New ministers pledge new momentum

President Paul Kagame, on Wednesday, officiated at the swearing-in ceremony of the Minister for Education, Dr Eugene Mutimura, and Minister of Technology, Jean de Dieu Rurangirwa.

The two ministers were appointed by President Kagame, through the Prime Minister on December 6, replacing Papias Musafiri Malimba (education) and Jean Philbert Nsengimana (ICT).

Kagame challenged the new members of cabinet to work with their colleagues in leading the national transformation.

“We shall work closely with you and complement each other in transforming our country,” Kagame said.

Prior to his appointment, Mutimura was the project coordinator for the Africa Centers of Excellence based in Kampala, Uganda.

The project is an initiative by the Inter University Council of East Africa and the World Bank to establish regional education and research centres in specific topics.

Mutimura has also previously worked at the Regional Alliance for Sustainable Development.

Mutimura told The New Times that he looks forward to improving the quality of education in the country.

“I will start by examining the prevailing challenges together with my team and other stakeholders before we can lay strategies to improve the education system. The overall objective is to build on the existing pillars to improve the quality of our education that would set new momentum of our development agenda of making Rwanda a knowledge-based economy,” Mutimura said.

The new ICT minister, Rurangirwa, also pledged to “continue working toward making Rwanda an ICT-driven country.

Rurangirwa, previously worked at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

He was working on Integrated Financial Management Information and System (IFMIS), a programme that manages government finances, budget, commitments control, treasury management, cash management, accounts payables, tax, and non-tax revenues, accounts receivables, and a centralised general ledger system.

Rurangirwa also worked as a consultant at the International Monetary Fund as an advisor focusing on public sector financial management processes.

The New Times

UM– USEKE.RW