Author: IGIHE

The summit that kicked off yesterday runs from 28th to 30th August 2019.

The heads of countries he met enjoy cordial relations with Rwanda with relations with South Africa being mended gradually since Ramaphosa was elected President.

Japan is a great development partner of Rwanda. It has donated approximately US$ 350 million funding to Rwanda from 2008 to 2017 through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Launched in 1993, TICAD 2019 follows the last one held in Kenya in 2016.

TICAD is a conference held regularly with the objective of promoting high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners.

As he attended the opening ceremony of the summit along with other Heads of State from Japan and Africa yesterday, President Kagame lauded achievements and vision of TICAD that continuously made Japan an effective and dependable partner of the African continent.

The President highlighted that TICAD was born at a moment of uncertainty about the continent’s future that the spirit of optimism and partnership could not be taken for granted.

Acting on a tip-off, Police said the vehicle RAE 689A, Daihatsu was on Tuesday trailed from Gatsata in Gasabo district to a store in Nyamirambo, Nyarugenge district owned by Eugene Sibomana, the distributor.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Marie-Gorette Umutesi, the police spokesperson for the City of Kigali said the distillery is not licensed and was producing substandard alcoholic drinks. The seized substances were publicly disposed of.

“There are set health and legal standards to start a brewery, which also prescribes the raw materials that are not harmful to consumers, and should be followed; contrary to that you are breaking the law,” CIP Umutesi said.

RSB specifies that “only food-grade processing aids recognized as safe for human consumption shall be used during the manufacture.”

Other standard requirements include labeling (name of the products, physical and postal address of manufacturer); net contents in milliliters or liters; ethyl alcohol content; date of manufacture and expiry date; storage instructions; statutory warnings; and list of ingredients in descending order.

“We advise people, who want to invest in producing alcoholic beverages to go through proper channels and acquire the standard mark so as to produce and sell products that are healthy to consumers. Contrary to these standards you will be producing psychotropic substances, which is punishable by law,” the spokesperson emphasized.

Under article 263 of the Penal code, “any person who, unlawfully produces, transforms, transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances commit an offense,” with an imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of between Rwf5 million and Rwf10 million.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Emmanuel Kayigi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that Ntibaziyabaremye was taken into custody after Police recovered 19 jerrycans of diesel in his house located in Rwimbogo Sector, Karenge Cell in Nyabihanga Village.

“There was information from residents and community security personnel that Ntibaziyabaremye runs a fuel business, which is illegal and security concern to neighbors,” CIP Kayigi said.

“On August 27, at about 8 pm, Police officers and DASSO personnel in Rwimbogo Sector caught the suspect red-handed at his house with 280 liters (19 jerrycans). His two accomplices, whose identities are known, are yet to be arrested,” he added.

“The law is clear; such petroleum products like petrol, diesel, and kerosene are strictly sold at petrol stations not in houses or elsewhere. Regulations of how these petroleum products are packaged, transported and stored are all standards meant to ensure quality and safety since these are inflammable products, which can ignite fire… it can be a disaster to people in the same house or area,” the spokesperson explained.

He thanked those, who provided information on the “unlawful and dangerous business,” and called for continued partnership against lawlessness.

Police has warned against unlawful trade in petroleum products and advised against keeping inflammable in houses to prevent likely disaster and loss of lives.

Article 6 of Law No. 85/2013 of 11/9/2013 regulating petroleum and petroleum products trade in Rwanda, partly states that “any person, who shall perform any type of petroleum and petroleum products trade shall have a license from the competent authority.”

Article 22 also specifies the safety of petroleum products with respect to conditions related to “stores and other places exclusively reserved for the parking of petroleum and petroleum products tankers” determined by the competent authority,” to prevent causing accidents.

Patrick Nyamvumba reiterated the commitment yesterday as he presided over the closing ceremony of the two-week multinational/multidimensional exercise codenamed ‘Exercise Shared Accord 2019’ at the Combat Training Centre -Gabiro.

The closure was also graced by Peter Vrooman, the US Ambassador to Rwanda.

While closing the exercise, Gen Nyamvumba said : “The responsibility to protect civilians lies at the heart of modern peacekeeping and the increasing complexity of field situations requires that you, as peacekeepers, embrace cooperation, coordination, consensus and work in an integrated manner so as to improve and speed up delivery in armed conflicts.’’

Gen Nyamvumba highlighted that Rwanda particularly recognizes the value and potential impact of this particular exercise and future similar ones and is honored to support the task of training and preparing forces to deploy on peacekeeping missions.

He further explained that ‘Rwanda and RDF remain committed to supporting world peace and security whenever required’.

Amb Peter Vrooman thanked the Government of Rwanda and RDF for hosting SA19 for the second time in a row.

“I am honored to join the closing of Exercise SA19 as we recognize one of the largest peacekeeping exercises held on the continent. The exercise fosters collaboration between nations, military/police, and civilians,” he said.

“Your country plays an essential role in regional security as one of the largest troop and police-contributing countries”, added Amb Vrooman.

SA19 is committed to foster a partnership with African countries to develop military interoperability between participating nations.

RDF’s Brig Gen JB Ngiruwonsanga and USARAF’s Brig Gen Lapthe C. Flora, the exercise directors lauded the participants for their contribution toward the success of SA19.

The exercise comprised of three phases that included the academic phase aimed at enhancing participants’ understanding of the UN system and conduct of the peace operations, the Military Component Planning Process (MCPP), the Command Post Exercise and a Field Training Exercise based on the selected course of action and with more than 200 scenarios exercised.

1200 Military/Police personnel and civilians from 25 countries have been trained to Command and Control a realistic multinational/multidimensional Peace Operations in accordance with UN/AU standards.

Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd commended tea farmers for their dedication in producing and harvesting the best quality tea leaves for the factories. This has along the years improved the quality of tea manufactured at the tea factories to the extent that Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd is recognized globally today as a producer of some of the best 10 black tea in the world.

The most recent tea accolades from the 4th East African Tea Convention and Exhibition were shown to the tea farmers. The best 3 prizes out of 4 were bestowed to Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd tea marks at this important function where 224 factories had competed on quality lines. The improved tea quality has also impacted financially the tea farmers as tea leaf price is calculated on income generated by the finished product. Farmers working with Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd were happy to report how they have benefited from the improved prices.

Reminiscing on his tea journey, Jean Bosco Zirimwabagabo, one of the farmers said: “tea has proved to be as lucrative to me as a productive cow being milking every day.” As Zirimwabagabo explained, he started tea farming by earning 14,000 Rwandan Francs a month, which grew to 20,000 Rwandan francs and brought a lot of transformations into his life.

As a result, he lives in a decent house, owns cattle among other valuable properties which he attributes to tea growing.

Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd General Manager, Mr. Alain Kabeja, said that the prime objective of the tea business is to advance the economy and wellbeing of tea farmers.

“Our purpose is to create wealth and wellbeing of citizens by providing jobs, safe water, building nurseries and supporting the needy among others. We, however, request farmers to take care of tea plantations to substantially boost quality and quantity to maintain clients’ trust and to enable Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd tea marks to continue to lead the market,” he advised.

Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd General Manager was happy to report that Kitabi, a tea mark selling under the company, sold one of its tea grades at a record price of US$ 6.27 per kg, a first in the history of the Mombasa tea auction market.

During the celebrations, tea farmers were awarded livestock, bicycles, radios… among others for their outstanding performance for boosted and improved tea harvest.

Mr. Alain Kabeja, Rwanda Mountain Tea Ltd General Manager, commended farmers’ efforts towards increased quantity and quality of tea. “We organize this event annually to hail farmers as key partners for their significant contribution towards boosting quality and quantity of tea,” he noted.

Kagame made the appreciation today in Yokohama in Tokyo city of Japan at the opening of the 7th edition of TICAD.

Launched in 1993, the summit follows the last one held in Kenya in 2016.

TICAD is a conference held regularly with the objective of promoting high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners.

Japan is a co-host of these conferences. Other co-organizers of TICAD are the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (UN-OSSA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The summit for this edition discusses on fast-tracking African development through sustainably building citizens’ capacities, advancing digital skills and creating innovations.

As he attended the opening ceremony of the summit along with other Heads of State from Japan and Africa, President Kagame lauded achievements and vision of TICAD that continuously made Japan an effective and dependable partner of the African continent.

The President highlighted that TICAD was born at a moment of uncertainty about the continent’s future that the spirit of optimism and partnership could not be taken for granted.

Reflecting on achievements of the summit, Kagame said that many of TICAD’s innovations have become standard and the forum has continued to evolve in tandem with Africa’s priorities where the key change is the importance given to the private sector.

This inspired Rwanda has put private sector development at the heart of strategy for prosperity to realize sustainable development.

“Rwanda has put private sector development at the heart of our strategy for prosperity, using three types of investment. First, governance. Rwanda has made good use of the World Bank’s Doing Business tools to overhaul the enabling environment for enterprise,” stressed Kagame.

In tandem with facilitating business, Kagame said ‘We established specialized commercial courts and worked with neighbors for deeper integration to facilitate trade in the East African Community region.”

Rwanda also expanded investment in infrastructure and technology. Kagame pointed out an example of an innovative public-private partnership supplies wholesale broadband data to power the digitalization of our economy which went hand in hand with high investment in high-quality convention and tourism facilities.

“Third, and most importantly, we invest in people. Producing ‘Made in Rwanda’ and ‘Made in Africa’ products require skilled young people who are in good health,” he said.

“We have also expanded technical and vocational training with an emphasis on digital skills, as well as funding support for innovation and entrepreneurship,” added Kagame.

Japan is a great development partner of Rwanda. It has donated approximately US$ 350 million funding to Rwanda from 2008 to 2017 through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

President Kagame appreciated that partnership especially investment from Japan companies.

“We have seen an increase in Japanese investment in recent years, especially in horticulture, agribusiness, and technology. We appreciate the exchange with Japanese firms, and measures are in place to facilitate new ventures, particularly public-private partnerships for infrastructure and industry,” he said.

The partnership bore fruits and led to the provision of safe water to 131,000 Eastern Province residents, the establishment of FabLab which led to the creation of 62 new companies. Among others, 280 volunteers participated in different activities in Rwanda while electricity was expanding to 195,000 citizens, 65 administrative offices and 9 health centers.

Construction of Rusumo one-stop border post, 145 km road connecting Rwanda and neighbors are among other fruits of the partnership additional to 1165 Rwandans who acquired knowledge from Japan and trained 63,563 teachers.

Following a new deal signed in August with StarTimes, the international Pay TV operator and UK based broadcaster, African Movie Channel (AMC) will launch African Movie Channel Series (AMC Series) on the StarTimes DTT and DTH African television platforms, on 30th August 2019.

AMC Series is a premium 24-hour African entertainment channel, showcasing only the best and award-winning TV soaps, comedy and drama mainly from Nigeria, peppered with some of the best series from all over Africa. The channel is modern, fun, urban, in addition to being classy and aspirational.

AMC Series carefully curates high-quality content for viewers across Africa. From Nollywood series, exciting talk shows and entertainment magazine shows freshly produced in AMC’s studios, to an exclusive slate of AMC’s own original movies, AMC Series provides the full package of unrivaled top tier Nollywood and African TV programming for the whole family.

StarTimes’ subscribers will be entertained with action-packed, adrenaline-boosting blockbuster series like Oghenekome starring Ramsey Nouah, Rachel Oniga, and Segun Arinze, among other top Nollywood stars; exciting comedy shows like Gina and Friends, brand new seasons of Papa Ajasco Reloaded, Relatives, and Life Of A Nigerian Couple, contemporary vibrant TV series such as She Drives Me Nuts, After Wedding, 40 And Single, Meltdown and many more.

AMC Series viewers will also have exclusive access to various AMC in-house productions like AMC Movie Talk, The Hangout, AMC Music Lounge and Nollywood 360. Future programming will feature new dramas, sitcoms and comedies alongside celebrity and entertainment TV shows that will resonate with its broad spectrum of viewers.

AMC Series is the second premium channel from AMC, and it complements the already phenomenally popular African Movie Channel that has been on the StarTimes DTT and DTH platforms since 2012. Both channels together provide the full package of unparalleled first-class Nollywood and African TV programming that is in a league of its own.

Anona Langa, AMC’s Head of Productions and Channel Manager for AMC Series commented: “AMC Series has always satisfied the growing appetite for African TV serial and short content, and with its new look, including the injection of some exciting exclusive content from our very own production hub, AMCOP, we are sure to thrill current viewers and attract even more subscribers to StarTimes.”

‘Yinka Mayungbo, founding director of AMC said of the return, “The relaunch of AMC Series on StarTimes comes with a promise to our StarTimes audience that the channel is back to stay. We heard the outcry that ensued following AMC Series’ departure in August last year. We are thoroughly delighted to be back, and this time, for good”

Lily Meng, deputy GM of StarTimes Media Division says, “StarTimes welcome all old friends just as AMC to create better cooperation together in responding to the expectation and requirement from our audiences. As an Africa-oriented media company, we trust that the joint effort put in local content will further facilitate the development of African culture ”.

AMC Series is available from 30th August 2019, on StarTimes DTT channel 017, and DTH channel 184.

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{{About StarTimes Group}}

StarTimes owns a featured content platform, with 480 authorized channels consisting of news, movies, series, sports, entertainment, children’s programs, fashion, religion, etc. The company’s vision is “To enable every African family to afford and enjoy digital TV”. StarTimes achieves this by combining satellite and terrestrial DTV systems to provide an open and secure digital wireless platform.

The company provides a robust signal transmission service for public and private broadcasters that offers consumers outstanding Pay-TV programs, mobile multimedia, and wireless internet connectivity.

www.startimes.com.cn

Police identified the suspects as Valerie Niyomwizerwa, 32, Clemance Izabayo, 32, Pascasia Musabyeyezu and Florence Irakiza.

Police spokesperson for the Western region, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Emmanuel Kayigi said that the suspects were arrested red-handed exchanging money at ‘Petite Barrière’ border post with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“They were found with varying amounts of money in different currencies, including Rwanda and Congolese francs, and US dollars,” he explained.

Economists say unlawful financial businesses distort the forex market, trigger dollarization of the economy, fuel inflation and reduce the competitiveness of local products on the international market.

“This was a regular police operation to crackdown on illegal money exchange especially at the border with DRC, based on credible information on specific people involved and their bases,” the spokesperson said.

Police has warned against illegal currency trade and urged those seeking forex exchange services to go to registered money traders.

According to central bank regulations, no individual or company is allowed to trade-in currencies without a license.

Article 223 of the penal code also specifies that “any person who, by any means, illegally sells or exchanges, national or foreign currency, commits an offense.”

The article further adds: “Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than six months and not more than two years or a fine of not less than Rwf200, 000 and not more than Rwf3 million or only one of these penalties.”

Police said the suspect was arrested on Sunday with assorted pharmaceuticals, including boxes of paracetamol, Amoxicillin and HIV drugs.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the Eastern region Police spokesperson, said the suspect was arrested in Nyagakayenzi Village, Gihembe Cell.
“Police was tipped off by residents about the suspect’s illegal pharmaceutical business, officers caught him with several boxes of Paracetamol, Amoxicillin, and bottles of liquid medicines,” the spokesperson said.

In Rwanda, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is the main body in charge of ensuring the safety of drugs and medicines.

FDA regulate pharmaceutical products, vaccines, human and veterinary processed foods and other biological products used in clinical industries as drugs food supplements, food fortificants, fortified foods, poisonous substances, herbal medicines, medicated cosmetics, medical devices, tobacco and tobacco products, management of unfit pharmaceutical and food products and clinical trials on pharmaceutical products for human and veterinary use.

The pharmaceutical business is done by licensed medical personnel or pharmacist.

“Such illegal sale of pharmaceutical products is dangerous, there is a likelihood of selling expired or counterfeit drugs, giving wrong drugs or poor prescription to patients, resulting in fatal outcome,” CIP Twizeyimana said.

He thanked those, who provided information on the suspect’s unlawful and dangerous business, and called upon the public to always buy medical drugs from licensed pharmacies to avoid becoming victims of such illegal business.

He made the statement yesterday while opening the International Conference of the Commonwealth Association of Technical Universities and Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA).

Ngirente pointed out that Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) role in the country’s economic transformation would be possible if graduates from TVET are highly skilled and competitive in the labor market.

He stressed that the country’s target in the National Strategy for Transformation (2017-2024) is to increase the number of students attending TVET schools to 60% by 2024 from 31.1% in 2017.

“TVET is one of the most powerful tools to fight poverty. It does not only provide skills to gain paid employment but also to promote and support creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship to develop the ability to create jobs and employment opportunities,” said Ngirente.

The Premier encouraged African Governments to support young people to acquire job-related skills since it is a key developmental challenge that most African Governments have.

He noted that Africa needs skilled workers, in particular, competent technicians who are needed to fill skills gaps in various sectors of the economy that include the construction industry, energy sector, water distribution, and sanitation systems, and large public works.

Ngirente advised that African countries need to educate the youth and encourage them to embrace labor mobility opportunities if they are to become talent-driven.
“African youth should take advantage of AfCFTA in terms of free movement of labor as an added opportunity for them,” he noted.

Themed “Building Partnerships for the Promotion of TVET for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment in Africa”, CAPA conference brought together 20 African member countries, represented by Education Ministers, Technical Universities, Polytechnics, and Technical Colleges and Vocational Training Institutes in Africa as well as other stakeholders in TVET.

The Secretary-General of Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa, Jahou Faal urged African countries to promote TVET and link students to employers.

“African countries need to put much effort promoting vocational education and network with institutions tipping them of required employees at the labor market,” he said.

Research findings released in 2017, revealed that the unemployment rate in Rwanda stood at 16.7 %.

51 % of employed didn’t attend school, 29 % completed primary school, 5% completed the ordinary level, 9% completed secondary education while 6% are university graduates.