Irembo, a platform where dozens of services which were previously accessed at different government offices are currently being provided, has announced plans to introduce more 400 services which will soon be provided through the portal. By all means, this platform has made life easy for Rwandans in different ways. Does everyone remember the early morning visits to the Umudugudu chief for their signature to be able to process travel documents? How about the long distances made by citizens to government officers with whom they had no appointment, which often times ended in disappointment? ALSO READ: Irembo further eases online public services delivery Currently, at least 103 services are digitised and accessible on Irembo, according to the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, and plans are in high gear to onboard hundreds of more services as part of a project which is billed to cost in the upwards of Rwf13 billion. Despite the easy life that has been ushered in by this platform however, many people are still locked out of the technology and have to rely on agents to be able to access the Irembo services. These agents not only create an unnecessary layer to access such services, but also come with a cost which should not have been the case had all citizens been empowered to conduct the transaction by themselves using their phones. It is therefore important that as we roll out more services, to also intensify the campaign to encourage the population to adopt the do it yourself approach to avoid the unnecessary cost and the trips they take to visit such agents to be able to make such transactions. Fortunately, campaigns such as one dubbed Byikorere have been rolled out to encourage people to do it themselves. The same efforts should also be directed at deepening telephone penetration in the country with special focus on smartphones which are key enablers for accessing Irembo services. Similarly, it calls for wider internet access, which remains out of reach for many Rwandans despite the significant investment made by government to ensure internet connectivity by way of the national broadband infrastructure. Internet should be made available for all Rwandans and at an affordable price for services such as Irembo to be made accessible by the entire population.
