RDB seeks Senate hand in fighting bureaucracy

The CEO, Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Joe Ritchie. is set to launch a campaign aimed at curbing delays of service delivery within the public sector and has called for the assistance of the Senate. Ritchie revealed this while briefing the Upper Chamber of parliament on the state of RDB, what it has achieved, future plans and the impact it has had on the society. “Part of job is to reduce and later eliminate bureaucracy in Rwanda. I want to sit down with the Senate in smaller groups and we are going to plan on how to reduce the cost of delays in public offices,” Ritchie said. He appreciated the current job done by parliament, saying that this is what spurred him to seek for their assistance in this campaign. “I have to officially say that I thank the parliament for the way it works. This is why I am declaring a war on delays and I want your help so that we can get in and work with people at all levels,” Ritchie requested Senators. RDB was formed last year after merging several government institutions, with an aim of fast tracking Rwanda’s development agenda, specifically through improved service delivery. The Senators, during the session wanted to know what the institution is doing to improve the country’s ranking in doing business while others questioned the RDB boss on how they plan to change the entrepreneurship mindset. Ritchie answered that Rwandans have got an interesting entrepreneurship mentality explaining that currently, 53 percent of investors in Rwanda are local while 47 percent are foreign. He was accompanied by other senior officials from RDB. According to Clare Akamanzi the RDB Deputy CEO for Business Operations and Services, they are on track with achieving the ‘two digit’ figure in world ‘Doing Business’ rankings by the year 2010. The 2008 World Bank report on Doing Business ranked Rwanda 139 in country rankings with parameters based on how a country attracts investments, by maintaining a conducive business climate. Akamanzi said that several reforms have so far been put in place including those dealing with construction licenses, registering property, starting a business and trading across borders among others Nkubito Bakuramutsa, the deputy CEO/RDB-IT added that the fibre optic cable that is in the pipeline would attract many investors to Rwanda. Ends

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RDB seeks Senate hand in fighting bureaucracy