Poor service delivery at the grassroots is still affecting good governance in the country, a new study shows.

The study was carried out in May this year in five districts of Gasabo, Gicumbi, Kamonyi, Nyagatare, and Rusizi. It was commissioned by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB).

The aim was to establish whether service charters– lists of types and description of services that should be offered to people– are available at local entities,cells, sectors and districts–, whether those service charters are being followed, challenges faced in the implementation and the way forward.

While releasing the report, yesterday, in Kigali, Solange Uwizeye, the Director of Governance Monitoring and Service Delivery at RGB, said the study found out that service delivery was still wanting.

"In all the five districts surveyed, it was found that there was disparity in services offered to the people as well as a lack of professionalism among local leaders,” she said.

She added that unexpected meetings were also cited as a challenge to fulfilling local routine duties.

Other challenges include lack of open interaction between leaders and the people, where people are not given platform to air out their grievances, as well as the failure to post services and descriptions at respective offices so that people can know what service to seek from which office.

Uwizeye said seven key indicators were considered during the study, namely customer care, management of service delivery, awareness about service delivery policy framework and guidelines, transparency in service delivery, infrastructure for service delivery, efficiency in service delivery provision and professionalism and qualification.

Local leaders said the challenges often occur when people seek services that cannot be easily verified such as marital certificate.

"Sometimes a person comes seeking a martial certificate which you can’t issue right away because someone may claim to be single, yet they are married. So a local leader tries to verify through close friends and ask the person to bring Identity Cards of three people who know him, as proof before issuing them the certificate,”

Roger Mashami Muhire, the Executive of Nyamugari Cell, Gatsata Sector in Gasabo said.

Grace Uwangabe, the Executive secretary of Bisenga Cell, Rusororo Sector, Gasabo, cited heavy work load among the challenges leading to poor service delivery.

"Sometimes a cell executive secretary has 75 cases to address so it becomes very difficult for them to satisfy people as everyone wants their case dealt with first,” she said.

Local leaders acknowledged the findings of the survey and pledged to work with RGB and the Ministry of Local Government to improve service delivery.

The report recommends capacity building for local leaders to efficiently handle their daily duties.

Daria Jeannette Uwamahoro, the in charge of territorial administration and decentralisation at Gasabo District, said they would ensure collaboration between local residents and leaders to address the concerns raised.

In the most recent version of Rwanda Governance Scorecard published in December 2012, among eight indicators considered, the least one is the quality of service delivery with the score of 70.4 per cent.

Government target is to improve service delivery to 80 per cent within seven years.

The Citizen Report Count by RGB conducted in 2013 indicated that 62 per cent of Gasabo residents were satisfied by services delivered at the local level, while the countrywide satisfaction level is 60 per cent.

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