Irembo, an e-Government service delivery portal this week clocked four years. Its coming into force helped streamline bureaucracy that we had been accustomed to for many years – and even found it normal. Now applying and paying for government services is just a click away. Life is good; no more queues, no irritating government officials who thought they were on top of the world, sitting behind a government desk and telling you to “come back tomorrow”. Government offices were breeding grounds for corruption, so Irembo could not have come at a better time. Even the police fines and speeding tickets are sent to offenders via their mobile phones the minute the traffic camera reads the number-plate. There is really no place to hide for errant motorists as many are finding out the hard way. Technology is our daily companion, fibre optic cables reach all corners of the country and the country has built the first public coding academy on the continent … the list is endless. But to keep ahead of the game, there is no sitting on one’s laurels otherwise one will end upholding the shorter end of the stick; as one mobile service provider is embarrassingly finding out. Last year the Private Sector Federation (PSF), the organiser of the International Trade fair, had informed all service providers that this year’s event would be cashless- no paying cash at the gates. The firms were told to prepare their mobile money platforms in advance. Airtel-Tigo went MIA (Missing in Action) and only MTN now holds the keys to enter the 22nd Rwanda International Trade Fair. Remember, fall asleep on the job for one moment and you reap the consequences, and some are not easy to wipe away because the damage is too deep.
