Paul Kagame | Ministers, Ambassadors sign performance contracts with President Kagame

At the conclusion of the five-day annual Government Leaders retreat, ministers and ambassadors signed performance contracts with President Paul Kagame.

In the contracts, they pledged specific targets to be reported against at the end of the financial year.

This new exercise follows a resolution of the last National Dialogue where it was resolute that even ministers and ambassadors sign the performance contracts.

Presenting highlights of the pledges from the different ministries and ambassadors, Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi committed to provide oversight over the new performance contracts to ensure that targets are met on time.

The performance contracts (also known as Imihigo) is an initiative that went into effect in 2006. They have undoubtedly championed several changes within the socio-economic spheres of the country. But the aspect of the senior government officials in the process is totally new.

The Imihigo process came into being after the government sought for a way of making district mayors accountable on what they had agreed to achieve.

In response to this challenge, the government launched this innovative system known as the imihigo process.

Imihigo has its roots in a pre-colonial Rwandan cultural practice whereby leaders or warriors would publicly vow to achieve certain goals—and face public humiliation if they failed.

The modern imihigo process linked this traditional Rwandan practice with planning, monitoring and oversight. Today it is widely believed that the imihigo process has resulted in improved service delivery in the districts.

The coming in of this process for the government senior officials is expected to raise the level of accountability on their part as well improved service delivery.