The Minister for local government, Francis Kaboneka, has called on district and village leaders to take ownership of Irembo; a one-stop portal for e-Government services. Speaking at the RwandaOnline sensitization event for Irembo portal, held in Gasabo district, this week, minister Kaboneka noted that the success of the e-Government services initiative would be determined by the ownership of local leaders in its implementation. “We hope this programme will reach all parts of the nations as soon as possible. People have started benefiting from the portal by applying for various documents and services; it’s quite easy for people to register for birth certificate and a like. We (the government) are truly in support of this initiative. “I call on the local leaders to own this program and support their staff in making sure that the portal serves its purpose,” said Kaboneka. The Irembo online platform allows the public to apply for services such as registration for all categories of driving tests, certificates of birth, criminal records, among others. It aims to be a one-stop portal for e-Government services. Through Online Platform service delivery, the government is seeking to continuously striving to become knowledge based economy as well as its high involvement in the ICT field. The portal’s primary focus is to become the catalyst of the transformation of Rwanda through technology. “Irembo is a government program aimed as easing access to government services, especially, for the people who live in the farthest villages,” Kaboneka reiterated. Jeanne Nyirahabineza, a resident of Nyamabuye village in Bugesera town, recently told The New Times, that Irembo it has come to save a lot of challenges that citizens have always faced, in public service delivery. Nyirahabineza noted that no public certificate registrations would take less than 2 days. She believes that the online public service delivery would reduce time wastage, in lining up at public offices for a particular service. “To me, Irembo was long overdue; it rates as one of the most important IT innovations I have ever heard about. At least, everyone needs easy access to government services hence making Irembo a very useful tool,” She said. Emmanuel Muneza, a resident of Kacyiru, Kigali city suburb, who said that, “it is soo exciting that now, a citizen—sited at home—would apply for a particular government service through their mobile money and get a notification on when to pick whatever the document they need, when they a ready. This reduces time wastage,” Muneza said. In a recent interview, with Rwanda Online Platform Limited chief executive officer, Clement Uwajeneza, he noted that Irembo portal would facilitate delivery of public services, through mobile registrations. Uwajeneza said that Rwanda online has established partnership with all Telecentre Networks across the country and telecommunication companies like Tigo, to facilitate the seamless implementation of online services in Rwanda. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
