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{{A new pig rearing initiative in Rwanda dubbed: “Hip hop pigs” will soon combat poverty due to the creatures’ happiness and quality.
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Under the patronage of the Rwanda local music DJ Edmond Ndizeye who says they are so happy and that the quality of the music will help fight poverty.

The Self-styled ‘pig’ DJ Edmund says he feeds his swine a varied diet of hip-hop, reggae, R’n’B, love songs and local tunes, much to their delight.

After they’ve eaten, he plays soft ballads like Celine Dion or Bob Marley to help the animals relax and digest, while later he churns out more aggressive dance tracks – such as Jay-Z or 2Pac – to perk them up.

“When we want to make them pregnant we have to put on strong music, so that the males can be strong and virile,’ says his boss, Gerard Sina.

Sina says he discovered the pig-rearing technique in Belgium six years ago and has witnessed dramatic results since putting it to use at Urwibutso, his farm in the north of the country.

“Human beings like music so I asked myself, why not for animals? I have a sample for those which have been reared with music and another without. Those reared with music double their yields in terms of number of offspring, the quality of the meat and their weight,” Sina pointed out.

Sina, who feeds his pigs on leftovers from his restaurant and fruit-juice processing plant, points out that his enterprise is fully organic and sustainable, with nothing going to waste even the pigs’ poo.

Furthermore, he gives away around 150 piglets to local families every month in a move aimed at helping combat poverty in the area.

He noted, “It can easily reduce poverty and food security in this region. This is a way of eradicating unemployment.”

{{A Guinean woman who accused former International Monetery Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her in a New York hotel has broken her silence, saying she wants him to go to jail and to clear her name, Igihe.com has learnt.}}

“Because of him, they call me a prostitute,” she told Newsweek magazine in her first public interview since the alleged attack by the former powerful French politician in a Manhattan hotel suite in May.

“I want him to go to jail. I want him to know there are some places you cannot use your power, you cannot use your money.”

She was fighting back against allegations that appeared in the US media, after New York prosecutors openly questioned her credibility, saying she had changed her story and lied on her asylum application.

There were also media reports of possible links to criminal activities and that she was recorded speaking by phone with a boyfriend jailed for possessing marijuana and discussing the benefits of pursuing charges.

The woman has not been seen in public since the alleged attack and said she was whisked away to a hotel with her 15-year-old daughter and not allowed to return to her apartment for two months.

She was also due to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Monday, exactly a week before Strauss-Kahn is due back in court in New York on August 1 for his next hearing on seven charges of attempted rape and sexual assault.

“God is my witness. I’m telling the truth from my heart. God knows that. And he knows that,” the woman said, according to excerpts released on Sunday.

{{Boyfriends}}

Seeking to address some of the prosecutors concerns, she told Newsweek she did not have any boyfriends, just friends who had taken advantage of her, and she had mistakenly trusted one enough to give him access to her bank accounts.

She admitted “mistakes” to ABC but insisted that the account of what happened inside the hotel room has remained the same even if the timeline surrounding the circumstances of when she ran away changed because she had been disorientated.

But Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers Sunday renewed a call for the charges to be dismissed, accusing the 32-year-old immigrant of organizing an unprecedented media campaign and trying to “inflame public opinion.”

The maid’s attorney in turn accused the ex-IMF chief’s team of engaging in a “smear campaign” replete with “baseless” and “contemptible” attacks.

“They are defense attorneys, and clearly believe that these types of false personal attacks are part of their job description,” Kenneth Thompson said.

“But that excuse isn’t sufficient when we are dealing with a brutal sexual attack, a mountain of physical evidence, a victim who spoke out immediately, and numerous corroborating witnesses.”

The former French politician once seen as a leading contender to become the next president of France has denied all the charges arising from the May 14 incident.

But the allegations in the United States have also prompted a French writer, Tristane Banon, to accuse Strauss-Kahn who had earned a reputation as a womanizer of attempted rape in 2003.

He has denied having any detailed knowledge of that attack, but it led to top fellow Socialist presidential hopeful Francois Hollande being quizzed by police last week.

{additional reporting, Agencies}

By Our Reporter

{{Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is expected to visit Rwanda anytime soon. Investigation efforts by Igihe.com have found out that none of the authorities from both countries could confirm nor deny President Museveni’s Visit to Rwanda. }}

However, a highly placed Rwandan official told Igihe.com that there are preparations going on aimed at receiving President Museveni in Rwanda.

“Yes. There are preparations to this effect. However, its better you wait for the official communiqué on Monday,” the Source said preferring to remain anonymous until Monday when official communication to this news shall be made.

Earlier this month, Rwanda’s first lady Jeannette Kagame was in Uganda on what was in diplomacy described as Private Visit. While in Uganda, Mrs. Kagame addressed students of St. Mary’s Namagunga Girls School and visited a cultural museum in western Uganda.

Speaking to the Ambassador James Mugume, the Permanent Secretary of Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he hasn’t confirmed nor denied about President Museveni’s visit but preferred Igihe.com obtains official information from the Ugandan High commission in Kigali.

“We have an ambassador there (in Rwanda). Call him he has all the information about the visit. I don’t want to say anything now,” says Ambassador Mugume.

Uganda’s Diplomat in Kigali Ambassador Richard Kabonero disclosed to Igihe.com that the Uganda High Commission in Rwanda is waiting for official communication from the Rwanda hosts.

In a telephone interview with Igihe.com, Ambassador Kabonero says: “Please call the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Rwanda. They are our hosts. Our host has not communicated officially, but I will officially give information on Monday”.

Efforts to reach The Minister of Foreign Affairs Louise Mushikiwabo were fruitless as she continuously couldn’t answer the telephone.

However, the permanent secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Mary Baine could not commit herself to the matter saying: “Minister Mushikiwabo is the government spokesperson”.

President Museveni was last in Rwanda in 2009 to attend the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) 15th anniversary celebrations at Amahoro Stadium, during which he was decorated with two medals.

One medal is in honour of his contribution to the RPF struggle that liberated Rwanda, while the other is in recognition of his campaign against the 1994 genocide.

{{Entrepreneurial skills that many perceive as relevant only to big cooperatives can be useful to the growth of small scale associations which often collapse due to lack of expertise from their founders.
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The Kigali City Council through its stakeholders wants to change this by training women associations involved in basketry to acquire some management skills.

So far, over 80 women representing various weaving associations have been trained on several domains of entrepreneurship. Francois d’ Assise Tangineza, a trainer in the program notes that the trainees are mostly taught how to market their products as well as management of their business.

This is not enough since better management starts from a well written business plan that may facilitate their access to credit from financial institutions.

“One of the main challenges these small associations face is lack of enough working capital that’s why there’re not sustainable,” he pointed out.

After the courses, trainers follow up their students to find out if acquired skills are put into practice: “Normally, we obliged them to write a good business plan for their respective associations which is not only used to monitor their progress but also advocate for funds”. Tangineza clarified.

And since working capital matters a lot, the trainees are discouraged from relying on loans which at times might come late hence they are taught other ways of raising income to support their cooperatives.

A good example is evidenced by one Umugore Mwiza basketry association whose members have been selling groceries from their kitchen gardens to support the association.

The Association’s leader Clemence Nyiramategura affirms that out of the16 members, each contributes10 percent of their profits from vegetables sold, though the amount raised is not yet satisfactory to the association’s progress: “We only have less than Frw 50,000 in our account which is so discouraging given the attractive products we make” she lamented.

However, with the management skills acquired, the association and similar income-generating ventures will no longer lag behind especially on accountability to loans members take without any serious attention to likely consequences: “We can’t continue like this, really it’s time we became strict, particularly to those who haven’t paid back credit borrowed from the association.”

As earlier indicated Nyiramategura claims that they have attractive products which include traditional mini-baskets (Agaseke) highly demanded by tourists yet the association does not sell much partly due to lack of proper marketing skills.

“I understand that advertising our products is very essential and that’s why we’re in talks with KCC to give us a venue in the city where we can showcase our baskets. I also hope that some of our members who have been taught in marketing skills will be useful,” she emphasized.

{{Promotion of decent housing by the government is becoming music to Rwandans especially low-income earners because decent residences are posh houses only affordable to the wealthy.}}

However, the government has taken note of the matter.

According to the Director of National Housing Corporation (NHC) Esther Mutamba, plans to improve affordable decent houses are underway: “It’s true we want all citizens to live in well-constructed houses that’s why we’re finding ways to ease building costs to our investors in order to have affordable houses to all”.

However, people should not be excited since currently the government doesn’t have enough money to start constructing descent houses all over the country.

“It’s still a challenge since we don’t have enough finances now that’s why we’re encouraging financial institutions to prolong the repayment period to those who have acquired mortgages,” Mutamba said.

Meanwhile only 12% percent of Rwandans live in decent houses while the rest stay in either shanty or sub-standard houses poorly constructed that risk collapsing in case of a calamity like tremor, mudslide or earthquakes.

Speaking at the launch of Green-park villa estate located in the city’s Mulindi area, Mutamba insisted that citizens should not lose hope since several banks in the country offer mortgage loans.

“I don’t see the need to panic because those who are employed on long-term contracts and are renting for instance can acquire house loans and build mortgageable houses that later become theirs forever,” she stressed.

Green-park villa estates for example have 50 houses which range from Frw 75 to 90 million repayable within twenty years.

According to an investor Nathane Loyd who’s also the CEO of a construction company- DN International, people have to change the negative mindset of associating such houses to the rich and should rather accept that it’s an opportunity to all classes in the society.

“I’m glad that we’re contributing to the growth of this country which is commendable and better living standards is key to the welfare of our society,” he pointed out.