The Ministry of Local Government, commonly known as Minaloc, will soon launch an inspection manual where all administrative units in the country will be guided on how to deliver speedy services to their people.

The manual comes in place to compliment the now famous Imihigo performance contracts signed between local leaders and President Paul Kagame. The contracts are part of the Rwandan government’s determination to practice good governance principles.

Minaloc supervises the achievement of Imihigo targets

"The local government manual will consist of a database in which all tax-payers and the firms that collect these taxes in the country are registered," Protais Musoni, the Minister of Local Government told The New Times said.

He said the information would be used by policy makers in the public, and private sectors as well as community based organisations. He added that with clear statistics, the manual will create a good working environment between tax payers and collectors.

Musoni said the manual will emphasize pro poor measures to reduce poverty in the country. It will come into force this year

"We have set out social protection measures to help absolutely poor people in the country. We aim to help vulnerable people in communities which have genocide survivors, child-headed families, the disabled and people living with HIV/aids," he said.

The local government inspection manual is a Minaloc document that is approved by cabinet and it spells out clear guidelines for local government officials and what needs to be done in order to achieve faster service delivery in the country.

Local government authorities have since 2006 signed performance agreements with President Paul Kagame. They set themselves targets to achieve in the areas of education, health, and delivering speedy service across the population. Some district Mayors, like the one of Muhanga district, was voted out of office by his Executive Council accusing him of failure to achieve the targets in the national Vision 2020 document.

,The decentralization policy adopted in 2003 has received world wide recognition for its effectiveness in getting public service closer to the people at the grassroots level of the Rwandan community.

The decentralization reforms which began in 2003 have been lauded for improving services delivery by local government leaders to grassroots communities.

Musoni further added that his ministry intends to reduce the cost of paper work in administrative routines; he said the Minaloc was in partnership with national institutions like RITA (Rwanda Information and Technology Authority, NISR, and the Ministry of Infrastructure, to deliver ICT across the country.

"By the end of 2008 all sectors (Mirenge) in the country will have ICT services in their office," said Musoni.

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