Author: IGIHE

Residents of the five districts that touch on Kivu Lake said they have to cross the lake on a daily for different activities but that the travels last so many hours, some of them even spending the night halfway.

All that is attributed to the lack of infrastructures including ships and bridges.
Residents of Rubavu, Rutsiro and Rusizi told Radio Rwanda that having ships to allow them to cross over as well as ports, it would facilitate them enormously.

Rutavogerwa Mussa, a resident of Rutsiro district said “There is a tourist ship which travels daily from Cyangugu to Rutsiro. It would be a great addition to our lives if we had one too as we would be able to travel to Cyangugu in 4 hours instead of 12.”

Rubavu and Rusizi residents requested more ships to avoid spending the night midway.

Munyurwa Robert, a resident of Rubavu district said that some travelers, for fear of spending the night midway, choose to pass by the Democratic Republic of Congo to reach the Rusizi district. He said that with identification papers, you can take Rubavu-Goma-Bukavu-Rusizi route and that it is the shortest route.

“cement, sand, alcohol and coal merchants use Goma-Bukavu-Rusizi route to reach Kamembe and it is very costly.”

Baziruwiha Valens said that due to the lack of infrastructures, they have nowhere to dock their boats and risk damaging them.
RTDA has announced it would start a project for the construction of bridges starting with Rubavu and Rusizi. They predict the construction will be completed by June 2021.

To facilitate the transport of people and goods across the lake, RTDA will also provide two ships, one capable of transporting 3 tons of goods and 30 people by April 2020 and another capable of transporting 10 tons of goods and 150 people by the end of the year.

Imena Munyampenda, RTDA Director-General said that the project will attract more investors and that they are expecting a ship manufacturing plant in the near future. “With the construction of bridges and new infrastructures including ships, we expect more investors and a remarkable improvement in trade. We also anticipate a ship manufacturing plant in the near future.”

TMEA has invested $12 in the first construction phase comprising of two bridges while the rest of the project will be completed by 2022.

Apart from building bridges and availing job opportunities to Rubavu and Rusizi residents, RTDA plans on starting a training center to teach people to drive, assemble and repair ships.

On January 23rd, 2020, Cameroonian Clovis Kamzong Abessolo won the 4th stage in a 190 kilometers race which started from Lambaréné in Western Gabon to Mouila. He used 4 hours 34 minutes and 42 seconds to the finish and was followed by Areruya Joseph who came second.

28-year-old Kamzong usually races for the SNH Velo Club team but was selected to represent Cameroon during La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. He is the first Cameroonian to win the highly competitive cycling race.

La Tropicale Amissa Bongo is happening for the 15th time since it was upgraded to the 2.1 status by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). This year’s edition was remarkable as three Africans won 3 of the stages of the race including Clovis Kamzong from Cameroon, as well as Natnael Tesfazion and Biniam Girmay from Eritrea.

The 4th stage was a very tight race as four cyclists including Joseph Areruya (Rwanda), Clovis Kamzong (Cameroun), Abdul Aziz Nikiema (Burkina Faso) and El Houcaine Sabbahi (Maroc) competed fiercely to reach the finish line overtaking the other racers by 7 minutes and 40 seconds, 160 kilometers to the finish line.

Kamzong won the race by a hair’s breadth overtaking Areruya Joseph by milliseconds. The best place he had ever won was 11th since the competition started.

Nzafashwanayo Jean Claude who also represent Team Rwanda cycling team came 22nd following Kamzong by an interval of 4 minutes and 22 seconds.

Eritrean Natnael Tesfazion leads the race followed by Jordan Levasseur from France who usually races for Natura4Ever-Roubaix team.

The Rwandan team is led by Munyaneza Didier who is 14th followed by Nzafashwanayo Jean Claude.

In 2018, Rwanda won the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. It is the 9th time Rwanda is taking part in the highly competitive race of the UCI-tour.

On January, 24th, 2020, La Tropicale Amissa Bongo will proceed with the 5th stage where racers will compete in an 82 kilometers race from Lambaréné to Bifoun.

The project that was officially launched on Thursday, January 23, 2020, in Nyagatare District is expected to raise awareness on sexual reproductive health among the youth between 10 to 24 years of age with the help of their parents, medical doctors, and teachers.

The project’s theme is; “It is your right to have knowledge about sexual reproductive health.”

Imbuto Foundation’s Eric Kayiranga who heads the project said it will focus on three levels that include the youth aged 10 to 24.

“Among those [the youth], some are at school while others are not. We will work for hand in hand with secondary schools, all health centers around Nyagatare and 47 health posts. In all of those places, we will be targeting the youth. I cannot say that we are going to entirely eradicate this problem, but we are putting in our contribution to minimize the problem, to reduce the number of teen pregnancies.”

Kayiranga added that they will help the youth in certain groups get access to counseling and health services at health centers and health posts, using games, discussions and voluntary testing of different diseases.

Juliet Murekatete, the vice mayor of Nyagatare in-charge of Social Affairs, thanked Imbuto Foundation and said that the fact that Nyagatare’s high incidences of teen pregnancies are sometimes caused by lack of knowledge about sexual reproductive health among parents and their children, the first targets of this project.

“Conflicts in families,” she said, “are the primary cause of teen pregnancies since many people have not yet changed their mindsets about gender equality.”

Africa, the principal of Groupe Scolaire Rwempasha, said that collaboration between teachers and parents in educating the girl child about sexual reproductive health is needed.

“Every adult should correct any child he or she sees deviating from upright moral behavior as his or her own child or child of the country. We all need to work together. We need to hold on our values because most of those who tempt the children are adults.”

The leader of Ndama Health Center, Kayumba Samuel, said that the project already existed but they are going to put in much effort.

“Every health center has two focal persons trained about the sexual reproductive health of the youth. We also have a place where we counsel the youth to prevent diseases.”

He added that there are those get early pregnancies because of poor mindsets. However, he added, the more efforts put into educating them, the more the problem decreases.

In 2010, the project operated in Nyarugenge and Gicumbi districts.
A survey done by the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion shows that between 2016 and 2018, 70,000 teens were impregnated, 36% of who (19,800 teens) are from the Eastern Province.

Nyagatare District tops highest number of teen pregnancies.

According to the vice mayor of Nyagatare District, in 2019, the number of teenage pregnancies was 1,814.

He announced the tour recently, preparing his fans from both countries.

In a conversation with IGIHE, Safi Madiba said that dates the tour will be communicated immediately after discussions with his promoters.

“There are some concerts confirmed while others are not yet confirmed. I will perform in more than one concert, so we are discussing with promoters in different places.”

The tour comes amid Safi Madiba’s controversial separation from The Mane who says that he owes him money.

Safi Madiba, however, says that The Mane should take him to court instead of blackmailing him through the media.

He accuses The Mane of deliberately violating their contract and believes that his separation with them is not an issue.

He recently disproved The Mane’s intended ban of stopping him from performing all the songs he worked on with them by showing Intellectual Property documents, proving full ownership from the Rwanda Development Board.

The Ombudsman who was addressing residents in Muhanga Stadium, in an event against corruption and injustice, asked the public and local authorities to cooperate in resolving conflicts and reconciling people instead of resorting to courts of law.

“The family should be the foundation of conflict resolution so as to minimize cases that reach local authorities and courts.”

He cited conflicts that fail to be resolved within families and are taken to courts involving the sharing of property by married couples seeking divorce, noting that such domestic misunderstandings can be resolved amicably at home.

Murekezi added that there are court cases where involved parties fail to accept the verdicts, appealing to higher courts, spending more time and resources.

Basing on annual statistics, the ombudsman said that cases of injustice received by his office never go beyond 10% and that the public needs to be literate on case follow up, appeals, and paying fines in time.

“Among the cases we receive, cases of injustice fall between 5% and 10%, which means that our judges preside over court proceedings quite well. In general, 96% of the cases are found to be well delivered, which, however, doesn’t mean the other 6% of injustice should not be fixed.”

During the event, the public was given time to ask questions, some of which hinged on cases that are already known by the authorities.

The Mayor of Muhanga, Jacqueline Kayitare, said that the most complaints that registered in the district are those related to the inappropriate compensation they are given when their properties are taken over for the establishment of public infrastructures and those related to the management of the domestic property.

Members of the public were also asked to give information about corruption to the local authorities.

The authorities were reminded that they should use the governance structures at each level of authority and utilize systems and mechanisms that are meant to fight corruption and injustice.

The construction started at the beginning of 2020. Houses will occupy 11 hectares and markets, health centers, schools, recreational spaces, and agriculture plots will occupy the rest of the land.

Rurangwa Steven, the vice mayor in charge of economic development in Nyagatare District told IGIHE that the construction will be completed by June 2020.

“Every year, we plan on building houses for low-income families but the national budget doesn’t always fit into our aspirations. This year, we have selected low-income families from Tabagwe to receive the houses.”

The families will be provided with houses, agriculture plots, and domestic animals to support them financially in their daily life.

“The entire village we are building will cost an estimated Rwf 400 to Rwf 600 million.”

Rurangwa said that Nyagatare district administration intends to put to maximum use the available land and build as many houses as possible.

Nyagatare is one of the most populous areas in the Eastern Province and in Rwanda along with Rwamagana and Kibungo. It has an estimated population of 700,000. It is also one of the 6 major cities of Rwanda selected for stimulating urban economic development, particularly outside the capital city of Kigali as key to achieving Rwanda’s strategic objective of a 35 percent urban population by 2020.

He stated it during the annual national dialogue ‘Umushyikirano2019’ which happened from December 17th to December 19th, 2019.

The announcement addressed the concern of Uwihirwe Theodosie, a teacher at Burera Primary School who said her family was wrongly placed in the third category of Ubudehe hence denying her children government scholarship opportunities when in fact they could not afford to pay for higher education.

“All primary school teachers have been placed in the third Ubudehe category but in reality, our low income does not allow us to send our children at the university. We request the support of the government on this matter so that our children can also receive higher education.”

She suggested that instead of considering Ubudehe stratification as a requirement to receiving the scholarship, children should only be judged on merit and only receive scholarships because they have excellent grades.

Minister Ngirente replied to her saying “Ubudehe categories will no longer be the basis in providing scholarships to students for varsity studies. Going forward, students will be selected according to their competence in school and their grades instead of their social status.”

Dr. Charles Muligande, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Rwanda (UR) in charge of institutional advancement suggested that the decision should be carefully implemented as it will lure even capable families to seek for government scholarships just because their children succeeded with good grades.

Dr. Murigande stated it on Tuesday, 22nd January 2020 during a press conference with the High Education Council (HEC) and the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) about concerns that have been raised regarding the distribution of stipends to university students.

He said that even though social stratifications will no longer be considered, the allocated budget for government scholarships will remain the same.

“The government works within its means to provide university scholarships but it does not mean the students who are supported are the only ones who need to pursue higher education. The national budget just cannot afford a bigger number for the moment. We establish requirements to apply for the scholarships because the loans should be allocated to children who really cannot afford to pursue higher studies. Social stratification was one of the requirements which allowed us to offer scholarships to the truly deserving ones.”

Dr. Murigande said that implementing the decision not to consider social stratifications might deprive children of poor families the opportunity of pursuing higher education.

“Children from wealthy families are highly likely to succeed because they have all the facilities for it, but it is the contrary for poor children who cannot even afford more than one meal a day. How can the two children perform equally in school?”

Rose Mukankomeje, the Director-General of HEC said that implementing the decision was put on hold as it is still being discussed how to smartly execute it.

On June 24th, 2016, the cabinet of Rwanda ruled that scholarship loans will mainly target students in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centers as well as those pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) studies. The students were to be selected only if they belonged from the first to the third Ubudehe category.

Mugisha Fred, Neighborhood and Housing Planning Engineer at the City of Kigali explained that the prison spread on 5.5 hectares and that the catholic church has already planned and budgeted for putting to use the prime land and is in the process of acquiring a construction permit.

“The catholic church has shown interest in managing the vacant land and suggested building a cathedral. They are working on a mockup of the project which they will present to the City of Kigali to obtain a construction permit.”

Mugisha said that the catholic church will also hand over a plan on how they intend to preserve surrounding historic buildings as they are crucial to retaining the nation’s heritage and history.

By the end of February, the mockup will be complete showing construction details of the cathedral and the construction is set to start by the end of 2021.

During the consecration ceremony of Antoine Kambanda who replaced Thaddée Ntihinyurwa as the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kigali on November 11th, 2018, he outlined priorities the catholic church would consider including building a new Kigali Cathedral.

President Kagame who attended the consecration ceremony agreed to donate for the construction of the cathedral and said it would be better using a bigger space.

“We will support the construction of the cathedral within the means we have but we all count on the will of the catholic church to bring the project to its completion.”

During the 2019 Christmas Mass, Archbishop Kambanda stated that the process of building the cathedral was already underway.

The start and the finish line will be in Nyamirambo, at Intwari Primary School. The race will pass by Tapis Rouge, Nyabugogo, Muhima, Gakiriro for a total of 12 kilometers.
Adult male riders will do 9 laps equal to 108 kilometers, male teenagers, 8 laps equal to 96 kilometers while women riders will run 6 laps equal to 72 kilometers.

The trajectory that will be used is the same used during the second stage of the ‘Rwanda Cycling Cup 2019, Tour de Kigali’ won by Nkurunziza Yves in the male category.

The race will take place 31 days before ‘Tour du Rwanda 2.1” which is scheduled from February 23rd to March 1st, 2020.

Riders including Areruya Joseph, Mugisha Samuel, Mugisha Moïse, Nzafashwanayo Jean Claude, Munyaneza Didier, and Uhiriwe Byiza Renus will not be part of the race as they are currently representing Rwanda in ‘La Tropicale Amissa Bongo’ race in Gabon until January 26th, 2020.

11 teams will compete in the ‘Heroes Cycling Cup’ including Fly Cycling Club, Les Amis Sportifs, Cycling Club for All, Benediction Club, Muhazi Cycling Generation, Karongi Vision Sport Center, Kigali Cycling Club, Nyabihu Cycling Team, Kayonza Young Stars Cycling Team, Ciine Elmay, and Bugesera Cycling Team.

Dr. Vuningoma’s funeral is scheduled for January 25th, 2020. His body will be collected from King Faisal Hospital where he passed on at 8:30 A.M.

A memorial service will be held at his home in Kacyiru at 11:00 P.M, funeral mass from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M at Giporoso, Remera Anglican Church while his burial and committal service will be held at Rusororo at 4:00 P.M.

Dr. Vuningoma was a veteran linguist and a Rwandan culture enthusiast. He obtained a Ph.D. in African Studies at France’s University of Nice in 1989, a Master of Arts Degree from Université de Bordeaux III in 1982 and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Makerere University in Uganda in 1974. After his doctorate studies, he served as a lecturer at Kigali Independent Institute (KIE) in African Studies and later on as Vice-Rector in charge of Academics.

He also served as editor-in-chief at The New Times.

On January 18th, 2018, Dr. Vuningoma was appointed member of Media High Council (MHC).