The country's public broadcaster is undergoing restructuring as it moves to streamline its operations.

Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) recently asked a parliamentary hearing for more funds to finance its operations.

Currently, RBA is allocated Rwf2 billion to finance its administrative costs.

The ongoing restructuring at the broadcaster saw 22 employees sacked while some positions were merged.

In addition, some of its community radios were put under new management to improve efficiency and make them more competitive.

“We closed some regional news offices that we deemed not productive and merged some positions as we seek to be more competitive,” Arthur Asiimwe, the managing director of RBA told Rwanda Today.

According to figures from the budget allocation framework, the agency has been given an additional Rwf51 million in the coming financial year.

While members of parliament tasked the agency to be more competitive, its management said that under its mission as a public broadcaster, profitability is not a priority.

“RBA is a public broadcaster and its goal is to serve public interests as opposed to commercial interests. So there is no way RBA can make profit,” said Mr Asiimwe, adding that the agency’s financial shares are growing and it is financially stable.

The parliamentarians also questioned RBA’s coverage across the country. Constance Mukayuhi Rwaka, chairperson of the parliamentary committee said some citizens were not able to access Radio Rwanda while others are not able to watch Rwanda TV programmes due to a poor signal.

However, RBA blamed the issue of poor signals or lack of coverage on old equipment that needs to be replaced.

RBA officials told parliamentarians that the agency has embarked on a three-year project that involves replacing old transmitters to improve countrywide coverage.

Mr Asiimwe said the agency is set to replace its old transmitters countrywide, putting fiber optics around its transmission sites, which will be operating as backup as well as digitising its 50-year old archives.

However, there is concern among private media owners about the public broadcaster competing for business yet it still receives government subsidies. They say this is unfair competition.

“RBA is sustained by public money and this should exclude it from commercial business,” said Jean de Dieu Bagirishya, the managing director of Radio and TV 10.

He added that the public broadcaster should partner with private media to increase geographical coverage.