MUHANGA – The Minister of Local Government, James Musoni, has warned grassroots leaders against charging illegal fees instead of striving to offer better services to the population.He made the call last Friday during the official opening of the Local Government Institute (LGI),  which will help equip local leaders with basic knowledge in good governance, quality service delivery and public finance management.The initiative, by the Rwandese Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA), targets 2,148 cell and 416 sector executive secretaries from all the districts.The pioneer intake was executive secretaries from Muhanga district. Others grassroots leaders in the country will follow.Addressing the leaders, Musoni challenged them to shun poor service delivery and to put the interest of the population first. "Leaders must be equipped with good leadership skills, must be devoted, work for the interest of the population and are expected to put the interest of the country before anything else,” he noted.He added: "Better service delivery is essential in engaging residents in the development process”.Calling on the leaders to fight any kind of bad leadership, Musoni warned them against charging residents seeking services fees unrelated to the requested services. Musoni said that he has gotten reports that some grassroots leaders charge residents illegal fees.He told them that such a move is illegal and might result into strong measures against anyone caught doing it.In a discussion which ensued, the grassroots leaders tried to justify the move by the desire to help residents comply with some developmental programmes, including the health insurance, the construction of classrooms for the 9&12 Years Basic Education, among others.But Musoni refuted that saying that it was a failure to mobilise residents and bring them to comply."You cannot pretend to implement government policies using wrong ways. Waiting for residents to pay the money while they come to seek services is a failure,” he stated."And, if you rely on that strategy, how many residents will turn up? At the end you will lose”, he added as he called for mobilization efforts to be intensified.Musoni observed that the failure to involve residents in the planning of the various activities to be conducted was as well affecting leaders’ performance."Residents must be involved in the whole process, from the planning to implementation”, he advised. "If you want them to own the activities and participate actively in the implementation, involve them from the beginning”.The training is the first of the kind targeting grassroots leaders across the country.According to RALGA, the most of the capacity building opportunities have in the past targeted the staff at the district level and little chance was given to the sector’s and cell’s staff and yet they are the ones who are much closer to the population.Upon completion of the two day training, it is expected that the level of customer satisfaction in their respective sectors and cells will increase while that of complaints will reduce.