The acting Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), Usta Kayitesi, has called for continued efforts across the country to improve service delivery.

She made the call yesterday during a meeting with members of the senatorial Standing Committee on Political Affairs and Governance who started scrutinising RGB’s report for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

"People still haven’t given their best at providing services to citizens,” she said.

She urged all government institutions across the country to invest in activities to train their staff so they can be able to provide solutions to challenges that affect citizens.

 "We need a mindset that is result-oriented in the provision of services,” she said.

Asked about what she wishes the senators to put in their recommendations after analysing the report, Kayitesi urged continued capacity building for civil servants with the intention to change their mindset towards solution-based service delivery.

The Government has a goal to ensure that, by 2024, at least 90 per cent of Rwandans will be happy about the quality of service delivery, up from the rate of 69.3 per cent in 2018.

Issues raised by RGB officials include the lack of access to finance for many citizens who still lack skills in designing bankable projects in order to access funding from Business Development Fund (BDF).

RGB’s Secretary General, Edward Kalisa, said that efforts should be made to facilitate citizens in accessing the funds.

"One of the main challenges to job creation is lack of skills. Some citizens don’t know how to design bankable business projects while there is also a challenge to do with high interest rates to access bank loans,” he said.

The discussions also touched on issues to do with media development.

Senator Marie Claire Mukasine asked RGB officials how far they had gone with setting up a media development fund.

Kayitesi told the MPs that consultations with the media fraternity on setting up the fund were at advanced stages and promised that it will be in place in a few months to come.

She said that RGB has set aside Rwf5 million to help kick-start the fund.

Though she said that the challenge so far is that some journalists have no work contracts, she indicated that there are on-going talks to see if loans can’t be given to journalists depending on their savings with the fund once it’s set up.

Recommendations from the senators’ analysis of the RGB’s report for 2017-2018 and plan of action for the current fiscal year 2018-2019 will be handed over to the Senate for further consideration.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com