Southern Province districts rank worst
Sunday August 19 2018
Assessment showed that some projects stalled, never took off or had little to no impact on the communities. PHOTO | FILE
Residents in the Southern Province continue to bear the brunt of the poor score of their leaders in the 2017/2018 districts performance contracts (Imihigo) with the assessment showing that some projects stalled, never took off or had little to no impact on the communities.
The ranking of more than 30 districts in the country saw almost all the Southern Province districts come in last position with Nyaruguru, Gisagara, Kamonyi, Nyamagabe, Ruhango and Nyanza coming last on the list.
The poor score has largely been linked to the failure by authorities to deliver on a number of issues such as high poverty rates, malnutrition and access to vital infrastructure facilities, which are considered priorities on the lives of the communities in the largely rural province.
Based on the priorities set by districts under last year’s Imihigo, most of them targeted expanding electricity and clean water supply infrastructure, works on roads and health facilities as well as addressing malnutrition and poor hygiene.
However, a number of these targets suffered as a result of poorly conducted feasibility studies, tendering processes marred by delays and malpractices as well as poor co-ordination.
For many districts like Ruhango, Muhanga, Huye, Kamonyi and Nyanza, internal wrangles and resignations of officials also had a bearing on the delivery of priorities under Imihigo.
“Most failures are a result of impractical targets as there seemed to be no prior linkage with budgets and realities on the ground. Many ran the risk of getting poorly done work due to the rush to meet the deadlines,” said a source.
For instance, authorities in Nyanza district — which ranked the worst — and those in Nyamagabe, Gisagara and Ruhango had many infrastructural works delayed or done poorly after failing to cater for expropriation costs as well as inefficiencies in selecting the contractors.
Unlike previous years, this year the assessment considered not only the completion of the target vis-à-vis the set timelines, but also the impact and quality of works done.
Authorities told Rwanda Today that even where activities were on course, the evaluating team faulted them for either poor quality or having no substantial impact on the communities.
The issues affected infrastructure upgrading works in secondary cities such as Huye and Muhanga in Southern province including a Rwf185 million roads drainage line construction in Muhanga.
Others include a Rwf145.6 million Rambya-Kizimyamuriro-Sabaki feeder road construction project in Nyamagabe; a Rwf87.6 million rehabilitation project for Ruhashya-Ntyazo water supply system in Nyanza district and a waste handling facility located in Sovu, Huye District, among others.
However, Nyamagabe District mayor in charge of economic affairs Lambert Kabayiza, said the Imihigo project was undermined by the unprecedented weather disasters that hit the country, bringing several projects to a standstill.
The 2018-19 Imihigo will put emphasis on seven key areas that include job creation, energy, urbanisation and rural settlement.