President Paul Kagame, Sunday, revealed why three members of his cabinet stepped down in the last two weeks.

He was speaking at the opening of Umwiherero—the annual National Leadership Retreat – currently underway in Gatsibo District, in the Eastern Province.

The latest minister to resign was Dr Diane Gashumba of Health who stepped down Friday, February 14, 2020.  

According to President Kagame, the former health minister was caught lying. And it was not the first time.

As part of the preparation for the Retreat, all leaders were supposed to undergo a health check for the Coronavirus and use the opportunity to asses Rwanda’s readiness to deal with the virus.

Initially, Gashumba had reported that there are up to 3,500 testing kits available.

However, as the day for departure for the Retreat drew nearer, plans to conduct the tests were being shelved and excuses were being given.

Among the excuses was that if 400 kits were used, it would deplete the reserves and leave the country vulnerable in the unfortunate event that the virus is reported in Rwanda.

However, after an investigation that involved officers visiting the Ministry of Health, it was discovered that there were only 95 kits available.

The Head of State disclosed that this kind of lying had become habitual.

It was deemed unacceptable, leading to Gashumba’s resignation.

Then there was the former Minister of State for Education in charge of Primary and Secondary Education.

Isaac Munyakazi was caught taking a bribe of Rwf500,000. The deal was to elevate the ranking of a school that had performed poorly in the national examinations. The corruption led to Munyakazi’s disgraced downfall. He had to resign after being caught.

The President also spoke about Evode Uwizeyimana, the former Minister for Justice in charge of legal and constitutional affairs.

Early February, Uwizeyimana declined to go through the security procedures required of public buildings and when the female security guard insisted, he assaulted her, pushing her to the ground. She reported the case to law enforcement.

For Uwizeyimana, it was not the first time and it emerged that this kind of behaviour was known by his fellow leaders and they did nothing about it. This irked the President.

“He [Uwizeyimana] was doing this all the time. Many of you [Leaders] knew about it. Why do you allow this to happen to the extent that someone gets assaulted?” Kagame asked the leaders.

“The reason we don’t achieve some of the targets is due to the misconduct of officials,” the President said, adding that had the Retreat started a few days later, two or three other ministers would have lost their jobs as well.

President Kagame emphasized that he will not tolerate such misconduct or negligence and urged the youth to be better leaders as they prepare to take on more responsibilities.

Approximately 400 leaders from the Government, private sector, youth and friends of Rwanda are taking part in the 17th edition of the four-day retreat that will end Wednesday, February 18, 2020.

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