{"id":20953,"date":"2015-11-01T08:23:46","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T08:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/only-two-mayors-have-survived-imihigo-wrath-in-10\/"},"modified":"2015-11-01T08:23:28","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T08:23:28","slug":"only-two-mayors-have-survived-imihigo-wrath-in-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/only-two-mayors-have-survived-imihigo-wrath-in-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Two Mayors Have Survived Imihigo Wrath In 10 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

{A district mayor who has served five-years of their tenure could be on the highway to permanent glory.}<\/p>\n

Only two mayors have managed to survive the strict performance contracts for the past ten years.<\/p>\n

In March, 2006, President Paul Kagame decided to decentralize governance and each of the thirty districts elected a mayor to coordinate implementation of programs that would uplift millions of Rwandans out of poverty.<\/p>\n

During the induction ceremony, several buoyant mayors stood upright and claimed how they were going to outperform others. It went on and on.<\/p>\n

Then President Kagame softly interceded and warned how in the Rwandan culture, making such bold commitments (Guhiga) was not a small matter.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, once one did so and failed to accomplish, they would be shamed and endured painful embarrassment. Some faced unpleasant outcomes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the President engaged the mayors through performance contracts. All the requested facilities and logistics, plus a budget \u2013 were provided.<\/p>\n

District mayors are elected for a term of five years through an electoral system going from village to district level.<\/p>\n

By the time an electoral college is constituted, several hundred delegates turn up at one location to vote from campaigning candidates.<\/p>\n

Ten years down the line, only Kangwagye Justus of Rulindo district in the Northern Province and Leandre Karekezi of the remote Gisagara district have survived.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beginning was hard and none could expect to be this far. I only managed because I stayed keen to team spirit,\u201d Karekezi told KT Press adding, \u201cThose who failed to work as a team were likely to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karekezi says only Gisagara district has managed to keep, not only the mayor, but also the district executive secretary and the two vice mayors, including Kayiranga Eugene Muzuka who was transferred to lead neighbouring Huye district.<\/p>\n

Too many unnecessary meetings<\/p>\n

For Ladislas Ngendahimana, Director of Communication in the ministry of local government, there was also poor coordination in the first five year term.<\/p>\n

For example, one ministry would plan a meeting invite mayors to attend the following day. \u201cWe reached a point where meetings with superiors outnumbered meetings with citizens,\u201d says Karekezi.<\/p>\n

Performance on service delivery suffered. But that\u2019s not all. Some mayors were incompetent. They failed to coordinate their teams. Others mismanaged public resources and were forced to resign.<\/p>\n

Bonane Nyangezi, former mayor of Gicumbi district resigned in 2012. \u201cUnder him, the district was running bankrupt, which is quite strange,\u201d says Ngendahimana.<\/p>\n

The district had huge debts to clear, yet there were no supporting documents on how they were accumulated.<\/p>\n

In Nyabihu district, the entire district council was forced to resign in 2008 just like the entire executive committee of Nyanza district.<\/p>\n

By 2008, Ngendahimana from local government says, 48% of the senior district leaders had resigned.<\/p>\n

During the second term of 2011-2015, several mayors were awash with cases of malpractices, but the local government ministry believes the mayors performed better compared to previous years.<\/p>\n

In Rubavu district, the entire executive committee was fired, for having awarded a tender to an investor to build a multi-million market in the city, but paid him before he did anything.<\/p>\n

Francois Niyotwagira, Ngoma district mayor was forced to resign after selling off land designated to resettle Rwandans evicted from Tanzania.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kirehe district mayor, Protais Murayire, was fired after he blocked citizens from asking questions to a senior government official visiting their area.<\/p>\n

Rwamagana, Gasabo and Gatsibo mayors failure to deliver to the expectations, while in Rusizi, Karongi and Nyamasheke, mayors resigned and arrested after failing to account for funds meant for community health insurance; mutuelle de sant\u00e9.<\/p>\n

However, conditions have changed. Under this second term, the local government ministry says \u201ccases involved individuals, not entire committee as it was the case in the previous term.\u201d Also, today, no minister instructs a mayor before consulting the minister of local government.<\/p>\n

The number of meetings to attend also reduced because they have to be validated by the ministry. Other meetings are conducted via teleconferencing.<\/p>\n

Mayors\u2019 credits<\/p>\n

Benefits have also been raised. Mayors are fairly paid with a net salary of Rwf 1.6 million including a lengthy list of benefits similar a permanent secretary in a ministry.\u201cWe are not complaining,\u201d says mayor Karekezi.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, many say mayors deserve credit for the success the country has recorded. \u201cThe performance, imihigo\u2019 is the biggest achievements that can be attributed to mayors,\u201d says Placide Uwimana, from Huye district.<\/p>\n

The mayors can now manage their structures, with effective communication. \u201cIt is clear mayors are the icon of Rwanda\u2019s decentralization success,\u201d says Ignace Musangamfura, a banker from Kigali. Musangamfura says that involving locals in decisions yields better results.<\/p>\n

Residents of Niboye for example raised funds and built a road in their neighbourhood, supporting the mayor\u2019s promises in the performance contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayors have all the credits that go to President Kagame because they are his right hand. They help him promote good governance,\u201d says Edouard Munyamariza, the chairman of civil society platform.<\/p>\n

As he completes his second mandate in December, Karekezi says, \u201cI am still young. I will keep serving my country in different capacities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"District<\/figure>\n

KT PRESS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{A district mayor who has served five-years of their tenure could be on the highway to permanent glory.} Only two mayors have managed to survive the strict performance contracts for the past ten years. In March, 2006, President Paul Kagame decided to decentralize governance and each of the thirty districts elected a mayor to coordinate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000069954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-20953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000069954,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20953.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20953.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20953.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20953.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20953.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20953.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000069954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20953"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=20953"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=20953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}