Editor,

Over the years, I have realized that few Rwandans can afford to acquire ATM cards. They instead prefer to line up at the banks, sometimes leading to unnecessary long queues.

While it’s understandable that the charges could be high, it saves a lot of time and money when one uses an ATM card and gets charged for the quick services rather than spending hours lining up.

During the festive season, clients were inconvenienced by the public holidays because most banks remained closed, some times leading to families missing out on enjoying the days. In such situations ATM’s come in handy. You can access your money even when the bank is closed.

To me, it is up to the Government and the banks that have the responsibility of encouraging Rwandans to adopt an ATM culture and also demystify the belief that an ATM is a disincentive to saving.

That’s just a conservative excuse, in a fast moving world, people have turned to using electronic cards to conduct financial transactions without spending much time in the queues. It saves both the client and the banks a lot of time and resources.

It’s also important that the banks should review the charges on using ATM to make them more attractive to the clients, otherwise we are being left behind by the rest of the world on this invention of electronic banking.

Edwin Munyaburanga
Nyarutarama