Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and Carnegie Mellon University – Africa yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will facilitate the two institutions to work towards enhancing data science capabilities in tax administration.

The agreement was signed by the Director of Carnegie Mellon University – Africa, Prof. Bruce Krogh and the Commissioner General of RRA,  Richard Tusabe.

"Unlike in many countries where IT is just talked about, in Rwanda, government puts it at work. We thank RRA for allowing us to work with them,” Prof. Bruce said.

According to RRA, in the last three years the tax body has improved its data analytics capability through development of its data warehouse and Business Intelligence systems.

Officials said RRA has since realised that it needs to expand its capabilities in the areas of IT and data science in order to take a modern approach to tax administration.

"This resonates with the thinking of the top leadership of our country…deploying IT to improve on our work, to deliver good quality service,” Tusabe said.

In a statement, the tax body said it had made building of capabilities to make better use of the data it holds about its taxpayers and exploiting data sharing opportunities with third party institutions, a key priority; in order to make more effective resourcing decisions to improve compliance and give taxpayers a better service.

Similarly, the use of Information Technology is driving the way that RRA thinks about its service delivery and internal processes, it said.

"Therefore, this MoU between RRA and CMU – Africa, a world class institution known for excellent capacities in data science is meant to enable the two institutions engage in a technical cooperation that enhances the above mentioned vision.”

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