On Wednesday, local government officials held discussions with RwandaOnline Platform Limited on how to speed up adoption of online services delivered through Irembo Platform.

Since July 2015, Rwandans have been able to apply and pay for Government services through Irembo. The platform is available online and on mobile with 32 services currently available to the public.

On Irembo platform, citizens are able to access services such as birth registration, marriage certificate, birth certificate, land registration and transfer. The target is to have 100 services digitised by 2018.

The one-day workshop involved all provinces and district executive secretaries, directors of finance, City of Kigali representatives, officials from the ministries of Finance, Local Government, and Youth and ICT, Rwanda Revenue Authority and RwandaOnline Platform Limited.

A presentation of an assessment was made by a joint task force which looked into the challenges and opportunities of Irembo adoption in local government entities. Among the challenges cited were access to reliable internet, power, awareness, training, ownership of Irembo services and digitisation of payment models.

Commenting on the report, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and ICT, Rosemary Mbabazi, reminded local government officials to transform these challenges into opportunities pointing at similar huge undertakings that Rwanda has successfully implemented because Rwandans never gave up trying every time they failed.

Among other resolutions, participants agreed on signing a Memorandum of Understanding between RwandaOnline Platform Ltd and districts, which commits each party to undertake specific responsibilities revolving around addressing challenges such as availing the requisite infrastructure, computers, raising awareness about Irembo, and citizens ‘accessibility to payment channels.

Fred Mufulukye, the Director General of Territorial Administration and Governance, asked Local Government officials to deliver on their part of the responsibility because adoption of Irembo platform will make their work easier.

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