Yusuf Murangwa is not a new name in Rwanda’s public service, especially for people with interest in statistics. He has served at the National Institute for Statistics Rwanda (NISR), as its Director General, since 2009.
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The 47-year-old is now set to serve as the minister for Finance and Economic Planning, following the changes made by President Paul Kagame in Cabinet and in government agencies on Wednesday, June 12.
Murangwa is a progressive statistician turned economist who believes in taking advantage of new innovations and technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data in service delivery.
"We are......realising that we need an AI strategy to be part of the big statistics strategy. And there is a lot of debate on whether it is the right time especially for low resource, low-capacity countries to include that into the business of national statistics,” he said, while speaking in an April meeting of the Paris 21, a partnership in statistics for development that aims to improve the production, quality, availability, and use of statistics for informed decision making.
Murangwa is a seasoned professional with more than 20 years of experience in the field of statistics and data management.
He has a Master’s of Science Applied Statistics and Operational Research from Cardiff University, UK as well as a Bachelors in Statistics from Uganda’s Makerere University.
His work at the NISR started as early as 2006 when he served as a labour statistician at the institution, before being promoted to Director of Economic Statistics in 2008, a year before he became the institution’s Director General. Prior to joining NISR, Murangwa worked at the Ministry of Public Service and Labour as the head of labour statistics, between 2003 and 2005.
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Speaking to The New Times, Ivan Murenzi, a fellow statistician who is set to replace him as the Director General of NISR, described him as a person who "has a rich understanding of all sectors of the economy and has been involved in various development initiatives, and will easily find his footing."
Among other responsibilities he has held previously, Murangwa served as the Chairperson Board of Directors Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), Chair Board Paris21 OECD (OECD partnership for statistics development in the 21st century), as well as an Advisory board member at BERN network for financing statistics.
He is also an ex-Chairperson Board of Directors at the National Identification Agency, an ex-member of the UN High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity Building for post-2015 monitoring (HLG for post-2015 monitoring), as well as a member of UN’s Advisory Board for the global working group on big data for official Statistics.
As the Director General NISR, Murangwa played a pivotal role in shaping the statistical landscape of Rwanda, with commitment to data-driven decision-making, as he led his team in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of statistical information that informed national policies and development strategies.