Kagame urges leaders on service delivery

• Nyamagabe District emerges best for second successive year PARLIAMENT - President Paul Kagame yesterday reminded local leaders that the biggest challenge facing the country today is poor customer care that is still prevalent in both the private and public sectors. He said this while presiding over the presentation of the 2009/10 Performance Contract and review 2008/09 per district, a function held yesterday at the Parliamentary buildings. During the ceremony, Kagame said that despite the country registering major developments in the last few years, as exhibited by the outcomes of performance contracts, there is much more to do in the field of customer care. He singled out the private sector as having poor customer care practices, especially businesses and service providers. The President who has been an advocate of good customer care reminded the gathering that poor service to clients remains a major hindrance of economic development, investment and prosperity, and that it should be dealt with forthrightly. He noted that the only solution would be if clients refused to reject paying for substandard services and goods which he said would prompt service providers to rethink their ways. He warned that it is high time consumers started demanding value for their money. He commended provincial Governors and Mayors for the efforts to fulfil last year’s performance contracts but then urged them to add extra efforts this year, while those who surpassed their targets were urged not to stop but also continue consolidating the achievements. Kagame noted that while the steps taken so far could be commended, the biggest challenge still lies ahead. He said that what the country has achieved — if put on a scale of one to100 — it could be about 10, which therefore calls for more efforts to take the country to another level. Announcing this year’s best performing district, Local Government Minister Christophe Bazivamo said that the Ministry in conjunction with the Prime Ministers Office set up a team to carry out a national evaluation in all provinces and per district. The team evaluated different aspects such as economic performance (trade), social development, good governance, infrastructure, justice, and new innovations before they came up with 10 best performing districts, two from each province. For the second time in a row, Nyamagabe district in the Southern Province beat off stiff competition from Rulindo and Rutsiro to emerge the best performing district, receiving a trophy from President Paul Kagame. Nyamagabe scored an overall 86 % closely followed by Rulindo which scored 84% while Rutsiro came third with 82%. However all districts were close and among the top ten was Burera, Muhanga, Nyagatare, Rubavu and Gasabo which scored above 70% while Ngoma and Nyarugenge were the last in the group of 10, scoring above 66%. He also noted that all districts performed well despite many challenges, especially delay in releasing funds as had been budgeted, bureaucracy, poor planning and embezzlement of funds. The new State Minister of Primary and Secondary School, Mathias Harebamungu, was also sworn-in during the same function. Harebamungu replaces Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, who was fired a couple of weeks ago. Ends

National

Kagame urges leaders on service delivery