It will start with drivers passing through the northbound lane, that is, from Mombasa in Kenya to Kigali.
The decision comes after Rwanda’s new Coronavirus patients were spotted for days, with most of the truck drivers who cross the border.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Ngamije Daniel on Monday while on National Television, said that they had already agreed with Uganda and Kenya to set up a system for checking, exchanging information, setting up drivers’ parking lot, and more.
Dr. Ngamije said every driver who travels across borders will be tested first and confirmed that he is not infected. The testing is performed by a certified laboratory and will be given a 14-day driving license.
The Minister of Health said that from Mombasa to Kigali there will be a designated space for the drivers so that they do nor mix with other members of the public.
As of Monday, June 1, a total of 377 people had been infected with coronavirus in Rwanda, including 262 who had recovered, 114 who are still sick, and one death.
Lake Rwampanga and Cyambwe in the Nasho Fisheries Zone have remained closed.
The Director of Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Mathilde Mukasekuru, said that the fact that the lakes had been closed for some time was part of a plan to increase fish production in line with planned breeding in the Eastern and Northern provinces lakes, as well as Lake Karago in the Western Province.
Rwanda currently produces about 35,000 but targeting to harvest 124, 000 tons per year by 20 24.
The minister reiterated the need for stringent punitive measures on Monday. Shyaka said that ways through which coronavirus is transmitted are well known, making it easy to avoid and prevent but which calls for restraint and discipline.
”So the task is to make everyone feel that they are the protectors of their health, their family and the country.”
“Secondly, as local leaders, we feel that the lives of Rwandans are in our hands and that strengthening prevention measures is our priority; so how we work together, and how we compel them to comply with these guidelines, is a great responsibility we have to pursue,” he said.
Some of the measures taken include wearing face-masks whenever one goes to a crowded place, washing one’s hands frequently with clean water and soap and avoiding crowding.
Commissioned officers are in the fourth category of prison warders who have been trained in the field of prison administration, consisting of 649 men and women. The ceremony was held at Rwamagana Prison School yesterday.
Busingye expressed appreciation for the good performance exhibited by the graduands and urged them to conduct their services in a professional manner.
He advised them to avoid being emotional and biased during work and as officers that are rendering correctional services, they are supposed to be honest and exemplary in following the law.
The commissioned warders officers were trained in physical education, human rights, criminal justice, security, and safety. Other components included map reading, prison operations, weapons use, basic psychology courses, peacekeeping activities and ethics.
There are currently 2369 prison guards in 13 prisons in Rwanda. In his jurisdiction, Minister Busingye gave them the rank of a warder.
Ampersand, with a branch in Kigali, assembles and sells motorcycles with cheap, clean and efficient energy consumption.
In May 2019, 20 Ampersand motorcycles began operating in Kigali carrying passengers and luggage to test their usability on the Rwandan market.
In a message on twitter, the company said, “Last year we launched the first electric motorbikes, and since then we have now covered 400,000km, replaced 10,000 batteries in those motorbikes on the road. We now have seven thousand motorcyclists waiting for us, and we are ready to get back on the road on June 1.”
Clare Akamanzi, Director General of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), praised the company for its successful year of operations in the country, saying that RDB is ready to continue working with it in the future.
In December last year, the company reported that its motorcycles had already covered 250,000km.
The Ampersand director, Josh Whale, says there are many opportunities that come with the use the electric motorbikes.
Currently, in Rwanda, half of the transportation on the road are motorcycles that carry passengers and, of recent due to COVID 19 lockdown, luggage.
Local residents in villages neghbouring DRC in Rusizi district have been lamenting for days to be short on food supplies yet they had planted food crops in the DRC which they demand be allowed to harvest.
One of the local residents who requested to go to harvest their crops, told the media that the problem of hunger emanates from being prevented from entering Congo to harvest their food.
“Allow us for only three weeks to harvest our foods. Do not let us starve to death, the famine is too much. Give us only three weeks to harvest our crops.”
The residents say they were happy with the authorities’ decision of allowing them to cross and harvest their crops. They began crossing into DRC on Tuesday but expressed concern over the timing of their arrival, demanding that they are given three days.
The Cabinet meeting on April 30, 2020 aimed at assessing the Covid-19 pandemic and new measures to prevent it, confirmed that some of the businesses and services that are being opened include hotels and restaurants.
They began the service on May 4, 2020, and are required to continue to comply with Coronavirus prevention measures and close at 7 p.m.
On May 11, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) issued a directive to register customers at hotels, and restaurants with food and beverages, stating that it is confidential information where necessary and will be used to search for COVID-19 information.
Since last Friday, the Rwanda Hotel and Restaurant Association has decided to visit hotels and restaurants to see how employees and their customers would work together to comply with Coronavirus prevention guidelines.
The chairman of the forum, Barakabuye Nsengiyumva, said that in general, the hoteliers are happy that they have been allowed to continue their activities and that they have felt that they should not give the Coronavirus a chance to proliferate.
In general, hotels have complied with the requirements, which include registering and examining their customers, washing their hands, keeping the social distance [how chairs and tables are arranged], not opening bars, avoiding hand-to-hand money transfers, and more.
Some of the restaurants that IGIHE visited hired waitresses who supposed to clean the tables customers used before being used by another customer, using the required sanitizers.
Inka SteakHouse restaurant manager Nikole Ansoni said that while the private sector is struggling to build their business, they have prioritized working while protecting employees and customers.
Barakabuye Nsengiyumva, chairman of the Rwanda Hotel Association, praised the way hotels and restaurants are adhering to the Covid-19 spread, saying it was a sign that they are ready to work and avoid the pandemic. However, they point out that the working hours are still few.
A report by the Department of Tourism in the Private Sector Federation, PSF, recently revealed that in March it had a net loss of 34.9 Billion Frw, due to meetings postponed by other suspended tourism activities.
These losses were found by the tourism sector in Rwanda with a debt of 87.7 billion Frw, while the hotel sector is the largest with a large debt of Rwf83.8 billion.
Nsengiyumva says members point out that working hours are midnight and people close at 11 pm to help them meet the economic downturn of Covid-19.
In general, many restaurants are open, but hotel services are still a major problem due to closure of travels between the countryside and the City of Kigali, borders, and flights. Some hotels have opened restaurant services and large hotels have not opened any of their operations.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said, “Jabo has been suspended from his post as Executive Secretary of the Southern Province from May 26, 2020. He will be questioned and prosecuted.”
It was in November that Jabo Paul who was the Executive Secretary of the Northern Province was appointed in the Southern.
He left the Northern Province for alleged conflict with other employees. It was rumored that he used to scare employees who attended meetings, insulted them in public, among other misdeeds.
Bob Gakire has been appointed acting Executive Secretary of the Southern Province.
Statistics suggest that hand-to-hand payments have declined significantly these days as one of the means in taking caution against coronavirus transmission.
In March, the National Bank of Rwanda, (BNR), confirmed that within three months from March 19, 2020, no fee will be deducted from a person who withdraws money from a bank account to a Mobile Money account or from a Mobile Money bank account to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection.
According to a report by Insight2impact in collaboration with RURA, in the first week of the Stay Home program the number of transactions via mobile telephones reached 1.2 million, up from 600,000 in the previous week of Stay Home.
In the last week of April 2020, 1.8 million people transferred money through mobile telephone technologies in Rwanda.
From March 9 to March 15, a total of Rwf10.7 billion was transferred, and in the week ending March 22, the amount hit Rwf 24 billion.
The report shows that although the vast majority of people who transfer money through mobile phone technologies are men, women have also increasingly using the platform, registering 31% but in the fifth week of Stay home it was 36%.
