The Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) has assured the general public that services will remain accessible despite the latest measures imposed to curtail the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

The new measures that will be implemented in Kigali City and eight districts, went into force on Thursday, July 1, and requires all offices – public and private – in affected areas closed, and people work from home.

Most public services in the country are concentrated in the City of Kigali.

According to the ministry, contingency measures have been put in place to ensure the services continue to be delivered with no significant challenges.

In other parts of the country, services will continue in accordance with the measures that were in force before July 1.

During an interview with The New Times, Gaspard Musonera, the permanent secretary at MIFOTRA, said that they made sure that every employee working from home is facilitated.

"Working from home is not something new. The government made sure that everyone was facilitated. We had a meeting with different institutions including RISA and MTN Rwanda, to ensure that they will facilitate people working from home with enough internet and ICT tools,” he said.

RISA is Rwanda Information Society Authority, a body that is charged with planning and coordinating the country’s ICT development agenda.

Musonera added that they agreed with internet service providers to subsidise internet costs and ensure efficient internet services and that fiber-optic connection has been installed in every accessible place.  

"Employees should know that they are not going on a holiday. Work must continue as has been in office,” he said.

The Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) is one of the departments that will be working from home and a publicist from the ministry assured that they will continue to offer services with no problem.

"We already had many among us working from home, and every affiliate institution has been provided with modems and fiber-optics to help our work efficiently,” said Joseph Curio Havugimana MINALOC’s spokesperson.

Prior to the latest directive that was announced on Tuesday by Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente, public service offices were operating at 15 per cent capacity.

Regarding coordination of local government services, Havugimana said that even prior to the pandemic, the ministry had started coming up with remote working strategies to minimize unnecessary travel to Kigali for meetings.

He added that to supplement this, the meeting app Webex has been extended in all local government entities to ease online meetings.

"And for citizens who need different services from us, we have telephone numbers, email, and a toll-free number, they can also approach their local leaders for assistance if they have no means to reach us,” Havugimana said.

Private sector also ready

Not just the public sector is ready and well equipped to comply with the new guidelines but also a section of players in the private sector who were interviewed confirmed to have no problems and pledged to continue offering services satisfactorily.

Christine Gakuba, a business development manager in Alpha Mead Group, a real estate firm, said: "Our employees are facilitated with everything, they have modems and laptops so this is not going to be a challenge working from home, and if other materials are needed like printers there is an exception to move them from work to home.”

However, she said that there will be a few challenges because some of the clients may find it difficult to reach them, especially for walk-in clients.

She said that to mitigate this, they have an open office telephone line on which they can be reached. 

According to the Private Sector Federation, the professional body dedicated to promoting and presenting Rwandan businesses in the country, they expect minimal interruptions, adding that the sacrifices had to be made to safeguard health.

"We expect daily activities to continue; our health is a priority, therefore we will keep on putting effort and encourage our members to comply with the directives,” said Deus Kayitakirwa the director of advocacy at PSF.  

He said that some of the smaller operations may however find it difficult to operate remotely, but added that the greater good is health, and urged members to be understanding.