Jean-Paul Kimonyo

Ethics: The missing link in service delivery and nation building Today, as the world marks the International Day of Ethics, we are invited to reflect on a simple but powerful truth: no nation can rise above the moral values of its people. In Rwanda, we often complain about poor service delivery whether in public offices, schools, hospitals, or private businesses. Yet, when we look closely, the real problem is not infrastructure or lack of resources. It is the erosion of ethics and work discipline. When ethics are absent, even the best systems fail. I once had a senior staff member well-paid and trusted who left work early, claiming to have an emergency. Later, I discovered he had gone to do consultancy elsewhere, without requesting leave or informing anyone. Ironically, someone who knew me personally saw him and said, you can’t behave like this while working with Joseph. That one incident spoke volumes not just about one person’s dishonesty, but about how far we’ve drifted from ethical conduct. Another staff member requested a sick leave, only for us to see photos the next day of them relaxing at the beach. It was disappointing not simply because of the act, but because of what it revealed: deceit no longer shocks us. Many people now treat dishonesty and irresponsibility as cleverness. Sadly, this mindset is spreading fast, even among those who should model integrity. Last year, a respected family friend a woman in her 60s whom I admired deeply engaged me in what seemed a community initiative. With time, I realized she only wanted to use the project to pay off her personal loans. I withdrew quietly, but the experience left me with a heavy question: how do we build a generation of ethical young people when even elders compromise values for convenience? This decline in ethics is not just hurting institutions; it’s also strangling Rwanda’s young entrepreneurs. Many small business owners are being forced to close their doors, not because their ideas failed, but because those they supplied have refused to pay. In some cases, the debtors even sold the goods, made profits, and still ignored their obligations. This is not just bad business it’s unethical, and it’s destroying trust in our growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. How do we expect innovation to thrive when honesty and responsibility are treated as optional? Across the country, we can observe similar patterns. Some teachers sell exam papers to students, undermining education. In hospitals, patients sometimes wait long hours because health workers are distracted by personal errands. In offices, citizens face delays not because of workload, but because some employees have lost the sense of duty. Even in churches and civil society organizations, people preach values they rarely practice. When a society normalizes such behavior, progress slows down no matter how many policies or reforms are in place. Ethics is not merely about avoiding corruption or theft. It is about doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It means being faithful to your word, respecting time, honoring commitments, and taking pride in work well done. Ethics turns a job into a service, a transaction into trust, and a country into a community. Rwanda’s progress over the past three decades has been built on discipline, unity, and a shared vision. To sustain it, we must now nurture a new culture one rooted in integrity and moral courage. Let us teach ethics at home, practice it at work, and celebrate those who live by it. The foundation of any great nation is not just strong infrastructure or policies, but a collective conscience that values truth, fairness, and accountability. As we mark this International Day of Ethics, let’s remember infrastructure builds cities, but ethics build nations. If we get ethics right, our complaints will no longer be about poor service delivery they will be about how to innovate and serve even better. The future of Rwanda depends not only on what we build, but on how honestly, we build it.