On Wednesday 6th February 2019, the “Governance we want and Access to Information Law” awareness campaign was taken to Kirehe District. The campaign was initiated by Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) in partnership with Rwanda Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA), the Office of the Ombudsman and Rwanda Media Commission (RMC), in an effort to promote accountable governance and service delivery in local government. The session was attended by the Mayor of Kirehe District, Councillor Gerald MUZUNGU, the Executive Secretaries of all the Sectors of the district, as well as representatives of key stakeholders operating in the district such as media and security organs.
To prompt discussions, various presentations were made. They started with a brief background on the awareness campaign by Mr. Robert BIMENYIMANA, the Director of Media Coordination and Monitoring Unit at RGB. He was followed by Ms. Nadine MUTEZINKINDI, Governance Promotion Specialist at RGB who talked about Good Governance and Service Delivery. On his side, Mr. Aimable SEMUKANYA, Legal Advisor at RGB introduced the provisions of the Access to Information Law to participants of the session. Next was a presentation on Media Self-Regulation Mechanism and complaints handling procedures by Ms. Lydia NDAYIKUNDA, Legal Advisor at RMC. The last presentation was on Effective Communication Strategy and Media Relations for local governments by Mr. Jean Bosco RUSHINGABIGWI, Communication Specialist at RALGA.
Basing on the presentations, the discussions mainly evolved around issues affecting good collaboration between local leaders and the media with impact on accountability and service delivery to citizens. They include lack of factual information in a timely manner as well as unprofessional practices by some journalists.
As a way forward, measures to improve access to information for better accountability and service delivery were proposed. They include mechanisms to gather factual information from the village level to the district level and to proactively publish them using the available IT tools such as the website and social media. It was also agreed upon that regular meetings between local leaders and the media should be organized to evaluate their collaboration status.
In his concluding remarks, the Mayor of Kirehe District said that they benefited a lot from the awareness session which he considered a capacity building activity. He strongly encouraged the Sectors’ Executive Secretaries and the district partners present to collaborate with the media by creating a conducive environment for good collaboration. He reminded them that they are public servants who must be accountable.
