The Ministry of Local Government has announced plans to empower the cell, the second-lowest administrative organ after the village. According to the ministry, the government will ensure the cells are empowered to become centres of local government service delivery. As part of empowering the cells, they will be given more staffing, have better equipped administrative offices with amenities including fast internet. The realignment is based on the decentralisation policy assessment made in 2017/2018 where one of the recommendations was to overhaul the local government. It is also part of the recommendations made at last year’s Leadership Retreat to ensure people get services nearer. Most importantly, the new development is in line with the national decentralisation policy that was adopted in 2000 and was to be implemented in three phases, with the upcoming reforms being the third and final phase. The spirit of the policy was to empower the population, strengthen good governance, enhance pro-poor delivery of service, and poverty alleviation among others. The first phase placed the delivery of local government services at the district level, the second phase put the centre of delivery at the sector, while the third and final phase put the focus at the cell. Without a doubt, things are much better today than they were at the time the centre of delivery was the district. With time, capacities were built and time has come for the services to be taken to the cell because capacities - especially the necessary human capital - have been built over the years. Equally important, there have been valuable lessons learnt during the implementation of the previous phases which should be tapped in to ensure people are better served. The new realignment should go with the strengthening of accountability systems to ensure the intended purpose is served. Coupled with initiatives like the Irembo portal where people can easily access services at their own convenience, there is no doubt the local government has the necessary support system to hasten the development of our communities. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
