In this interview, Joel Ntihemuka talks about moving the paper-based operations of the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) online. He discusses the challenges of starting this process from scratch, without infrastructure or skilled personnel. Ntihemuka talks about having several stand-alone IT systems for internal functions and different types of taxes, as well as the process of buying software from foreign vendors and customizing it to Rwandan needs. He shares his view on the RRA as providing a public service and emphasizes the importance of high quality service delivery. Ntihemuka discusses the RRA’s attempts to use technology to make filing taxes convenient for Rwandan citizens. This was the motivation behind introducing online and mobile tax declaration. He also talks about the process by which the RRA set up online and mobile tax declaration and stresses the importance of having tax personnel take charge of these projects as they are better aware specific requirements than IT personnel. Ntihemuka emphasizes the benefits of having support from government leaders in terms of investing in infrastructure and bringing partners together. Lastly, Ntihemuka discusses his future vision for the RRA as working in tandem with the government to have a fully digitized and integrated system that provides a single view of a tax payer across various tax departments. 

In this interview, Richard Tusabe talks about the early challenges that the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) faced in terms of capacity building and reinvigorating the economy after the Rwandan genocide. He discusses the RRA’s methods to find skilled people outside the country for assistance, including engaging international partners and joining the East African Community to collaborate with other countries. Tusabe talks about the benefits of the RRA remaining outside the mainstream of public service as this allows the institution more flexibility compared to a bureaucracy. He emphasizes the importance of the RRA’s autonomy and zero-tolerance policy for corruption as well as the larger government’s endorsement of technology as an enabler. Tusabe also stresses the need to reduce the costs of filing tax to encourage people to leave the informal sector. He sheds light on the RRA’s methods of redeploying human resources after moving to an online system to better suit the institution’s needs. Tusabe talks about some of the remaining challenges of the RRA as losing staff to the private sector, and having a large informal sector, despite the government’s encouragement to move away from a cash economy. He describes the path forward for the RRA as using big data and analytics to monitor compliance, in line with the broader national shift towards having more mobile phone and internet penetration.  

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.