In this interview Aimable Kayigi Habiyambere talks about the creation of the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) as the tax collection agency of the government. He discusses the structure of the RRA, specifically that the agency is accountable to a board of directors that represents both the private sector and various ministries of the government. Kayigi Habiyambere talks about the RRA’s internal audit department, that reports directly to the board as opposed to the leading Commissioner of the RRA. He discusses a dedicated staff training institute for the RRA and various programs including an anti-corruption strategy and a whistleblower policy. Kayigi Habiyambere also talks about restructuring the RRA to have departments that were divided by the nature of the taxpayer rather than the nature of the tax. This made is easier to solve tax compliance issues by having a single file for each taxpayer. He shares his experience during the transition from filing paper returns to filing returns online and via mobile phone for those with limited internet access. Kayigi Habiyambere stresses the importance of targets for the tax collection agency as motivation to perform.
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At the time of this interview, Aimable Kayigi Habiyambere was the Commissioner of Domestic Taxes in Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), a government revenue collection agency. He joined the RRA in 2000 and has previously served as the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Large Taxpayers. Kayigi Habiyambere graduated from Kigali Independent University.