How Rwanda can streamline consultancy services

As the Chamber of Deputies’ standing Committee on Economy and Trade and the Ministry of Public Service and Labour (Mifotra) sort out technicalities in the Bill on the organisation of management consultancy services, an expert in the field suggests that Kenya has a few best practices to emulate. Listing aspects that can be replicated in Rwanda, Dr Josephat Bosire, a management consultancy expert and lecturer at Mount Kenya University, Kigali, said consultants should attempt to give services that exceed expectations so as to have competitive advantage and sustainability. “In Kenya, consultants are many and thus cheaper. The uniqueness I observe among the Kenyan professional consultants is that they belong to professional bodies like association of accountants, institute of procurement and supplies, institute of human resources management, association of medical practitioners, architectures, lawyers, and so on. This makes them accountable to their associations, and a client can report them in case of breach of contract,” said Dr Bosire.“The global best practices shared in workshops, seminars and conferences help from time to time, besides the various consultancy firms have attempted to be certified by relevant bodies in their profession so that the uncertified can get work through outsourcing and or networked franchising.” Dr Bosire said the quality certification body—Kenya Bureau of Standards—is working with international standards organisation to verify consultants and encourage then to comply with ISO standards because not many meet the threshold. “They resort to consortium—many related consultant firms working under same umbrella. The zeal is continuous improvement. These are few of the aspects that can be replicated in Rwanda.” While tabling the Bill recently, Minister Anastase Murekezi, told Parliament that the draft law’s main purpose is to guarantee that there will be organised management consulting services in the country. The minister said many consultancy firms were opening shop yet they had no track record. The Bill’s scrutiny in the Committee recently stalled as lawmakers requested legal drafters in Mifotra to “first iron out many issues” that are mixed up, MP Gonzague Rwigema, the deputy chairperson of the Committee on Economy and Trade, said yesterday. “We provided guidelines and directed technicians in Mifotra to redo the Bill, with help from our own staff, because it is poorly drafted,” said Rwigema.

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How Rwanda can streamline consultancy services