy is to ensure political, economic, social, managerial and technical empowerment of locals to fight poverty by participating in planning and management of their development process.