ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNANCE, A KEY VARIABLE IN THE EQUATION OF THE RWANDA'S SUCCESS STORY

Authors: Francisca MUJAWASE and Didas KAYITARE

Rwanda is a small country in terms of geographical size compared to many African countries but one of the sub-Saharan countries with a unique development approach which is defined and characterized by citizen oriented rapid economic growth that is designed and driven by Rwandans themselves. A country that faced unspeakable devastation of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi which caused loss of a million lives and left the nation in shambles. The post conflict story of Rwanda remains an exceptional success in history of the world. Many people are intrigued by the magnitude of resilience and the level of social cohesion among Rwandans and their urge for development.

My friends from all over the world ask me to lament the story of Rwanda and how the country managed to achieve remarkable development success in the last two decades and how the state managed to overcome all the challenges of reconstructing a fragile state that was left with nothing after the 1994 Genocide. My answer to them is relevant and driven by facts around three drivers of success shared in this paper. Rwanda is a country with “A GREAT VISION” which is driven by an outstanding Governance System and Accountability Practices that has shaped the style of leadership and service delivery practices. The new governance system originates from the Rwandan culture and the positive values that defines Rwandans and how they deliver. While speaking about the new approach of governance and the Rwandan culture, another important aspect of the Rwandan success is attributed to the human capital of Rwandans who gathered their experiences and efforts from across the globe and the region with different backgrounds to rebuild a nation that had been completely destroyed. 

In the past, the country had suffered bad governance that led to the killings of innocent Rwandans. The success of Rwanda however has proven that poor governance in not an African style of leadership but rather the theory stands for bad leaders who are self centred and want to own more than they deserve while others carelessly adapt to the wrong theories of governance that leads to conflict and wars. We have also witnessed sustained conflicts in other African countries that is mainly driven and associated to ethnicity and tribalism.

To change the history of Rwanda, HE Paul Kagame the President of the Republic of Rwanda introduced a new model of governance that is driven by protection and rule of law and set ACCOUNTABILITY at the core business of governance. To make sure these mechanisms are fully integrated in the governance system and bring about the significant amount of result the country intended to achieve, all public institutions had to adopt to the new approach of governance that is driven by transparent and accountability systems. Instruments such as Imihigo Performance Contracts, public finance management systems, decentralization governance program and citizen participation approaches were introduced and made functional.

The governance approach in Rwanda is unique in a way that every aspect that concerns the well-being of the people is a priority. The homegrown solutions have facilitated the development evaluation processes to ensure that the national development performance targets are achieved in an efficient and effective manner. The new structure of governance introduced not only reflects public service delivery but goes beyond institutional performance to describe progressive change in behaviour of the leaders and citizens accounting for the overall transformation of the Rwandan society.

In addition to the mentioned above, the new governance approach has shaped the model of development that is visionary, and citizen centred in the sense that all Rwandan citizens have equal access to public services which has never been the case before. It isn't easy to identify a single example of national development project that is outstanding because every sector has recorded its own success which all aligns to the vision of the country. However, some of the remarkable national projects introduced two decades ago that have had significant impact on the lives of the citizens include education and health financing as development priorities; the universal free 12 Year Basic Education and the universal health care services has directly impacted on health and education indicators that were unpleasant in the past. The social protection programmes for the poor households that aims at achieving zero extreme poverty by 2020, the one cow per poor family, massive infrastructural investment programmes have been significant contributors to poverty reduction among others. Other core programmes enjoyed by the citizens include peace and security, the country’s approach to unity and reconciliation after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and remarkable economic growth has remained positive over the years. Gender equality success stories for Rwanda have become a best practice for many countries and child protection programme has been given the attention it deserves. 

“Rwanda has proved to the world that nothing is impossible if you are determined to bring about change especially on developments that touches the lives of the citizens”. The uniqueness about Rwanda is that political will is driven by high level commitment and immediate actions to solve issues that may hinder achieving development results. If the development targets aren’t met as planned, the leaders owe the president and the citizens an explanation on what delayed the process. This system of governance of holding leaders to account both at local and central level is unique, transparent and effective. The practice has changed the way leaders operate and deliver on their mandates. For they know if they don't fulfill their responsibilities, they will be put to account. This keeps them at their toes to deliver effectively. Imihigo and Umushyikirano are national platforms where an honest dialogue is held between the national leadership and the citizens on an annual basis to discuss on what has been achieved verses failures. Leaders who lack explanations for failures recorded at institutional level face the consequences. In the past we have witnessed immediate changes made in public offices after such gatherings are conducted.

Another valued concept of the governance approach on Rwanda is the level of citizen engagement in public programs. The process is positive because the citizens not only learn about their rights but also participate in selecting the urgent needs of the citizens at district level but also participating in the implementation and evaluation process of the development priorities. By doing so the government instils in the people of Rwanda the culture of working and participating in public programs but also improving their readiness to claim for services they are denied by their leaders.

Rwanda has been defined as a success story across the world. Her story is unique and incredible. The credit for the Rwanda’s success goes to the leadership of HE Paul Kagame and the Rwanda people who refused to be held with the bad history but rather came together to build a nation that is peaceful and enjoyed by everyone. Strong institutional mechanisms and individual capacities have been introduced are operational and functioning to ensure the country achieve sustainable peace and economic growth. Having achieved the MDGs at an outstanding level, the country is on the right path to become a middle-income country and the progressive achievement of the SDGs is promising. The current National Strategy for Transformation (NST) feeds the Vision 2030 which comes at the right time where Rwanda has changed the development approach that has embraced globalization with access to the utilization of new and advanced technological, and innovation driven business efforts. Several multi-national companies have been established in Rwanda supporting the great idea of inventing and working in Rwanda but also creating thousands of jobs to the youths. Education institute of sciences that shape the body of knowledge and development of human capital capabilities have been introduced in Rwanda which supports the vision of becoming a Knowledge based economy. some people like to debate about the vision of Rwanda as Ambitious but i like saying, "yes the vision of Rwanda is ambitious but achievable because we set the pace on which we deliver”. with the unique approach of governance and accountability system, there is no doubt the country is yet to achieve more than expected in the new decade.