Author: IGIHE

The men identified as Gerald Munyangabe, 46, Patient Shukran Ramadhan, 23, and Mustafa Tuyizere, 19, were all arrested in the Muhima Sector, Nyarugenge district with over 18,000 pellets of cannabis.

The trio was paraded to the media later in the day as Rwanda National Police (RNP) continued to send a strong message in breaking the chain of supply.

The seized narcotics were trafficked in a transit truck from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was also carrying other goods.

Munyangabe, the truck driver and his two co-drivers were trailed to Kigali following information from their accomplices, who were arrested in the Rubavu district.

One of the suspects, Tuyizere admitted to the crime but said that he knew only 1000 pellets.

“I had a deal with someone in DRC to transport only 1000 to Rwanda for Rwf30, 000, to my surprise I saw many others when Police arrested us,” Tuyizere narrated.

He added: “This deal is really bad, I accepted because I needed more money but now I am going to lose more than what I originally had. I advise young to be satisfied with what they have if they need more money they should work hard but not dealing in narcotic drugs,” the teenager advised.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Marie-Gorette Umutesi, the Central region Police spokesperson said that efforts against narcotic drugs continue to gain momentum, a reason as to why more drug dealers continue to be arrested and substances seized.

“Police had reliable information on their criminal dealings. When you see where that cannabis was hidden, there’s no way you can know it if you don’t have a credible source and strong partnership with the public,” he said.

“We are happy that the public has owned it and they are the main source of information on suppliers in their communities, which is a big step forward,” added CIP Umutesi.

The spokesperson observed that although drug-related crimes are on the decline, partly due to vigorous community policing measures adopted, there are people who are still involved in drug dealings, who must be brought to justice.

“This is a criminal act that goes further to cause insecurity in communities, destroys families and young people, no one should tolerate it. We urge people to always share information so as to break such chains to ensure a drug-free society,” she emphasized.

Article 263 of the new penal code partly states that, any person who, unlawfully produces, transforms, transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances commits an offence, with a sentence ranging from seven years to life in prison, upon conviction, and a fine of between twenty (20) million Rwandan Francs (Frw) and thirty (30) million Rwandan Francs (Frw). The men identified as Gerald Munyangabe, 46, Patient Shukran Ramadhan, 23, and Mustafa Tuyizere, 19, were all arrested in the Muhima Sector, Nyarugenge district with over 18,000 pellets of cannabis.

The trio was paraded to the media later in the day as Rwanda National Police (RNP) continued to send a strong message in breaking the chain of supply.

The seized narcotics were trafficked in a transit truck from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was also carrying other goods.

Munyangabe, the truck driver and his two co-drivers were trailed to Kigali following information from their accomplices, who were arrested in the Rubavu district.

One of the suspects, Tuyizere admitted to the crime but said that he knew only 1000 pellets.

“I had a deal with someone in DRC to transport only 1000 to Rwanda for Rwf30, 000, to my surprise I saw many others when Police arrested us,” Tuyizere narrated.

He added: “This deal is really bad, I accepted because I needed more money but now I am going to lose more than what I originally had. I advise young to be satisfied with what they have if they need more money they should work hard but not dealing in narcotic drugs,” the teenager advised.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Marie-Gorette Umutesi, the Central region Police spokesperson said that efforts against narcotic drugs continue to gain momentum, a reason as to why more drug dealers continue to be arrested and substances seized.

“Police had reliable information on their criminal dealings. When you see where that cannabis was hidden, there’s no way you can know it if you don’t have a credible source and strong partnership with the public,” he said.

“We are happy that the public has owned it and they are the main source of information on suppliers in their communities, which is a big step forward,” added CIP Umutesi.

The spokesperson observed that although drug-related crimes are on the decline, partly due to vigorous community policing measures adopted, there are people who are still involved in drug dealings, who must be brought to justice.

“This is a criminal act that goes further to cause insecurity in communities, destroys families and young people, no one should tolerate it. We urge people to always share information so as to break such chains to ensure a drug-free society,” she emphasized.

Article 263 of the new penal code partly states that, any person who, unlawfully produces, transforms, transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances commits an offence, with a sentence ranging from seven years to life in prison, upon conviction, and a fine of between twenty (20) million Rwandan Francs (Frw) and thirty (30) million Rwandan Francs (Frw).

Social media users can vote for their preferred name from two options on the National Geographic Facebook page and Twitter account.

The baby gorilla to be named through this exciting conservation campaign is an adventurous female infant from the Kwitonda family.

A daughter to Icyamamare, the baby gorilla was born on July 1, 2018, in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. The Kwitonda family is made of 34 gorillas including three silverbacks, nine adult females, three blackbacks, five sub-adults, four juveniles, and 10 infants.

The two options voters can choose from are Intego and Imyato – names suggested by the rangers, vets, and trackers who interact with the gorillas on a daily basis. Intego means ‘Purpose’ because her life holds purpose in Rwanda’s effort to save endangered species. Imyato means ‘Achievement’ and pays tribute to those who have helped Rwanda thrive through conservation initiatives.

The name with the most votes from across the National Geographic platforms will be announced by the renowned National Geographic wildlife photographer Ronan Donovan on September 6, 2019, at the 15th annual Kwita Izina naming ceremony in Kinigi, Musanze at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park.

{{About Kwita Izina}}

Kwita Izina is a time-honored tradition in which Rwandan families hold a ceremony to name a newborn baby. For three decades prior to the first official gorilla naming ceremony, park rangers and researchers named Rwanda’s mountain gorilla babies as part of monitoring each gorilla in their family and habitat.

The Government of Rwanda, through the Rwanda Development Board and in collaboration with conservation partners, the private sector and local communities, has achieved remarkable success in protecting and growing the endangered mountain gorilla population and conserving its habitat. Rwanda’s traditional naming ceremony was adapted to celebrate this success as a national flagship event now known as Kwita Izina.

Kwita Izina was introduced in 2005 to raise awareness of conservation efforts and to thank communities for their on-going and invaluable participation and support of these initiatives. It is now the most important event on Rwanda’s conservation calendar and is attended by national, regional and international participants.

281 baby mountain gorillas have been named since Kwita Izina began. Alongside the naming ceremony, a weeklong celebration of activities is hosted to share the importance of conservation and the role of tourism in protecting rare and iconic species. Today, Kwita Izina is fast becoming Africa’s leading dialogue on conservation and sustainable tourism.

As a result of conservation efforts such as Kwita Izina, the population of the endangered mountain gorilla increased to 604 in 2016 in the Virunga Massif compared to 480 in 2010. The Virunga Massif is comprised of the Mikeno Sector of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. Mountain gorilla numbers in the entire region had fallen as low as 242 in 1981.

In Rwanda, baby mountain gorillas are named each year in a ceremony that celebrates their birth and the country's commitment to conservation. #sponsored @visitrwanda_now pic.twitter.com/fVFJj8kAEF

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) August 28, 2019

The incident took place around 11 pm last night.

Following the incident, Gahini sector officials convened a security meeting to remind residents on preventing disputes and providing information on time to curtail similar crimes.

The executive secretary of the Gahini sector, Joseph Rukeribuga has told IGIHE the murder was connected to property-related disputes.

“The woman connected the offense to what she claimed as mistreatment where the husband had sold 100kgs of beans and a goat the deceased and their son sold previously,” he said.

The woman told officials that her son recently slapped her over denying them a right to take part of home property for sale.

It is said that the woman hit the husband dead as they disputed over misuse of home property.

The husband was immediately taken to the Nyakabungo health center where he breathed his last.

The suspect is detained at Gahini police station.

The Multicurrency Prepaid Platinum will enable cardholders to instantaneously use different currencies without the necessity for physical presence at currency exchange offices.

Frank Molla, the Country Director of Mastercard said the institution is committed to driving people’s engagement into the cashless economy the multicurrency card is one of the solutions towards effective implementation of these efforts.

“We applaud the excellent work I&M bank is doing in an effort to provide a safe and secure product that will transform payments for their customers locally and internationally,” he said.

“Users of this card who often travel abroad can use it for payments to over 5 million points worldwide. Locally, we shall collaborate with the Central Bank and I&M Bank among other interested stakeholders to achieve more,” added Molla.

Molla explained that the card was effective is countries where it was tested during the pilot phase like Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, and Kenya.

The Managing Director of I&M Bank Rwanda Plc, Robin Bairstow said that the card will not only be effective in cashless solutions but will enable users to get discounted payments.

“As a Bank, we are pleased to be starting off this journey with the launch of our Mastercard Multicurrency Prepaid Platinum card.

“In this regard, I am pleased to announce to you that we have decided to give our customers an early bird discount of 50% discount on card issuance in the first 3 months to reaffirm our pledge to achieve cashless solutions,” he revealed.

The card offers users the possibility to load up to 15 currencies, gives them access to more than 1000 airport lounges, discounts in luxurious hotels and apartments, access to platinum insurance benefits that cover card fraud protection.

“To confirm our claim, we are happy to report that the product we unveil to you today has so far been a product to a selected group of users who have managed to generate over 1,000 transactions in 15 countries across the globe,” noted I&M Bank MD.

He reiterated that I&M Bank is committed to continuously improve products and services and adding new ones that will both meet and exceed customers’ expectations.

I&M Bank last year introduced a free money transfer known as Spenn that has attracted over 300,000 users. It has also launched mobile ATMs and cash deposit machines.

The owner of the Multicurrency Prepaid Platinum card is directed to a portal where he/she navigates through different choices.

A user can prefer to use instantaneously RWANDAN Francs, Yen from China, US dollars, Pounds, Euros, and CFA from Western Africa.

The six currencies can be saved on one card simultaneously with the support of I&M Bank. A customer having Rwandan francs on the card can individually make exchange into foreign currencies following steps recommended during the first time picking the Multicurrency Prepaid card. Funds can be transferred for free without physical presence at the bank.

The card has been discounted to Rwf 17500. It usually costs Rwf 35 000.

To get the card, one is required to fill a form at I&M Bank.

Users of the card can make payments at over 50 million points of sales within over 210 countries worldwide.

In case of loss, the bank helps the cardholder to withdraw waiting to get a new one.

The net capital grew by 22.1% to Rwf 893.2 billion while disbursed loans increased by 35.1% reaching Rwf 650.2 billion.

The CEO of Bank of Kigali, Dr. Diane Karusisi has said that BK Group subsidiaries including Bank of Kigali, BK General Insurance, BK Capital and BK TecHouse made an impressive performance.

“We continued to disburse a large amount of loans at the Bank of Kigali to sectors including the energy sector where we support some institutions to be able to distribute electricity to Rwandans, we offered loaned technology sector to contribute to national economy among others,” she explained.

The Chief Financial Officer at BK Group Plc, Nathalie Mpaka explained that netted profit is an impressive achievement promising good returns promised to shareholders last year requesting them to increase their stake in the bank.

BK Group Plc earned Rwf 13.4 billion in the first half of the year 2018.

The women identified as Olive Mukasafari, 37, and Fidausi Dusabimana, 35, were arrested on Wednesday in possession of over 750 pellets of cannabis.

They are currently being held at Gasaka Police Station pending further investigations by Rwanda Investigation Bureau.

The District Police Commander for Nyamagabe, Superintendent of Police (SP) Gaston Karagire disclosed that the arrest of the two women followed the information that had been provided by responsible members of the public.

He explained that they were arrested at around 5 am by the Police night patrol in Mugari Village of Nyanzonga Cell, the Cyanika Sector, following a call by one of the residents.

“There is a strong partnership between residents and security organs, which makes it easy to identify and arrest wrongdoers especially drug dealers through information sharing,” the DPC said.

“To overcome this pressing issue of narcotic drugs, dealers have to be brought to justice, and the partnership between Police and the general public through community policing is bearing fruitful results,” he added.

Article 263 of the new penal code partly states that, any person who, unlawfully produces, transforms, transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances commits an offense, with a sentence ranging from seven years to life in prison, upon conviction, and a fine of between twenty (20) Million Rwandan Francs (Frw) and thirty (30) Million Rwandan Francs (Frw).

“RIB has arrested Ndabereye Augustin, the vice Mayor in charge of Economic development in Musanze district over an alleged assault of his wife. He is held at Muhoza RIB Station as his case file is being processed,” reads RIB tweet.

It is said that Ndabereye was taken to RIB station in Musanze today morning after beating and seriously injuring his wife over domestic disputes.

IGIHE has learned that the husband pulled her wife’s hair that she was injured and taken Ruhengeri hospital in the Musanze district.

The Governor of Northern Province, Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi confirmed to IGIHE that Ndabereye is suspected of beating her wife.

“We have warned him several times. We hope justice will prevail because such behaviors should not characterize a leader,” he said.

Governor Gatabazi appealed to leaders to be exemplary turning against any vices that might discredit them among citizens.

The murder took place yesterday morning. IGIHE has learned that the murder is connected to property-related disputes in which the culprit was involved with her sister.

The mayor of Nyanza district, Erasme Ntazinda has told IGIHE that the culprit was recently released after serving a jail term for murder after involvement in property-related disputes.

“The 32-year-old man stabbed five people of whom two were declared dead on arrival at the hospital while three others sustained injuries,” he said.

Three of the stabbed people are from the murderer’s family.
The suspect is detained at RIB station in Muyira.

This left a huge task to the Government and relevant institutions concerned with forest management to seek a solution to combat the disease.

The pests are believed to have originated from countries with a big presence of eucalyptus trees like Australia among others.

Faustin Bizumuremyi from Gisagara district has told IGIHE that such pests still destroy their eucalyptus trees and continue to wither gradually.

Speaking to IGIHE, Prime Ngabonziza, the Director-General of Rwanda Water and Forestry Authority (RWFA) said research outcomes attributed the presence of such pests to rough growth.

“In collaboration with the research center within the Rwanda Agriculture Board, we took a sample of these pests and transferred them to laboratories abroad. They established the origin of these pests and told us that they emerge depending on conditions in which a forest is maintained,” he said.

The research attributed the presence of these pests to the shortage of water on the land where trees are planted, and conservation conditions. The research also revealed that combating such pests applying pesticides would pose a threat to other elements in the environment ecosystem like water and crops among others.

“They told us that spraying chemical substances in these forests would result in aggravated consequences given that these pests emerge depending on forests conservation conditions. They advised us on good maintenance of forests, digging spillways to retain water to feed trees,” said Ngabonziza.

“We adhered to the instructions and implemented these practices in collaboration with districts and farmers. It bore fruits in some regions that the situation is far different unlike the case in 2014. Probably, the pests are seen in poorly maintained individual farmer’s forests,” he added.

Pests destroying eucalyptus were first experienced in countries like Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, and Uganda.

Eucalyptus susceptible be affected by such pests are spread to 55% of the total land covered by forests in Rwanda.

Rwanda targets to spread forests to 30% of the country’s land by 2020 to make a fresh atmosphere with no negative impact on the country’s growth and residents.

The decision was unveiled on 28th August 2019 as members launched the program during which they started making bricks to construct new latrines and houses replacing old structures.

A total of 200,000 bricks are expected to be made over the course of action.

Some members of RPF Inkotanyi explained that the initiative came into action considering the presence of some households with no latrines that might lead to health hazards over poor hygiene.

“It is a shame that some residents don’t have own latrines. It is among problems likely to cause poor hygiene-related diseases. That is why we have decided to make these bricks to completely address the problem of lacking latrines and houses,” said Nema Umukamisha.

Another member, Jonas Ndikumana explained that some residents’ latrines were destroyed by heavy downpour though others didn’t have them.

“Apart from making bricks, we shall also construct the latrines,” he said.

The Chairman of RPF Inkotanyi in Muhoza sector, Emmanuel Nsabimana said that the initiative is aimed at supporting vulnerable residents and combating poor hygiene.

“The initiative was launched by Musanze district and got inspired to give in our contribution making bricks to be used during the construction of latrines and houses for vulnerable residents,” he explained.

The mayor of Musanze district and the Chairman of RPF Inkotanyi, Jean Damascène Habyarimana said that the district pledged to address the problem of toilets within one year.

“Making bricks and building latrines and houses for vulnerable residents aligns with the district’s program,” he noted.

Musanze district has incorporated a clause in performance contracts that the fiscal year 2019/2020 will leave all households having own latrines.

The district records 10 064 households with substandard latrines that need to be destroyed and constructed again while 1069 households have no toilets.