It is that time of the year when officials who have not delivered to expectations get into a panicky mode or find excuses to explain why they did not achieve their targets, or simply sit back in submission and admit to their failure before the appointing authority.

Many a time, a change of guard will be seen a few weeks after the National Leadership Retreat, known as Umwiherero in Kinyarwanda, with underperforming officials replaced by those expected to get things done.

READ: 2014 -Year the big broom swept away powerful public officials

The 12th edition of Umwiherero commenced Saturday at Rwanda Defence Forces Combat Training Centre at Gabiro. For two days the more than 250 leaders will discuss issues of national interest and, hopefully, come up with concrete strategies to help the country to achieve its development targets.

But even as the annual activity — touted as one of Rwanda’s impressive homegrown solutions — concerns remain on which of the 43 resolutions the 2014 retreat adopted has been achieved, with some of the key programmes expected to spur development either having stalled or moving at snail pace.

Senior officials are expected to be put on the spot to answer why there has been little progress on key outcomes of last year’s retreat despite a report by the Prime Minister’s office showing that 70 per cent of the resolutions were implemented.

Major shortfalls remain in the area of infrastructure, energy, housing, healthcare and accountability with at least five district mayors and their deputies resigning over the past year alone. Admittedly, the government says the shortfalls in programme implementation and issues of accountability will top the agenda.

READ: Are targets too high for Rwandan mayors?

Leaders’ accountability — rethinking the government’s approach to delivery; leveraging public-private partnership to tap the full potential of the MICE sector; reviewing the performance of health systems and enhancing the quality of health service delivery; and infrastructure development to support planned urbanisation are cited as the four key topics that will be on the table, according to a statement.

Minister for Cabinet Affairs Stella Ford Mugabo said the government will not shy away from discussing issues that have been of great concern not only to the country’s leaders but also citizens — including accountability, where leaders have failed to do what they were expected of them or accused of misused public resources in one way or another.

“The issue of accountability is a pressing one,” Ms Mugabo told Rwanda Today. “You have heard or read about what has been reported about district mayors resigning and all.

“That is why we are bringing forward the issue of accountability, for leaders to sit together in one room and discuss where we have failed as leaders and point a finger at each other where we have not been accountable.

“I think people have taken things for granted; sometimes leaders failing to own the processes and actions we commit ourselves to every other day. We want to sit and say that if people commit mistakes and are not accountable to the people they serve they should answer for that.”

She added that part of the retreat will be to assess which of the projects that were agreed upon last year were achieved and which ones were not, as well as cases where implementation is not moving as expected, and people will be made answerable, where possible, including the concerned technocrats and bureaucrats.

70 per cent success

According to the minister, however, a joint assessment by different government institutions on the 43 resolutions adopted at the 11th edition of the retreat showed a 70 per cent full implementation, 28 per cent partial implementation and two per cent failed implementation.

The rate of success is measured using the colours of traffic lights, with successful implementation or fully achieved resolutions marked in green, partially implemented in yellow and completely off-track resolutions in red.

“One of the key resolutions that were achieved was the completion of Bushenge Hospital,” said Ms Mugabo. “The hospital was fully completed, equipped and opened.

“We have also finalised plans for the construction of Bugesera International Airport. We are currently on the expropriation phase, which is a positive step.

“We have also resolved the issues which were frustrating investors with Rwanda Development Board setting up an online claims system to address issues of investors and it is already up and running.”

However, most of the key programmes remain in yellow or red. These include the transfer of the community health insurance scheme Mutuelle de Sante to Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) to make it more effective.

One of the most touted programmes in Rwanda, Mutuelle de Sante has been marred by cases of mismanagement of funds, low subscription and complaints from users who say they are discriminated against in public hospitals compared to holders of other medical insurance cards.

READ: Mutuelle de Sante subscribers allege discrimination

Mismanaged funds

Several mayors who resigned were accused of mismanaging the scheme’s funds or making false declarations on the number of subscriptions to impress their seniors. A national assessment on how the scheme would be transferred unearthed the rot.

According to Ms Mugabo, transferring the scheme to RSSB requires a lot of things, including setting up new systems and staff to manage it. The government has given itself up to June to complete the process.

Another area in yellow was low-cost housing, where little was achieved. But according to the minister, developing a national housing policy required a lot of time but has been tabled before Cabinet for approval.

She said the government has embarked on construction of 2,000 low-cost units through Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) in Gisozi while other projects are being undertaken by RSSB and a similar GTZ programme is in the offing.

The housing policy will focus on land utilisation and planned settlements, where condominiums and highrise residential housing will be given priority.

One of the key resolutions not completely achieved is a Rwf26 billion government project to generate electricity from peat in Gishoma, Southern Province. The 15 megawatts pilot failed to take off due to unforeseen challenges, mainly environmental as well as lack of sustainable sources of peat.

READ: Senators raise red flag over stalled energy projects

“One of the challenges we have had, I think, is that we ventured into a project that we had not studied very well,” said Ms Mugabo. “I suspect a good feasibility study was not done and we set ourselves targets without studying the project well.

“We only realised later that there were so many factors that would affect the plans to convert peat into power. The plant itself is almost done, about 90 per cent, but it cannot operate without enough peat, without water or without electricity to run it.”

She said there were no tandem plans to supply water and electricity to the plant. Also, according to reports, the plant was also constructed in a location without enough deposits of peat, while transporting it from other sources would be expensive.

Other key projects to be discussed at the retreat include access to clean water to address the current shortages as well as the issue of lack of a central sewage system in Kigali.

Analysts have warned that if the government does not quickly address the issue of sewage control in Kigali, the country will be sitting on a “sewage time bomb” that would explode in a few years as each house in the fast-growing capital relies on its own sewage pit.

According to Prof Venuste Karambizi, a socio-political commentator, the retreat provides an opportunity for the government to re-evaluate itself and see where things have stalled and where progress has been made.