Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) is now an autonomous body with expanded mandate that includes monitoring service delivery by the private sector, registering international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and providing clearance for research about home-grown solutions in the governance area.

Officials and experts say that the reforms at the body will translate into efficiency in line with improving service delivery in Rwanda and building partnerships that are crucial for improving the lives of Rwandans.

Prof. Anastase Shyaka, the chief executive of the board, told The New Times last week that RGB will be more efficient as a result of the reforms and emphasised that the board’s work will be more effective because it’s now a more empowered institution.

For example, Shyaka said, the new law governing the body allows it to monitor service delivery in both the private and public sectors and suggest sanctions in case the service is genuinely poor.

That’s a remarkable change in comparison to the agency’s previous mandate when it would just note the way service is delivered without directly recommending any action in line with holding those who provide poor service to account.

"We were doing research without action but we now have the power to ask for explanations where bad service is given by both the public and private sector. We can report an institution’s bad service to a superior leadership and suggest sanctions for providing bad customer service,” Shyaka said.

The same task will also be done for private businesses and organisations because they also serve Rwandans, he said, explaining that, previously, RGB would only monitor public institutions.

"The private sector serves the public, too, and when it provides bad customer service it’s the people who suffer,” he added.

RGB’s mission includes promoting the principles of good governance and decentralisation in the country, conducting research and policy analysis related to governance, monitoring the practices of good governance, coordinating and supporting media sector development, documenting and assessing homegrown initiatives as well as registering and monitoring civil society and political organisations.

The institution is also in charge of providing policy advocacy to government, enhancing citizen participation in governance and creating strategic engagement and partnership with national, regional, and international institutions.

Besides the traditional mandate of registering and monitoring local NGOs, the body will also do the same for international NGOs in Rwanda, a task that was until recently under the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration.

‘Promoting partnerships’

For Shyaka, putting the task of registering and monitoring international NGOs under RGB means that the agency will be able to promote partnerships between the Government and independent organisations to improve the lives of Rwandans.

"We will be more like a one-stop-centre for NGOs. RGB is now going to be the institution that drives and nurtures partnerships for development,” he said.

Another relatively new task that the body has been given under the reforms is to give clearance for any researchers, both domestic and international, interested in studying the country’s home-grown solutions and governance style.

The body is also responsible for certifying whether a certain innovation in the governance area is a home-grown solution or not, which means that it will also be following up on research findings by different people who study the area in Rwanda.

The new law governing RGB was enacted in November, last year, and took the agency from under the docket of the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) turning it into an independent institution that will be submitting its reports to Parliament and send a copy to the Presidency.

This sits well with Edouard Munyamariza, the chairperson of Rwanda Civil Society Platform, who now sees the organisation as better empowered and ready to deliver more credible policy research and nurture stronger partnerships.

"The changes will bring improvement in all aspects. An autonomous institution uses that independence to better fulfil its mandate. When RGB was under MINALOC, it had limited autonomy in terms of decision, budget, and partnerships it can cultivate,” he said.

Munyamariza recommended that the agency be availed with more finance and human resource if it is to succeed in monitoring governance across all institutions.

"As an institution that is in charge of governance, which is cross-cutting across all government institutions, definitely it must have adequate capacity to fulfill its mandate,” he said.

MP Alfred Rwasa Kayiranga, the chairperson of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Political Affairs, which analysed the draft law that sought to separate RGB from the Local Government ministry last year, agrees that making the institution an independent body will improve its work.

"RGB has quite unique roles such as research, which requires it to be independent. Giving RGB autonomy will ensure independence and neutrality in delivering on its mandate and improve its credibility,” Kayiranga said last November when the Government introduced a draft law that was later passed to become the agency’s current governing law.

After heading the RGB since it was formed in 2011 up until the recent reforms, Prof. Shyaka was re-appointed to stay at its helm as its chief executive and was sworn in last week in Parliament, along with veteran university lecturer and law scholar, Dr Usta Kayitesi, as the institution’s deputy chief executive.

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