Building institutions and capacity for good governance

Rwanda is different. It is a reflection of the word, ‘you shall know them by their fruit’. Dr Usta Kayitesi, the chief executive officer of Rwanda Governance Board and Commissioner in the Rwanda Law Reform Commission, had some interesting insights into how they got there – Rwanda as a portrait of socio-economic transformation that most countries find elusive. 

She told the symposium that the internal evolution of governance meant that they had to ask themselves tough questions in trying to reconstruct themselves. Questions like,  how did we destroy ourselves? how can we make our institutions fit for purpose? how do we know we are doing it right? how do we know it works? Their way of knowing included ensuring that the decisions were made in a consultative and consensual manner, then building institutions for implementation that must work. 

In this system, there is no room for playing around. She also pointed out that, ‘for us governance is a vehicle, known by its results. If the results are bad, then the vehicle is broken’. And that is why implementation, that most countries fail at, is so important in Rwanda. They have attempted to focus on good governance developed from within.

Some of the results are there for us to see, especially as visitors. It is difficult to make sense of a country through a one-week visit, but there are indicators that are there for all to see, that form your impression of a place.

What they credit for part of the success that the rest of us see in the results is a simple yet profound idea that while their security may do a great job, without governance institutions working well, there will be nothing to celebrate.

As such, Rwanda invested in accountability institutions, including a citizens’ report card on service delivery.  ‘We do not reject assessment’, Dr Kayitesi quipped. What they do is to create clear ways of self-assessment and clarity of institutional mandates, ensuring that they are fit for purpose. Nobody is above this assessment – the presidency, security and local governments are all part.

Yet, the symposium participants admitted one thing, the Rwandan success is in many ways, tied to the hip of its leadership. “Strong, ethical and charismatic leadership’ is what has done it for them. Once their priorities were defined, clarity of mandates given to the institutions, and the aspirations implemented, the result has been clear, and satisfactory. 

I wonder sometimes if Rwandans have lingering questions such as those asked in some of our backyards, ‘if our government even cares at all about the citizens, judging by their choices and actions, their extravagance and wasteful expenditure, and of course, the rampant corruption. How did Rwanda achieve all these things we see and marvel at, desire but seemingly out of our reach with equally limited resources, picking up itself admiringly?

The answer, is what was referred to as ‘having a flock of sheep led by a lion is still better than a herd of lion led by sheep’. This symbolism is painful for some of us, but has a point. It may seem, many countries contend with being lions led by sheep, except those who seem to all be sheep, the leaders and the led, all lost.

Some Rwandans tell me, their worry is how to deal with not having PK, as the president is fondly called, at the helm. A lot of what we see, is tied to his transformational character and personal discipline. The comfort for Rwandans, is that this trait, appears to cascade down to his team.

Seeing the military men in that meeting, their simplicity, discipline, and that of the government officials, gives one hope that they have prepared well. They would need to be proverbially ‘bewitched’ and really silly, to go off rail completely, even when their great PK retires, whenever that might be. The work they have put in building institutions, in pulling together the best of their human resources and deploying them appropriately, will guide them.

Clearly, the Kagame regime has no time for mediocrity and corruption. I learnt that for Rwanda, rule of law means one thing, ‘you cannot have untouchables’. And they were deliberate in creating systems that check not only their own excesses, but those of global institutions as well. They see themselves as the true captains of their ship. They will be as Jim Collins would put it, ‘great by choice’.

Ironically, governance, the one thing they credit for their transformation, is also the one that has earned the Rwandan regime its fiercest criticism, the perceived lack of freedom of expression. Maybe, to Rwandans, ‘development is freedom’.

Ms Maractho (PhD) is the director of Africa Policy Centre and senior lecturer at Uganda Christian University.                       [email protected]