KIGALI- Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) is yet to decide whether or not to tax the Rwf 35 million – a cash prize that was won by 23 year-old Alpha Rwirangira in the just concluded regional, Tusker Project Fame.

According to the authority’s Commissioner for Domestic Taxes, Celestine Bumbakare, the decision will be taken as soon as possible but apparently no particular details can be availed.

"My imagination is that the superstar must have paid withholding tax to the Kenyan tax body since this is what winners pay to a host country on such awards. In Rwanda, that tax is 15 percent but I am not sure about Kenya’s percentage.

"As RRA, we still discussing whether or not his money should be levied,” Bumbakare told The New Times. 

Alpha was declared the winner of the third season of East Africa’s premier music competition, Tusker Project Fame 3 on Sunday night, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The highly-rated young artiste beat a field of 12 contestants from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda to emerge top from a grueling eight-week stint in the musical academy.

Besides the cash prize, the budding musician also won a one-year recording contract with one of Africa’s most famous record labels, South Africa’s Gallo Records.

He brings home the enviable record of being the highest finishing Rwandan contestant in the maiden appearance of the country in the regional musical talent competition.

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