Regional & Local Government

Rwanda consists of five provinces: Kigali City, Eastern Province, Western Province, Northern Province and Southern Province. The capital, Kigali, is the country’s largest city and is also Rwanda’s commercial capital. The five provinces are subdivided into about thirty districts. The major change from twelve to five provinces took place in 2006. The division of the provinces was an attempt to curtail the prevailing ethnic divisions and subdue reminders of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. The primary objective of Rwanda’s Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) is to develop democratic, decentralised administrative structures that allow for effective implementation of government programmes to enable the population to resolve their problems in a self-sustaining manner.