Author: IGIHE

The water supply system cost Rwf18 million and it is projected to serve water to 1989 members of 515 families.

Steven Nsabimana, a resident, says that before the water facility was inaugurated, they could get water from Sebeya River which was not clean and would contract diseases.

“We could pay Rwf400 to ride on a bicycle to where the clean water is at Sebeya and Pfunda Rivers,” Nsabimana said.

Domina Nyiranshuti, another resident said that they will now escape risks of water-borne diseases. “I grew up fetching water from Sebeya River and now the water facility completed will help us avoid diseases that were due to unsafe water,” Nyiranshuti said adding that they will preserve the water facility to serve them for a long time.

The Mayor of Rubavu District, Gilbert Habyarimana said the water supply was constructed in line with the Government’s aspiration to help all residents to access clean water facilities in a radius of only 500 meters from their homes.

Official figures indicate that 85% of Rubavu District households access clean water, targeting 100% access by 2020 after the completion of Gihira Water Treatment Plant which will produce 23,000 cubic meters per day up from the current 8,000 m[[3]].

Experts say skin products containing hydroquinone and a mixture of lotions known as “Mukorogo” increase the risk of getting skin cancer once applied.

The Southern Region Police Commander (RPC), ACP Jean Claude Kajeguhakwa thanked residents for cooperating with them. “When we started confiscating skin bleaching products, sellers adopted new ways of selling them at home but we thank those who helped us, giving us reports on such people.”

ACP Kajeguhakwa added that the change in looks also jeopardizes security as the identity of individuals tends to change from the original physical appearance.

In an exclusive interview with IGIHE, Bishop Rucyahana said that those who had a role in the Genocide and those who were not targets know a lot more on the preparation and the execution of the genocide than the survivors.

The statement raised controversy among people as some said that testimonies on what happened during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi given by other people that survivors can bring about trauma to survivors instead of healing them.

“It was understood by some people as if I said that those who had a role in genocide should give testimonies which is not the case. There are those who saw Tutsi being killed and where their bodies were buried. Those should give testimonies so that the victims’ bodies are exhumed and given decent burial, accelerating the healing process,” Bishop Rucyahana said.

“It hurts survivors more when they do not know where the bodies of their family members were buried. But if the one who knows where it was buried disclosed the information, survivors would hurt and cry, bury their people in respect and then time would come where they would heal,” Rucyahana explained.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), Dr. Jean Damascène Bizimana said Rucyahana’s opinion is valid and understandable.

However, he said that if people who are not survivors told testimonies in genocide commemoration days, it could cause trauma among many survivors.

“We agree that those who had a role in genocide and those who saw it happen, including those that were not targeted, have complete information on the genocide because survivors were hiding and they (survivors) could see less,” Bizimana said.

“The one who attended the killing meetings, the one who was where weapons were distributed and that one that was present where the militia trainings were held have more complete information,” he added.

Bizimana admitted that those who had a role in the genocide should be given time to share what they know about it but not in days set for commemorating the genocide.

“We think that they [perpetrators] should give testimonies but it would not be good to bring someone who committed the genocide and cut people’s throats and stabbed mothers to death and ask him to share that cruel story on the day of commemoration,” Bizimana said.
“Bringing people like those [convicts] can cause trauma among survivors,” he explained.

“The activity to remember is done to pay respect to innocent people who were killed for merely how they were born and acknowledge those who saved the targets and also those who fought and stopped the killings,” he added.

The activity was done at Muhoza Police Station in Musanze District in the incinerator at the Station where the narcotics as members of the public looked on.

The drugs that were destroyed include illicit brews namely: Kanyanga, Sky, and marijuana among other drugs.

Some of the residents who witnessed the destruction of the drugs said they know the dangers of drugs and asked for more cooperation in the fight against narcotics.

“The money that was wasted on those drugs should have been invested in other income generating projects that are legal. Drugs have no benefit for they just destroy the lives of our young people. Some have been arrested and are in prison while others have become poor due to the use and sale of drugs,” said Jean Pierre Niyitegeka, a resident of Muhoza Sector in Musanze District.

Innocent Habimana, another youth who had come to witness the activity said, “Young people should work hard with their hands and brain and never engage in the sale of drugs because drugs destroy their future.”

The Northern Regional Police Commander, ACP Jean Baptiste Ntaganira said, “Drugs destroy lives of those who abuse them and they cause losses to the nation as its citizens’ property is lost in this illegal business.”

“We urge all the people mostly the youth to collaborate in the fight against the drug sale and abuse by reporting to officials on time whenever they know somebody selling or consuming drugs,” ACP Ntaganira said.

The Urban CPI increased by 1.0 percent in January 2019 compared to the same month of 2018.

The Urban Consumer Price Index is calculated based on approximately 1622 products in 12 urban centers of Rwanda.

The increase in prices of consumer goods in January 2019 is attributed to the increase in prices of housing, electricity, gas and other fuels which went up by 2.6 percent and transport prices that increased by 8.2 percent.

The monthly CPI was stable in January 2019 compared to December 2018.

The victims identified as Gorette Musabyimana, 42, and her son, Augustin Shumbusho, 15, died on the spot while Richard Uwiringyimana, 10, was injured as the lightning hit the house they slept in around 10 pm on Saturday night.

A neighbor told IGIHE that the lightning hit the house amid rain during the night in the area and the victims had already gone to sleep.

“Local leaders and security officials have arrived at the family’s house for burial procedures,” said Eliezel Nyandwi, the Executive Secretary of Kitabi Sector.

In October 2017, lightning killed one person and injured seven while working in tea plantation in Nyamagabe District.

In the neighboring Nyaruguru District, in March last year, 16 people died and 140 hospitalized as lightning struck the church they were praying from.

In two months, February and March in 2018, weather vagaries killed 21 people in the mountainous regions of Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru Districts.

The Ministry of Local Governance in March last year said it planned to install lightning rods in places where crowds of people meet in regions where lightning strikes had hit hard.

The 32nd AU Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU to be held this Sunday is the last meeting for President Kagame as Chairman of the African Union.

Kagame will be replaced on the Chairmanship of the AU by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Kagame served as AU Chairman since January 28, 2018.

Before heading to the gala dinner, President Kagame met with António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

This was after he chaired the African Leadership Meeting on Investing in Health.
“Investing in the health of our citizens has already had transformative effects on the people of our continent. But there is much more to do. We will get better results if we work together as a continent,” Kagame said

Cyaruhogo Wetland occupies 170 ha of land area where three rice farmers’ cooperatives composed of 600 members grow rice.

During the project implementation, two dams and a 23.5-kilometer water pipe will be built to water rice fields in the wetland.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Jean Claude Musabyimana urged the residents to preserve the irrigation facilities and take advantage of the jobs to be created during the construction of the facilities.

“This irrigation project is expected to create many jobs for the population living near the wetland. You should take advantage of this opportunity and develop yourselves economically. We urge you to preserve the dams to be built for the future benefit for all of us,” Musabyimana said.

Musabyimana further explained that the Rwandan Government plans, as reflected in the 7-year Government Program, to boost agriculture production by increasing the land area irrigated, done in partnership with different partners including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which sponsored the project.

The Japan Ambassador to Rwanda, Takayuki Miyashita said Japan is ready to continue working with Rwanda in different projects aimed at improving Rwandans social welfare, agriculture and boosting agribusiness.

Under the 7-year Government Program, it is projected that the irrigated land for agriculture will increase from 48.508 ha in 2016/17 to 102.284 ha in 2024.

Minister Ingabire confirmed the development yesterday as she appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Technology, Culture, and Youth.

“There is an investor planning to set a smartphone factory in Rwanda which will ease and boost the use of internet in the country,” Minister Ingabire said.

The smartphone factory is part of an investment of Huaijian Group, a Chinese company that signed the partnership deal with Rwanda Development Board in September 2017 to open an industry making shoe, handbags, computers, cell phones, and different other commodities.

The factory set to invest $1 billion in 10 years is projected to create jobs for 20,000 Rwandans.

Minister Ingabire said some Rwandans don’t use smartphones due to their high prices but with the opening of the factory in Rwanda, the population will be able to buy smartphones and pay for them in installments.

“There are smartphones that cost Rwf40,000 but not every citizen can afford to buy it. If we set the way to pay that smartphone in installments of over 24 months, for instance, it can make it easier for the less privileged to buy and own their own smartphones,” Minister Ingabire said.

“The Rwandan Government plans to work with telecommunication companies to improve the internet connection accessibility and reduce prices of the internet which are also still high and impede people from using internet which is a basic need nowadays,” she added.
According to statistics released by Rwanda Utility and Regulation Authority (RURA) in October last year, the internet penetration rate in Rwanda was 46.4% while the number of people using the internet in Rwanda had increased from 4,375,016 in June 2017 t0 5,475,448 in June 2019.