The bridge, which was last renovated in 2015, was completely washed away by heavy rains over the past week, disrupting incoming and outgoing traffic.
The bridge connects Gashora sectors in Bugesera and Rukumberi districts in Ngoma district. The mayor of Bugesera District, Mutabazi Richard has confirmed to IGIHE about the destruction.
The bridge is expected to be rehabilitated and upgraded during the construction of the Ngoma-Bugesera-Nyanza road.
Mayor Mutabazi said another study has been carried out to build another bridge to connect the affected areas.
Following the decision, some students at the University of Rwanda and Rwanda Polytechnic under government scholarship program have demanded to continue accessing their monthly stipend as they have to use internet and other online academic resources to continue with their education despite the lull. Some students have also sought clarification on the loans to be repaid to the bank.
Rwandan Development Bank (BRD), which is in charge of providing scholarships and bursary said on Twitter: The Ministry of Education will soon announce the government’s decision on the bursaries for the period from May to September. ”
In response, one of the students wrote: “Make decisions that are fair and impartial.
For me, it would be better if they gave [stipend] for a month or two. Now the rest you will give to the students at the beginning of the school because of the times we are in. I think we will get out of it [lockdown] when our families do not have enough [resources] to support us,” Manzi Keeper said.
Another student, Eric Nshimiyimana, responded: “Please make a good decision because IPRCs students seem to have never stopped classes at all, and it requires a lot of internets!!!”
University students say that if they were given a bursary they would be productive these days since they don’t have much to do. It also helps them monitor online courses and build on these extraordinary moments. Those in the final years say they need to do research and write their dissertations.
Students at the University of Rwanda and Rwanda Polytechnic are given a monthly stipend of Rwf40,000.
There are reports indicating that some unscrupulous bus operators are selling tickets to passengers, promising to transport them to Kigali yet all travels from one province to another are still under ban.
Some incidents were reported in Musanze park, where bus operators promised to take passengers up to Shyorongi, and then others would pick them up and take them to Kigali, an act that has been pronounced as illegal.
RURA Director General Lt Col Patrick Nyirishema has warned the perpetrators, saying they are making a grave mistake which cannot e tolerated.
“People from upcountry provinces have places where they are not supposed to cross. That is, all roads from the provinces to Kigali have police checkpoints to ensure that people are not breaking those measures, which means they are being monitored,” Nyirishema said.
The cabinet meeting last week decided that from Monday, public transport or private vehicles will be allowed to operate in the central part of the province. But public and private transport between Kigali City and other provinces will continue to be suspended.
“In Kigali, the COVID-19 pandemic became most prevalent and that’s where the ‘stay at home’ started from so that we can prevent it … You can go from Huye to Muhanga, whether by your car or by public transport, which is legal, but not from one province to another it’s legal,” Minister for Local Government, Prof Shyaka Anastase said.
On April 20, 2020, the price of crude oil in the United States (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) reached less than zero dollars, starting to sell at – 37.63.
The amount of petrol was so high that the store started to be small. Analysts say they have refused to set up the cost of transporting and storing it, according to Cushing in Oklahoma where there are large stocks.
“The drop has resulted from a change in prices for petroleum products at the international market,” reads part of the RURA statement dated 3rd March 2020.
Fuel importers cited cases of lack of storage facilities as several trucks have spent weeks at Gatsata over failure to offload which causes extra costs on both importers and suppliers. The Ministry of trade promised to find a solution to the problem.
Importers have instead paid people to taken away the fuel and get it out of their hands.
Airtel Rwanda CEO, Amit Chawla presented the donation to the Minister of Health, Dr. Ngamije Daniel, on this Friday as the company’s contribution to the fight against Coronavirus.
Airtel Rwanda said that after taking in account the critical times that health workers are facing, the company chose to expand assistance in the fight against the Pandemic.
“Today we are pleased to have the opportunity to provide our support and take part in the fight against Covid-19,” said Amit Chawla.
Health Minister Dr. Ngamije Daniel, appreciating the support provided by Airtel Rwanda, said: “This is a good sign of solidarity with the humanitarian work of Airtel staff, which will help in supporting the national anti-Covid-19 programs. We will continue to work together and work together for the benefit of our people. ”
Airtel Rwanda is already playing a big role in helping its customers fight against the coronavirus through different programs and services, among which are sending messages with safety measures.
Airtel has introduced E-Learning for students of all levels free of charge use of the internet as one of the ways to help Rwandans cope with the pandemic, this was in collaboration with the REB and the General Council of Higher Education and University, HEC.
Airtel Rwanda has also helped five private universities in e-learning programs, where students using their network receive a free internet; these universities are INES, UOK, ITAB, CHUR, KP, and AUCA.
Airtel Rwanda has also extended the ‘Mukazi Kose’ promotion period where customers send and receive money for free. This is to prevent people from breaking the social distance policy using technology, and many more
The Ministry of Finance and Planning (MINECOFIN) recently announced that people using mutual health care insurance will be receiving treatments immediately after payments instead of waiting for a month period as usual.
The decision was taken to ease access to medical services as the whole world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic.
RSSB reminded district leaders to remind people to pay their contributions early as stated and signed on April 30, 2020, by the Deputy Director-General of Insurance, Dr. Hakiba Solange.
Payments are made through technology either at SACCO, via mobile phone or through the country’s representatives in sector offices and elsewhere in the country, or Mobicash representatives.
Normally, health insurance user starts receiving treatment a month after payments are made. This insurance is used by about 88% of the 12 million population in Rwanda.
Since last year, the Rwandan government announced that it will increase funding for the ‘Health insurance’, as it’s often characterized by insufficient capacity, which affects the services provided to its users.
The RSSB figures show that the number of contributions made by health insurance members, including the government’s contribution was 32.8 billion Frw, while those who used it amounted to 47.4 billion Frw, which resulted in a loss of 14.6 billion annually.
In a public statement, the organization said its support was in line with the Rwandan government’s efforts to eradicate the spread of Coronavirus.
Over 60% of this contribution came from the employees of Crystal Ventures.
“The epidemic has caused a variety of problems both commercially and socially. Our contribution is aimed at partnering with other agencies to combat the epidemic and in addition to other special assistance provided by Crystal Ventures,” reads the statement.
The agency said it would continue to contribute to supporting the fight against coronavirus and to care for Rwandans through the companies that make it through these difficult times.
Crystal Ventures Ltd is an investment company established in 1995 in Rwanda, initially under the name Tri-Star Investments Limited, before rebranding to its current name in 2009.
The spirit of giving and helping those in need is one of the foundations of the Rotary Club. Founded in 1904, the Rotary movement in Rwanda has been growing and presently there are 6 Rotary Clubs in different parts of the country including RC Musanze, RC Butare, RC Kibungo, RC Kigali-Gasabo, RC Kigali-Mont Jali, RC Kigali-Virunga and RC Kigali-Doyen.
The Rotary movement focuses on community welfare, education, environmental protection, combating ignorance and poverty, bringing health care closer to all, improving access to clean water, and helping the needy.
In support of the Government’s efforts, members of the Rotary Club of Kigali-Virunga have raised funds to help those affected by Coronavirus.
To curb the spread of the Coronavirus, the Government of Rwanda has closed bars, schools, churches, conferences, and other public events. The lockdown will go on until April 30, 2020.
The food relief was sent to the National Strategic Grain Reserve, on April 29, 2020. It aims to help people who were affected by the lockdown.
Speaking on behalf of the club, Masterjerb Paul Birungi, told IGIHE that the event was aimed at continuing to provide assistance and support to the government in reaching out to people affected by Coronavirus.
“We thought of something we could do to support the fight against the COVID-19. The authorities advised us to support the needy with food. As we usually do, when someone has a problem, we do our best to contribute,” he said.
The Rotary Club of Kigali-Virunga raised Rwf2 million from its 32 members,
“We bought three tones including one and a half beans and maize flour. We won’t stop here, we are doing our best so that we can help out again,” he said.
The Rotary Club of Kigali-Virunga has sponsored various projects to help the community such as the construction of a building in Kinyinya that will accommodate cancer patients who will be treated at the Military Hospital in Kanombe in Kigali City.
Other clubs are also doing their best to help communities affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Rotary Club of Kigali-Doyen has donated Rwf 3 Million to support the Solid Africa Charity, which cares for homeless patients and caters food for them.
The Club also donated to the National Health Center, RBC hand sanitizers, and hygienic items including 160 handwashing tanks, worth Rwf 12 Million.
The Northern Province Governor, Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi said these eggs were given to children on Wednesday, last week.
“Rulindo district has professional breeders that possess chickens and sell eggs and meat. These can also be found in Rusiga Sector and elsewhere, enough to allow us to reach the international market, but, due to the pandemic, we were no longer able to send these products in DRC.” Gatabazi said.
“In one of my visits to these farmers, they recorded 560,000 eggs in Gakenke, 450,000 in Rulindo, and more than 250,000 in Gicumbi,” he added.
Gatabazi noted that it was difficult to find a market for them, thus, took the matter to the national administration, where the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry decided that the eggs should be bought given to children under the age of five.
Each egg will cost Rwf 60, with the aim being that the breeders do not experience losses but also help the children in need of nutrients.
Dr. Uwituze Solange, Deputy Director-General of Animal Husbandry, RAB, said they encourage farmers to make sure that eggs can be given to children under the age of five.
She only says that the problem is most in those rearing chicken for meat-breeding and that they are trying to make sure that the meat is properly stored until the problem is over.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, as of 2018, Rwanda has received the US $12 million from egg exports.
Since June last year, the FARDC has stepped up its crackdown on militant groups, in a bid to eradicate the insecurity that has ravaged the Eastern province of the country.
These heavy attacks have killed countless militants.
In September 2019, when Sylvestre Mudacumura, the leader of the FDLR, was killed in an attack on its base in Bwito District, North Kivu Province.
The rest was worth the effort, others agree to surrender and hand them over to the military, they were tied up and handed over to Rwanda, a few are still in the jungles; since FARDC set fire on these units in an unusual way, they have begun to say Rwanda is behind all these.
“All of this survives on myths, rumors, and all kinds of things we find anywhere, including surprisingly the experts. There are experts who have been operating in this region for the last 26 years, they tell the same stories, sometimes spreading the same rumors, that is what we are now used to for the last 26 years,” he said.
There are various factions in Congo, such as the North there is FDRL, RUD Urunana, and many others. While in the South there is a P5 from the RNC of Kayumba Nyamwasa, the FLN of Rusesabagina Paul and others.
This is being reconciled with the fact of other neighboring countries, where President Kagame does not understand how people should be able to see it and tend not to see it and blame Rwanda.
“I am surprised that we have some of these experts, who do not see what is there that is supposed to be seen by anyone who is there. But instead, they see what is not there. What I mean is, how can somebody be talking about Rwandans or RDF (Rwanda Defence Forces) in that part of the region? Because they are not there, and this same person or these people don’t see the very things happening there.” he said.
At the end of May last year, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola signed an agreement establishing a coalition of the three countries to address issues including insecurity caused by armed groups.
President Kagame said the intelligence that Rwanda had received and shared it with those concerned was indicative of the presence of Burundian militants in South Kivu.
“Our intelligent collection tells us, we have forces from Burundi, government forces operating in that region. we have a number of rebel groups you can’t count easily in that situation. They involve Barundi, people from here, those connected with the FDLR that kept breaking in different pieces,” he said.
“I don’t know if people are confusing genuinely or deliberately, the Rwandans that are said to be there and have been there for a long time, are these offsprings of the FDLR, not RDF; these are two different things. there is not a single soldier of RDF that has gone to that territory, not a single one,” he added.
President Kagame went on to add that the DRC government knows well that no Rwandan soldier was on its territory.
The head of the State said the DRC government had agreed to work with its neighbors to resolve this issue that has last for years. Not only do some people see it as a bad thing, but they also spread rumors that the Rwandan Armed Forces are deployed on Congolese land.
“According to some people, it is not a good thing that the government of DRC would be working with countries, neighboring countries to deal with this matter because for some reason it is their problem; they want to preserve it so that it stays maybe for another 25 years, I don’t know. That’s why they are putting pressure on them by creating these lies,”
President Kagame noted that the information that Rwanda’s intelligence service gets, shared with the United Nations and the DRC government, was beginning to make decisions based on it.
“They started acting on some of the information we gave them, because they were also able to verify and see what was growing in North Kivu, it started operating against these groups of FDLR,” he said.
After the DRC started an operation against these groups based on information provided by Rwanda, some people started claiming that the RDF had gone there, but ignored the problems the FDLR had caused to the Congolese people.
