A plan to enhance the capacity of cells so that they better serve citizens is under consideration, Patrice Mugenzi, the Minister of Local Government, said on Monday, January 20. The minister said the plan involves increasing the number of cell staff. Mugenzi said this while appearing before members of the Lower House’s Committee on Governance and Gender Affairs who were analysing the report of the Office of Ombudsman for the fiscal year 2023/2024. ALSO READ: Decentralisation Vs Centralisation: A journey of citizen empowerment The minister was responding to MP Deogratias Nzamwita who said that the increase of a cell's capacity was long overdue. The lawmaker sought to know the progress regarding strengthening cell capacity, “because if a cell is strengthened, many issues can be addressed.” Mugenzi said that addressing citizens’ complaints is at the core of MINALOC’s policy. He told MPs that the mechanism under which developing the capacity of cells can be done was being considered, adding that it requires budget for salaries for the additional staff, and facilities such as computers needed for their operations. So far, he said, a cell has two members of staff: an executive secretary (who is in charge of its good governance), and a Socio-Economic Development Officer (SEDO) in charge of development affairs. “It is a good approach that we realise can help us to address citizens’ complaints,” the minister said. “There are two staff at cell level. In our plan, we want to increase the capacity of a cell by providing it with more staff who can support the already employed ones, for service delivery among the people.” Increasing the number of staff, even by one, has budget implications because of the large number of cells in the country. The country has 2,148 cells. ALSO READ: Decentralisation key driver for regional devt – experts Mugenzi underscored the need for a thorough study for the ministry to have an evidence-based request to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning regarding cell capacity development. “There are already [MINALOC] employees on field to gather information of what should be done so that we know which employee is needed at cell level,” he said. Meanwhile, he said that, based on current situation, there is a need for an officer in charge of civil registration at cell level – to deal with civil status related issues, “and any other staff we may deem necessary so that a citizen has access to improved service.” Regarding improved service delivery, the Ministry of Local Government’s Governance and Decentralization Sector Strategic Plan (2018/19 – 2023/24), outlines targeted outputs including developing cell capacities for serving as the local centre of services. The plan sought to adopt the new service charters for the cell, develop and adopt a new organisational structure of the cell, and recruit related staff as per the adopted organisational structure. The strategic plan targeted to increase staff at cell level from two, in 2018/2019, to five, in 2023/2024, but no progress was made to that end thus far.
