Author: John Mbaraga

According to a statement released on Monday, Rugwizangoga, a Chemical Engineer by profession enters Volkswagen with a wealth of strategic planning, project management and product development experience.

As a World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper and an active member of the Kigali Hub, Rugwizangoga will be able to use her international experience and Rwandan heart to lead Volkswagen Mobility Solutions Rwanda to become an integrated part of Rwandan life, the statement says.

“Being asked to start and run a new company from the ground up, whilst having the opportunity to implement a world first in mobility solutions for Volkswagen, is a challenge I relish and am looking forward to. The conducive local environment is also the ideal springboard for future expansions across the African continent,” she said.

At a media briefing in Kigali in January, Thomas Schaefer, Chairman and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa announced the registration of Volkswagen Mobility Solutions Rwanda and the introduction of the integrated automotive mobility solution in Rwanda.

This concept is a first for Rwanda and also a first for Volkswagen worldwide.

“We welcome Michaella into the Volkswagen family and we know she will be a worthy asset to our company. Rwanda’s forward thinking attitude to technology and development is one of the reasons we saw potential in this country. I believe that the offerings we will be introducing together with the support of Volkswagen partners and Michaella’s experience, will see our innovative mobility initiatives prove to be successful,” Said Thomas Schaefer.

Volkswagen will launch it’s mobility solution including an assembly facility in Kigali by midyear. All the mobility services will be accessed by the custom developed App through which all bookings and payment will be made. Services will also be able to be booked online or via a hotline to cater for people who do not have a smartphone.

VW South Africa will US invest $20 million in Rwanda during phase one of the integrated automotive mobility solutions.

The five-day meeting that started yesterday in Dar Es Salaam is attended by members of different technical working groups from five Revenue authorities including Rwanda Revenue Authority, Uganda Revenue Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority, Burundi Revenue Authority and the hosts Tanzania Revenue Authority. The South Sudan is not represented in this technical meeting.

According to Drocelle Mukashyaka, Rwanda Revenue Authority’s (RRA) Deputy Commissioner in charge of Taxpayer Services, and member of Capacity Building and Change Management Technical working Group, the meeting is expected to review implementation of the SCT export process, including piloting and full rollout, update the SCT Procedures manual to take into account new changes including electronic certificate of origin, temporary importation of vehicles at border crossings, transshipment reports and notifications, electronic documents and movement of goods on standard gauge railway among others.

“We shall also review and develop change management and capacity building interventions to include developments that have taken place with regard to the SCT over the last 3 years, because this serves the key points during our awareness campaigns on Single Customs Territory implementation” Mukashyaka said.

In his opening remarks the Chairman of the meeting Salim Mubiru from Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) recommended the efforts of the partner states and applauded them for what has been achieved in the last 3 and 1/2 years. He also called upon the team to focus on the objectives of the meeting in the next six days and have outputs that are measurable by the end of the meeting.

SCT is a stage towards the full attainment of the Customs Union attainable by the removal of duties and other restrictive regulations and/or minimisation of internal border customs controls on goods moving between Partner States with an ultimate realization of free circulation of goods.

The SCT aims at improving clearance times, reducing the cost of doing business, enhancing application of cross border ICT systems and improving coordination of the private and public sector agencies among others.

The East African Community has been implementing the SCT progressively since 2014.

As part of the oganisations of the 21st edition of the conference, the organisers have called for bids to brand and design the logo and theme, which would reflect the values of the country, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 90-90-90 goal and the end of AIDS by 2030.

Speaking in a press conference on Saturday, the State Minister of Public and Primary Healthcare in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Patrick Ndimubanzi said that the conference will discuss the policies and strategies that countries need to put in place in order to tackle HIV and STIs.

Ndimubanzi said that the global community and everyone is working in the framework of solidarity and mutual accountability where people are responsible of what’s happening in health sector for any country.

“And given that now we are in a World where people continue to go everywhere, we think that it’s very good that at some point the whole community comes together and review together policy and strategies that will address diseases,” he said.

For Rwanda, he said the conference will help people in health sector learn from strategies from other countries.

“Rwanda as scientific committee, as policy makers, we want to see strategies that our sister countries are adapting,” he added.

Society for AIDs in Africa Coordinator, Luc Armand Bodea said that they are organizing the conference to know the new trend about HIV/AIDS.

“As we are talking now, people are still victims of discrimination, more than discrimination; they are still facing some challenges in some health facilities. This is why ICASA is there to give platform to people that could not voice out to talk about challenges they are facing on a daily basis and go beyond barriers,” he said.

Bodea said that today there are countries that do not have drugs and ICASA aims at raising the level of awareness both from leadership, scientists and the community to put them together and give them platform so that they can address their issues in Africa.

ICASA is a biennial conference which alternates between Anglophone and Francophone African Countries. More than 10,000 participants are expected in ICASA2019.

The IMF Mission in Rwanda Chief, Laure Redifer announced this in a press conference in Kigali.

She was speaking about Rwanda’s economic growth prospect after IMF staff completed discussions in the ninth review Policy Support Instrument supported program.

Redifer observed that Rwanda’s economy is rebounding as the economic growth in 2017 outpaced expectation by rising to 6.1%.

Inflation, she said has remained very low, 0.7 percent in February over the previous year, due to ample food supplies causing food prices to decline.

External imbalances have continued to decline, on the basis of exchange rate adjustment and other policies to improve competitiveness and diversify Rwanda’s production and exports.

Foreign exchange reserves are accumulating faster than anticipated and pressure on the Rwandan franc has abated.

“Looking forward, IMF team projects growth to return to between 7-8 percent in 2018-2019, and prices on the market will remain at 5%,” she said.

She said that the strong economic growth, tax revenues have increased more than expected and the supplementary resources will be used for additional public spending in priority areas, especially health, education and irrigation for agriculture.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete said that industries will develop by 8%, service sector by 8% and agriculture by 6%; and agriculture he said will continue to develop due to promising rains and investment that has been allocated there.

“Based on current information, we expect economic growth of 7.2% by this year and 7.8% next year,” he said.

Last year, agriculture production increased by 7%, industry by 4% and services by 8%.

Gatare who was speaking yesterday in a meeting with miners in Muhanga urged miners to continue increasing productivity by fighting illegal mining which cause disastrous deaths. He also reminded them to perform their job while preserving the environment.

“This sector contributes enough to raise the economy of the country as products are exported and bring foreign currencies. We should put efforts together to fight those practices that interfere with production. We should not let them get the market for their minerals,” he said.

Dr. Hilaire Habyarimana, one of miners in Muhanga District said that they still have many problems in the sector including bad mining practices.
He said that they should re-asses themselves and do what their permits allow them to.

In eleven sectors of Muhanga District, there are 42 mining companies employing 13,432 people.

In the recently released Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2017, mining and quarrying contributed 51% to the growth of industry sector in Rwanda.

Speaking during a workshop on the role of media in Deepening Accountable Local Governance in Rwanda (DALGOR) on Friday, RALGA Chairperson Innocent Uwimana asked media practitioners to offer a greater contribution in promoting accountable governance.

“We all recognise that bad collaboration between the media and local governments impedes good governance and seriously affects the citizens whose welfare we all claim that we are working for,” he said.

Journalists complained that they are sometimes denied access to information by local leaders and wondered if those leaders give any information to citizens who are supposed to hold them accountable.

Jean-Claude Rusakara Mugwaneza, a reporter with KT Radio, said leaders denied him information on different occasions, adding that some local leaders openly say that they do not like talking with journalists.

Albert Baudouin Twizeyimana, National Coordinator of Pax Press, said that local leaders need sensitisation about Access to Information law and media role in helping them carry out their activities. He also urged RALGA to improve its collaboration with the media and advised journalists to create a friendly relationship with leaders so that they stop seeing media as hostile.

About these issues, RALGA acting Secretary-General Winifrida Mpembyemungu pledged RALGA mediation between the media and local leaders.

“We are looking into how we can have a memorandum of understanding with the media on collaboration for the better of the citizens we are all serving. We are together with you to promote good governance and citizen participation,” she said.
Poor citizen participation revealed

RALGA also presented to media the findings of the study on Dynamics of Direct Citizen Participation in Rwanda’s Local Governance between 2011 and 2017 which indicated that the level of direct citizen participation in monitoring and evaluation is less than 40% due to insufficient knowledge and skills of citizens, wrong belief that government should do everything for the citizens, lack of citizens’ sensitisation and mobilisation, among other challenges.

Funded by the European Union through DALGOR project, the study covered five districts namely Burera, Nyamagabe, Nyamasheke, Gasabo and Ngoma with the target population for the study was 1,027,721 while the total sample was 2,288.

Only 21.7% of respondents confirmed that they participated in planning and budgeting while the level of direct citizen participation in implementation of local agenda was at 66%.

At least 53.2% of citizens said that they did not directly participate because they were not invited by local leaders while 51.9 % confirmed that the reason was that they did not have knowledge and skills in planning and budgeting, Among local leaders, 51.2% said that citizens do not have enough knowledge and skills necessary for them to directly participate in planning and budgeting while 28.6% of citizens said that there was lack of clear information about what was supposed to be done.

Article 48 of the 2003 Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as revised in 2015, provides for the right of every Rwandan to directly and or indirectly involve in the governance and development of the country.

Rwanda Governance Scorecard report highlighted indicated in 2014 that overall citizens’ participation was at 71.68%)

The awards are given to women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk and sacrifice.

Dubbed ‘International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards’, the event will be hosted by the Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan on Friday.

Under the annual event, First Lady of the United States Melania Trump will deliver special remarks. In addition, Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert will deliver opening and closing remarks.

About Mukasarasi

Mukasarasi dedicated her life after the 1994 Genocide against the Tusti to fighting for a culture of peace and non-violence in Rwanda, as well as promoting the rights of women and girls affected by sexual violence in conflict zones worldwide.

The Founder and Coordinator of the organization Solidarity for the Development of Widows and Orphans to Promote Self-Sufficiency and Livelihoods (SEVOTA), Mukasarasi works with communities across Rwanda to reset human, social, and economic relations destroyed during the Genocide.

In 1996, she was approached by the United Nations team putting together the case against former Mayor of Taba Jean-Paul Akayesu for his role in the Genocide. Overcoming intimidation by community members and the murder of her daughter and husband, likely for her decision to testify at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she mobilized four members of SEVOTA to testify against Akayesu.

Although rape has been considered an international war crime since 1919, it had never been prosecuted as a war crime until the conviction of Akayesu.

These women’s actions, through Mukasarasi’s leadership, changed the world of criminal justice forever, giving women who were sexually assaulted in conflicts a voice and access to justice.

Since 1994, SEVOTA has reached over 300 genocide rape victims and helped them to reintegrate socially and economically into their communities. They have organized more than 1,300 households to participate in micro-savings clubs and 2,000 youth and children in peace and development clubs.

Mukasarasi is a woman of courage, and has been an important figure in the peace and reconciliation of Rwanda and the protection of women and children across the globe.

Mukasarasi received the John Humphrey Freedom Award by Law and Democracy in 2004; the Outstanding Achievement Award for Rural Women’s Creativity Award from the World Women’s Summit Foundation in Geneva in 1996; and, SEVOTA was honored with the Award for Human Rights for its contribution to the promotion of the rights of vulnerable women by Human Right International in 2011.

Since the inception of IWOC awards in 2007, the State Department has recognized more than 120 women from more than 65 different countries. U.S. diplomatic missions overseas nominate one woman of courage from their respective host countries. The finalists are selected and approved by senior Department officials.

Others who will be awarded are from Afghanistan, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mauritania and Thailand