Mayors optimistic over One Stop centres

District leaders have expressed optimism over the establishment of One Stop centres as an initiative to enhance better service delivery.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012
RALGA chairperson, Justus Kangwage. The New Times / File

District leaders have expressed optimism over the establishment of One Stop centres as an initiative to enhance better service delivery.The centres will be charged with among others, land management, human settlement and Infrastructure, tourism, and investment.According to the district officials, One-Stop Centres will streamline the process of Doing Business in the country.Speaking to The New Times yesterday, the Mayor of Rulindo District, Justus Kangwagye, said the centres will play a key role in improving service delivery, accountability and team spirit.Kangwagye is also the current chairperson of the Rwanda Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA)."People have been moving up and down from one location to another, looking for services, but with the establishment of the One-Stop Centre that will provide a wide range of services at a single location, is vital towards enhancing customer care services,” he asserted.Kangwagye stated that, Kigali City One-Stop Centre serves as a model to districts, adding that leaders should find out how the centre operates."The centre will help us in the implementation of our daily responsibilities, especially in addressing the citizens concerns,” he noted.Kigali One-Stop Centre was established in April 2010 to facilitate Doing Business in the country. Since then, the centre has enhanced the provision of better and quick service delivery to the people.According to the Mayor of Karongi District, Bernard Kayumba, the establishment of the centre comes at a time when good governance practices are being fast-tracked by the government."We are encouraging investment at the local level. So the centre will help in attracting investors, since their services will be delivered in a quicker and better way,” he said.Kayumba mentioned that his district has put in place an advisory council committee to help in designing the standard model of the One-Stop Centre. According to the officials from the Ministry of Local of Government, the establishment of the centres will enable people to access government services at their convenience.The Chairman of Rural Settlement Task Force (RSTF), Augustine Kampayana, said; "the decision to set up One-Stop Centres was researched and discussed and the district leaders are supposed to have approved the establishment of the centres by the end of this month”.