The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) is seeking, through a new bill, to be a specialised organ that, among other things, enjoys autonomy in human resources management, with its Board of Directors having the power to appoint the institution's heads of departments.
Under the current law governing RDB, Heads of Departments are appointed by a Prime Minister's Order.
The new draft law governing the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) is awaiting analysis by a parliamentary committee after a plenary sitting of the Lower Chamber of Parliament adopted its relevance on June 29.
"Currently, RDB is like an ordinary government entity, but the work we do requires that RDB have a specialised structure which is flexible so that we work better," said RDB CEO Clare Akamanzi while talking about the rationale for the amendment of the current law governing the institution.
RDB as specialised organ
The bill proposes an article that ensures RDB's recognition as a specialised organ, granting it a status that would enable it to better serve its mandate and counter the challenges that limit its agility and efficacy, according to Akamanzi.
More power to Board of Directors
Under the bill, the Board of Directors of RDB is being granted more power to enable faster private sector growth. The responsibilities include approving the organisational structure of RDB.
The explanatory note of the bill indicates that a significant number of RDB management staff (Head of Departments and above - such as Chiefs including Chief of Tourism, and Chief of Investment) go through Cabinet for appointment.
Due to this, RDB has had several vacancies in managerial positions for several years and this, reportedly, severely impacted the organisation's ability to deliver on key areas, it stated.
Other powers sought are to approve salaries and fringe benefits for RDB employees upon consultation with the Ministry of Public Service and the Ministry of Finance, and to approve the special rules regulating RDB procurement after consultation with the Ministry of Finance.
Special rules regulating RDB procurement
In the explanatory note of the bill, it is indicated that RDB must adhere to the public procurement law for all procurement matters, even for strategic partnerships like those with Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, and Basketball Africa League - public tenders which would normally be awarded through single-source or direct contracting.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Competitive employee salaries, other benefits
Akamanzi said the current law provides a fixed salary structure across government agencies -- including RDB -- and does not allow flexibility to depart from this fixed scale for specific needs and skills.
"Currently, about 30 per cent of RDB staff are contractual because they are the employees we realised we wanted, but integrating them into the [salary] structure is not competitive; it requires that we always give them contracts," Akamanzi said.
She indicated that RDB has a responsibility to negotiate all government deals related to development, citing mining concessions and banking licenses, and that sometimes there are undertakings that require specialised skills and relatively high remunerations.
"Sometimes we work on deals such as the Bugesera airport, which have a value of more than $1 billion. For you to take on a lawyer or a financial analyst with specialised skills who can negotiate with investors with the funds of that scale, you cannot pay them based on the current structure. So, we have a team of negotiators and all are employed on contracts because we could not find a way to include them in the structure," she said.
Also, Akamanzi said, for partnership managers for Arsenal, or PSG, "sometimes we need people who have expertise in sports tourism or sports economics."
"You realise that there are few in Rwanda and even in the [entire] world, and you cannot get them by paying them based on the current salaries."
