Editor, Refer to the story, RSSB scoops 2014 best service provider award, (The New Times, March 23). Rwanda Social Security Board was ranked the best service provider, Rwanda Revenue Authority best Government agency, RBA best media house…either we have no private sector or the categorisation of service providers simply leaves a lot to be desired. Kudos to the public sector but it beats my understanding how an entity like RSSB that has been embroiled in scandals all year (or is it all two years) ends up bagging what the rest of the players have been fighting for. Let us be a bit more critical in these award, it shouldn’t be all about vote counting! Arthur ********************* The methodology for the awards was based on the number of satisfied customers who voted for these institutions. The question that one has to ask maybe is to know how many people really use these private companies. The vote went to all districts and at all levels, so it was not just among the people in Kigali or the elite. Take, for example, Radio Rwanda and any of the private radios and you will see which ones most people listen to. Service Mag management ********************* What the Service Mag describes is a “simple random sampling procedure” which is not necessarily an approach that provides a guarantee to validity and reliability of your findings. For example, they say “the question that one has to ask maybe is to know how many people really use these private companies?” How will you know the perceptions of users of Radiant or Prime health insurance companies if say your question is “how would you rate RSSB’s performance?” If 100 per cent of Radiant users are happy and 50 per cent of RSSB users are happy, do you say RSSB is better because it covers 30 districts and Radiant or Prime covers 3? Next time, there is need to try some form of benchmarking against best practice or some more technical procedures covered by stratified sampling techniques and I would bet results will be very different and, hopefully, more reliable. Let us try to be more objective and change will come. Arthur
