Challenges including corruption and other bad work ethics in public service are still a big problem and they will require more public awareness to eliminate, Senator François Habiyakare stressed on Wednesday, June 23.

 He was speaking in Kigali during the national conference on promoting professional ethics in the Rwandan public service.

The Senator made a presentation on the journey and challenges faced by the Rwandan Public Service in regard to professional ethics, values and service delivery.

"Challenges in public service delivery include corrupt tendencies at the level of 51.4 per cent as highlighted in the 2020 report by the Ombudsman and Transparency International-Rwanda,” he said. "We also have employees being expelled due to other forms of bad conduct at work.”

Knowledge, or technical skills, and capacity, the Senator stressed, are not enough to ensure proper service delivery.

Panelists discuss on on the journey and challenges faced by the Rwandan Public Service in regard to professional ethics, values and service delivery. / Dan Nsengiyumva

"I feel that more and thorough public awareness needs to be done and it should be done in a joint effort, with different pertinent public institutions involved. And this public awareness must be based on the main Rwandan values of patriotism, unity and work.

"People need to understand that public service employees should be the first to be exemplary as regards these important Rwandan values.”

During a panel discussion, Angelina Muganza, the Executive Secretary of the National Public Service Commission, shed more light on the gravity of poor professional ethics in the Rwandan public service sector.

Muganza, among other things, pointed out the fact that the government keeps on incurring heavy financial losses just because managers in public institutions are not responsible enough and are not duly following up properly on issues regarding their subordinates.

"We have realised that there are managers who don’t follow up and end up, for example, expelling employees unfairly. Eventually these employees win court cases,” she said, giving alarming statistics.

Participants following a presentation during the conference . / Dan Nsengiyumva

In the year 2017-18, she said, the government lost more than Rwf520 million in 65 court cases involving 12 public institutions.

Besides the money, she said, there is also so much time lost in court wrangles and the fact that people are not working in an environment of peace and unity so that they deliver as they should.

In 2019, she said, the government lost Rwf970 million in similar circumstances when 24 different institutions got involved in 122 court cases and lost 105 of the cases.

Muganza said: "In many institutions, there are unnecessary conflicts between workers and between workers and their supervisors. Clearly, we know alot or might have the knowledge but not have the right attitude, like the Senator noted.”

"What is needed is a way to have proper cooperation in all public service institutions and how we can all be aware of these Rwandan cultural values and implement them, exemplary. Every manager in public service has a responsibility of being a good manager of the employees. We need accountable public servants and institutions.”

The Transparency International-Rwanda Chairperson, Marie Immaculée Ingabire, was thankful that the discussion on promoting professional ethics was being had.

Ingabire noted that the fact that the challenges are being acknowledged and discussed is encouraging.

The Transparency International-Rwanda Chairperson, Marie Immaculée Ingabire shares her comment . Dan Nsengiyumva

Among other things, she noted, managers in public service are not being held accountable for the management of the workers they lead.

Service delivery is also still very bad in grassroots levels, she said.

Sharing her own observations regarding cases of poor service delivery, Ingabire particularly singled out "poor service by Irembo,” an online portal that serves as a gateway to different government services, for the bad service citizens get at grassroots levels.

Those who advance the notion that use of IT is enhancing public service delivery, she indicated, are missing the fact that there are some genuine cases where use of information technology in service delivery is overrated.

At the onset, the Minister for Public Service and Labour, Fanfan Kayirangwa Rwanyindo, noted that in various institutions and levels, there are issues of negligence and work ethics that do not put the citizens first when it comes to service delivery.

"We need to reflect on the level of excellence and professionalism in every level of our public service sector,” the Minister said.

"Let us not relax as there remain many weaknesses in public service regarding professional ethics, values and service delivery.”

Habiyakare observed that his main worry is that issues have been acknowledged but implementation will be the missing link.

The government, through the national strategy for transformation (NST1), committed to attain 90 percent of citizen satisfaction with services and ensure 100 percent of government services are delivered online by 2024, from 40% in 2017.

The national strategy for transformation (NST1) provided, under the transformational governance pillar, priority area five which is to "strengthen capacity, service delivery and accountability of public institutions” with the aim of enhancing public service performance, professionalism and building a citizen-centered culture.

The target is a percentage of citizens satisfied with service delivery increased from 67.7 per cent (2016 Rwanda Governance Scorecard) to 90 per cent by 2024.