City of Kigali
Mayor Pudence Rubingisa (right) speaks during the news briefing as
Nadine Umutoni Gatsinzi, the Vice Mayor in charge of socio-economic
affairs takes notes at the City Hall on Wednesday. Sam Ngendahimana.
A
few days ago, Daniel Kalisa, a university student, spent more than one
hour at a bank’s entrance together with others waiting for the bank to
open. They couldn’t be served before 8:00 a.m.
“My sister, who is in high school, had an
exam at exactly 8:00 a.m. and I went to the bank early so
that I can
save time to travel to her school and give her the bank slip,” Kalisa
said.
“I had to call her school’s bursar
apologizing so that she could at least sit for the exam. Good enough it
went well, but it’s so absurd that banks open that late despite how fast
our country is developing.”
The newly elected Mayor of Kigali, Pudence
Rubingisa, pledged additional efforts in promoting the business culture
of working 24/7, placing infrastructure and public transport on his
priorities.
Rubingisa remarked this on Wednesday, August 28, during his inaugural press conference.
The Mayor noted: “Looking at the vision of our city, we can’t ignore the initiative of working 24/7.”
The essence of working 24/7 is justified
by its numerous benefits among which are: employment opportunities,
efficient service delivery and the climax of these being the development
of the economy.
“We will work together with businesspeople
and make sure we provide adequate public transport as well as improved
infrastructure to help them work efficiently even at night,” the Mayor
said, adding that concerns over very few public buses, especially at
night, will also be addressed.
Dr Ernest Nsabimana, the City’s Vice Mayor
in charge of Urbanisation and Infrastructure said the city plans to
construct at least 180 kilometres of roads over the next four years as
part of a move to ease transport in Kigali and link it with other areas.
The pledge comes as an emphasis of what Rubingisa had pointed out as his areas of focus after swearing-in as the new Mayor of Kigali.
According to Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF), a lot has been done compared to previous years.
Speaking to The New Times,
Théoneste Ntagengerwa, PSF’s Spokesperson said: “In the years of 2000s
you couldn’t find any bus beyond 8:00 p.m or even open shops after
10p.m. But today public buses continue up to 11 p.m.”
Ntagengwa mentioned Nyamirambo sector as one of the places where businesses are still open at night, many of which are small scale businesses dealing with fast food.
Teddy Kaberuka, an economic analyst, says
that improved infrastructure and transport facilities should go
hand-in-hand with some incentives that will be provided to business
people.
“The government should also create some
mechanisms to encourage business people to work full time. These may
include reducing taxes for businesses working overnight or even other
incentives to motivate them to embrace a good working culture,” he said
Kaberuka noted that by doing so, business
people will get familiar with the practice and that with time, customers
will also adapt.
However, Teddy pointed out the need for
keen supervision when the 24/7 culture begins taking roots in Rwanda, so
that employees will not be used overtime with no additional rewards.
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