NYARUGENGE - The Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, has expressed strong concern over poor service delivery in some public offices, saying such bad habits affect the country’s development.

Makuza made the appeal yesterday during the Kigali City performance contracts first term evaluation exercise, that took place at the main hall of Nyarugenge District.

The performance contracts are signed between districts officials and the President of the Republic with the aim of driving the country to sustainable development through four main pillars which are; Economy, Good Governance, Social Welfare and Justice.

Makuza who presided over the function said it was unfortunate that some public servants receive residents’ queries with disrespect, stressing that they have no right to ill-treat residents.

"If you don’t have what they need, there is always a way to fairly let them know,” Makuza told hundreds of Kigali City’s local leaders and public servants who watched  the Mayors present the contract execution results in their respective jurisdictions.

"But even when you serve them and help them, you don’t need to make them feel like it was a favour you did to them.”

Public service delivery became an issue following Kigali City’s presentation of the Citizen’s Charter that displayed a timeframe according to which residents’ issues would have appropriate times to be resolved.

According to the Charter, disputes especially those to do with procuring land or getting other required documents should not take more than 15 days to be solved.

Some of the members of the audience said the time allocated to queries’ resolution was too big, but Premier Makuza said it is also a good step that needs to be maintained as it is a new innovation.

"This charter can only have its value if it is respected,” he commented, adding that residents have the right to get better service and once this is not respected, they should appeal.

Local Government Minister Protais Musoni even suggested that there should be tough measures against public servants who are found guilty of not respecting what is prescribed in the Citizen’s Charter for better service delivery.

"There must be sanctions against those who don’t serve the public accordingly,” he said, suggesting that the local leaders need to establish strong coordination structures to help them make evaluations of planned activities and their implementation.

Musoni further said that the implementation of the performance contracts has to match with the government’s pace towards eradicating poverty and achieve sustainable development through EDPRS (Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy), Vision 2020 and MDGs (Millennium Development Goals).

"Our city must be corruption-free, crime-free, malnutrition-free and conflict-free in administration,” Musoni said, commenting on the role of performance contracts in enhancing the country’s development.

The evaluation results presented by Kigali City Mayor Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira showd that Nyarugenge District emerged first by scoring 77.73 percent, followed by Gasabo District that got 77.40 percent while Kicukiro District came last with 77.03 percent.

Ends