The government is planning to merge three agencies; Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture (RALC), Institute of National Museums of Rwanda (INMR) and Rwanda Archives and Library Services Authority (RALSA) to form one public institution.
This was announced by Minister of Public Service and Labour, Fanfan Rwanyindo on Tuesday, July 28, as she presented to Members of Parliament, Chamber of Deputies, the Draft Law removing Law determining the mission, organisation and functioning of RALC.
Explaining the motive behind the move, Rwanyindo said the plan is to improve efficiency.
"When you look at the respective missions of these three agencies, you notice that they co-relate and therefore merging them into a single public institution wouldn’t cause any negative effect. The mandate of these agencies will be handled by the new institution because we know how crucial they (responsibilities) are,” she said.
MPs react
MPs commended the plan albeit with caution.
"I would like to know whether you discussed this with the employees of these institutions so that they will not hear this from the news as any other person who is not directly affected,” asked MP Germaine Mukabalisa.
She added; "I also want to know whether an intensive audit was done before these agencies can be combined. We don’t wish to have a scenario where crisis in these agencies is taken to the new institution, hence hindering the intended objective.”
MP Emmanuel Bugingo also reiterated that the already existing challenges in these agencies should not be neglected.
"As RALC presented to us recently, they were facing challenges of low skilled labour and insufficient budget among other many challenges. How are you going to prevent these challenges from shifting to this new institution?” he asked the Minister.
He went on to say that: "I suggest that you prepare a comprehensive report that shows what duties these agencies were in charge of, what challenges they faced and how you plan to overcome them in the new institution.”
Rwankindo among others replied that there was an analysis done by the government prior resolving that the three agencies should be merged to form a single institution, but did not answer whether there was an audit done so as to avoid that they may be taken to the new institution.
The legislators resolved that the draft law dissolving RALC should be thoroughly reviewed by a designated Parliamentary Commission before being finally approved.