Author: Nicole Kamanzi Muteteri

The awareness also involves mass testing of vehicle emissions. It is conducted in line with the ‘International Air Quality Day’ held every September 7, to educate the public on air pollution and control measures.

The Clean Air Day brings together communities, businesses, education, and the health sector to improve public understanding of air pollution, both indoors and outdoors; build awareness of how air pollution affects human health, and to explain some of the easy things that can be done to tackle air pollution towards environmental protection.

The campaign was held across highways connecting the City of Kigali to other parts of the country as Police officers from Motor-vehicle Inspection Centre (MIC) engaged in testing automobiles’ fume emissions.

Air pollution is the single greatest environmental risk to human health and one of the main avoidable causes of death and disease globally, according to the UN.

Transportation is considered the largest single source of air pollution globally leading to climate change.

Pollution in the air is now the fourth-highest cause of death worldwide, trailing smoking, high blood pressure, and diet-related diseases. The majority of these deaths are recorded in poorer countries.

It is estimated that more than 90 percent of people globally breathe polluted air and approximately seven million people die from air pollution-related causes every year.

According to Modeste Mugabo, Air Quality Monitoring Sector Specialist in REMA, Rwanda lies in the safer zone of the Air Quality Index.

“Rwanda falls under the moderate stage of the Air Quality Index, and the awareness, as well as testing fuel emissions, are part of the implementation of the national policy to ensure the air is clean and to prevent related diseases,” Mugabo said.

The key greenhouse gases associated with road transport are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

Medical experts say that pollutants cause aggravated respiratory diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis, asthma lung damage, heart diseases, and reduced resistance to infections.

“Motorists drive through roads with no idea of the ill-effects of their exhaust fumes on the environment and people’s health, and this awareness is designed to influence especially motorists’ understanding on the problem control measures,” Mugabo said.
Today, Rwanda has nine Air Quality monitoring stations and one reference station.
The UN observes that in the absence of aggressive intervention, the number of premature deaths resulting from ambient air pollution is estimated to be on track to increase by more than 50 percent by 2050.

Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Bernardin Nsengiyumva, the Deputy Commanding Officer of Motor-vehicle Inspection Centre (MIC), said that fuel emission is one of the tests conducted at MIC.

“The MIC services also include testing emissions to supplement national efforts in implementing the policy on the environment, and fighting air pollution in particular.
For a vehicle to be certified as roadworthy, it also has to pass the emission test at MIC,” CSP Nsengiyumva said.

Currently, MIC operates four testing lanes and a mobile lane, all with the capacity of inspecting more than 500 vehicles per day.

According to CSP Nsengiyumva, about 20 percent of inspected vehicles emit gas.
MIC also acquired mobile emission testing devices used on highways.

CSP Nsengiyumva said that with the mobile testers, any vehicle found emitting gas, even if its mechanical inspection is still valid, has to be fixed before it’s allowed on the road again.

The statement from the Ministry on Friday said that the number of new patients in Kigali was 29 from Kigali market cluster, Rusizi has recorded 10 cases, Karongi has 3, Kayonza confirmed 2, while Kirehe, Nyamasheke, Musanze, Nyamagabe, and Nyaruguruhave each recorded 1 case.

On March 14, 2020, the Ministry of Health confirmed that an Indian, who had arrived in the country on March 8, 2020 from Mumbai, was diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus caused by the new Coronavirus.

Since then, the country has confirmed 4,304 COVID-19 cases taken from 431,992 sample tests. Of these, 2095 are still active cases; eighteen people have succumbed to the pandemic.

Coronavirus symptoms include coughing, flu, and difficulty in breathing. The virus is said to be transmitted through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.

Rwandans are required to continue complying with government regulations, especially with frequent washing of hands and water and soap, wearing masks when leaving home or in public.

Coursera is a world-wide online learning platform founded in 2012. It offers open online courses, specializations, degrees, professional and master track courses.

The platform works with universities and other organizations to offer courses in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, and others.

The RDB Chief Skills Office and RTN are giving both unemployed and employed Rwandans access to 90% of Coursera catalogue courses and certificate programs at zero cost.

With the Coursera programs, registered learners are gaining unlimited and free access to more than 3,800 courses taught by highly reputed professors and mentors from world-class universities such as Duke University, University of London, Ecole Polytechnic Paris, University of Amsterdam, National University of Singapore, New York Institute of Finance, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Yale University in the USA, John Hopkin’s University and from companies such as International Business Machines Corporation and Google among others.

Commenting on the program, Elodie Rusera, the RDB Chief Skills Officer said;

“The RDB Skills Office and RTN are working closely with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation to see that this initiative is successfully rolled out to improve the skills of public servants and all Rwandans as well as improve digital literacy through courses on the Coursera platform. This initiative is an intervention in the labour market, especially for Rwandans that have been affected by Covid-19 to re-skill and re-enter the workforce. By the end of December 2020, we expect more than 13,000 people will have been trained under this Coursera partnership with RTN and RDB Skills Office.”

Today, 4,200 Rwandans from different backgrounds are enrolled in various courses on the platform.

On August 18th this year, a virtual convocation was held to celebrate the achievement of around 2,000 first graduates from 17 Commonwealth counties. Rwanda is the second country after Ghana to have the highest number with over 480 people who have successfully graduated in this program mainly in information Technology, Management and communication courses so far.

Paul Barera, the Chief Executive Officer of RTN, noted:

“We understand that some learners may not have access to internet or computers but we are working with the RDB Skills Office to leverage Government’s Employment Service Centers and our Telecentres located in every district countrywide to give people access to the facilities.”

To enroll on any of the courses being offered as a Government employee, please liaise with your HR manager or send an email to skills@rdb.rw. For non-Government employees, please fill the application form available on this link: https://rtn.rw/rtn_col_coursera_workforce_recovery/ or send an email to e-learning@rtn.rw

The 16th Kwita Izina will be held under the theme “Conservation and Sustainable Tourism – A Foundation for Future Generations”.

This year, 24 baby gorillas that call Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park home will be named by the Volcanoes National Park staff – the frontliners of conservation who protect and care for them every day.

They will include the park rangers, guides, wardens, trackers and veterinary doctors, among others.

World Gorilla Day marks the day that renowned gorilla conservationist Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda in 1967. It is a day that encourages people around the globe to join conservation efforts to protect gorillas in the wild.

This year’s virtual event will feature updates from the field on how rangers, vets and researchers work everyday to protect gorillas and a handover ceremony of the community project RDB embarked on to improve access to potable water for the communities living around Nyungwe National Park.

The community project is part of the Tourism Revenue Share Programme, in which 10% of total tourism park revenues are invested back into communities, contributing to the development of communities living adjacent to Rwanda’s national parks.

Additionally, this year, RDB is working with conservation and private sector partners to organise the Conversation on Conservation, a virtual session that will bring together scholars, researchers, conservationists, policy makers and the private sector to discuss, debate and find solutions to today’s conservation challenges.

Speaking during her remarks at a virtual press conference held on 4 September, RDB Chief Tourism Officer, Belise Kariza noted: “Having Kwita Izina virtually this year gives us the opportunity to celebrate those who are at the forefront of protecting the endangered mountain gorillas and share Rwanda’s conservation success with Rwandans. We hope to inspire everyone to visit our beautiful country and experience the wonder of trekking to see the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. Rwanda is open for tourism, and the sector underpins so much of our conservation work. That’s why we are proud of the impact of sustainable tourism on our national development and environmental protection efforts.”

The practice of giving a name to a newborn baby, known as ‘Kwita Izina’, has been part of Rwandan culture for centuries. The name attributed to a baby gorilla plays a significant role in the ongoing programme of monitoring each individual gorilla in its family group and habitat.

The masks are to be donated by individuals, government agencies, the private sector, embassies and international organizations among others. They will be given to vulnerable people, who are unable to afford them.

The organizers of the campaign say the idea is to close the gap in the fight against the spread of Coronavirus by encouraging the wearing of masks, for there are those who are unable to wear them due to their inability to afford them.

“We call on everyone, every company to take part in this campaign and I hope that we can work together to fight Coronavirus by helping those who can’t afford to buy masks,” said Emmanuel Habineza, the representative of the masks’ makers.

The Deputy Director of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Zephanie Niyonkuru, when launching the campaign, commended the private sector for their role in reducing the way the country imported everything from scratch, and now they have come up with the idea of getting everyone a mask.

“I’d like to thank the members of the @PSF_Rwanda that have been working in order to ensure that we have enough supply of masks and that effort now is being put into ensuring everyone has access to masks.” Said Niyonkuru.

“Back in March, we were talking about production of less than 30,000 masks in the entire country. As we speak now, members of the private sector have manufactured more than 10 million masks and we are now devising several measures in ensuring everyone gets masks.”

Niyonkuru personally donated 200 bags and promised that RDB would support the initiative.

MTN Rwanda donated 10,000 masks; Bank of Kigali (BK) donated 30,000 masks.

The German Embassy in Rwanda donated 34,000, and the CEO of I&M Bank Rwanda Plc, Robin Bairstow, donated 500 masks.

The Governor of Western Province Munyantwari Alphonse and area Senior Commanders handed over the iron sheets to Bweyeye residents thanked HE the President of Rwanda and C-in-C of the RDF for his citizen-centred leadership. The western province leadership hails local population’s contribution to bringing security in their communities.

“The collaboration between security organs and Bweyeye residents has proved that we are united and ready to protect the national progress and achievement. We commend your understanding that owning, protecting our country’s safety and security is a pillar for its sustainable development’’.

The Governor of Western Province urged Bweyeye residents and beneficiaries of the development projects to be more grateful by charting the way of self-development to uplift their living conditions to another level.

Nyirandimubanzi Meliyana one of the beneficiaries said: “I was living in a holed roof house; my belongings were damaged during the rain season; I was desperate after the death of my husband… thanks to our President who has sent the RDF to deliver the iron sheets… We are very grateful that our life will change for good”.

Bweyeye residents alsoexpressed their satisfaction for the infrastructure development projects that have improved their living conditions.

“I am a witness of Bweyeye development. This Bweyeye was underdeveloped with no electricity, schools, health facilities… we are witnesses of the real national liberation. We can testify that we have been liberated… we are waiting for the 32 km tarmac road under construction to celebrate the fruits of national liberation struggle’’, testified Kanyabashi Thomas, Bweyeye resident.

On August 16,the City of Kigali announced that it had decided to close Nyarugenge market known as the ‘Kigali City Market’ after tracing large numbers of people infected with the coronavirus back to the market.

Fifteen days after the closure, the City of Kigali issued a statement on August 31 stating that the market would reopen in a few days but that all operations would be carried out to prevent the spreading of the pandemic, which has led to the traders to alternate in the market with 50% coming one day and another 50% coming the following day.

“Life was difficult but the fact that the market was closed was for the good of the community, me included. As the number of cases found here kept on increasing, we did not expect them to open today. We are going to step up prevention measures, such as washing your hands every time, to wear our masks properly, and respect the social distance as required,” said Karara Jean d’Amour, a clerk in the market.

“We are happy to be back. Although the market was closed, I did not lose anything because they let us come in to remove the goods that could have been damaged.

We thought they wouldn’t open soon; I thank the leadership for doing everything possible to get us back to work. We are going to step up prevention measures, while also protecting those who come to us,” said Fridaus Mukarusagara, one of the food vendors in the market.

The market was closed at the same time as that of Nyabugogo known as Mutangana; but the City of Kigali has announced that due to the nature of the latter one it will “continue to close”. Traders and food buyers will continue to operate on at Giticyinyoni and at Nzove.

Police also seized 1,985 liters of locally made illicit substances from the five suspects.

The operation is part of the strengthened fight against production and sell of illicit drinks, and to dismantle illegal distilleries.

If was facilitated by credible information from community policing partners in the area, according to Superintendent of Police (SP) Alphonse Mayinga, the District Police Commander for Nyaruguru.

“We are working with youth volunteers, DASSO and community policing committees to identify and arrest people involved in criminal activities. These include dealers in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. We are also combining operations with sensitization on awareness and prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic,” SP Mayinga said.

The five men arrested are; Emmanuel Ntakirutimana caught with 610 liters; Janvier Manirakiza with 350 liters; Sylvester Bizimungu had 830 liters; Joseph Hakizimana with 100 liters, and Jean Claude had 95 liters.

According to SP Mayinga, these psychotropic substances pose a threat to human security.

“We have had cases of people, who turn violent after drinking illicit brew and becoming threats to the security of residents and their own families in particular.

That is not all, because during this period when everyone is urged to be vigilant, their clients remain exposed to the risk of contracting the Coronavirus, as they drink from closed up places where social distancing is not applied, neither are facemasks worn. Sometimes, they even drink from the same bottle,” the DPC observed.

Article 263 of the 2018 law determining offences and penalties in general, stipulates that producing, trafficking or selling simple narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances attracts a term of not less than seven years and not more than 10 years in prison, and a fine of not less than Rwf5 million and not more than Rwf10 million.

Alcoholic drinks produced without complying with standards and other laws; and chemical substances whose original intended use had been altered, and used as narcotic drugs are classified under simple narcotic drugs by a 2019 ministerial order establishing the categorization of drugs.