A statement that was issued by Prime Minister’s office on behalf of President Paul Kagame Saturday reads
“In solidarity with the Government and people of our neighboring sister Republic of Burundi during this time of grief due to the demise of His Excellency President Pierre Nkurunziza; the President of the Republic of Rwanda His Excellency Paul Kagame has ordered that the national flag and the flag of East African community on Rwandan territory will fly at half-mast from Saturday the 13th June, 2020 until the burial.”
“We continue to grieve with the People of Burundi and the family of His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza during this difficult time.”
President Nkurunziza, 55, died on June 8th due to a cardiac arrest according to a statement that was released by the government of Burundi.
The Ministry of Health said that the new cases were a combination of those in Rusizi cluster and the repatriated Rwandans. They have been isolated and contacts traced.
The number of COVID-19 cases is surging, with the total confirmed cases increasing to 494 as of Thursday, and active cases, 179. It can’t go without saying that for the country, the treatment cost is becoming heavy.
So far, 313 patients recovered, including 6 on Thursday.
In His Twit the president said that the discussion between the two Heads of State, which were held on telephone, was around the cooperation between the two countries and Africa at large.
Kagame said he had expressed gratitude to the Canadian Premier for his country’s support in Rwanda’s fight against the Covid-19 fight among other things.
“Had a call with PM @JustinTrudeau and thanked him for Canada’s strong partnership with Rwanda and Africa, and support against #COVID19 and toward @AIMS_Next and for the Africa Center of Excellence for Children Peace and Security,” he said in a tweet.
The Canadian Prime Minister’s Office stated that the two leaders also spoke about the strong friendship between Canada and Rwanda, and discussed opportunities to further advance shared priorities in education, research, and the Vancouver Principles.
The discussion follows a March 24, conversation that the two leaders held, also virtually, which also focused on measures to curb the global Coronavirus pandemic.
Rwanda and Canada work together on a wide range of issues, including environmental protection, peacekeeping, trade and investment promotion among others.
Among the other officials accused are Godfrey Kabera, the Director-General for National Planning and Eric Serubibi who was until recently the Director-General of Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA).
With these is also Christian Rwankunda, who was the Deputy Director-General in charge of fund management at Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB).
They are faced with accusations, including misuse of public property, flouting of procedures on public tenders and complicity in flouting tendering procedures.
They appeared with their lawyers in court on Thursday, June 11, for bail hearing that did not materialize, due to prosecution’s failure to feed the details of their charges into the online case management system.
This is the second time that the case has been postponed; the hearing had been scheduled for last week, but it did not happen due to similar reasons.
The defendants’ lawyers complained to court that they had not been able to access the files detailing the accusations that their clients face because prosecution had not fed them into the system.
“Two days ago, we logged into the online system and reminded court and prosecution to assist us with the documents concerning our clients’ charges. But until today, it has not been done,” said a lawyer representing Caleb Rwamuganza.
Adding to that, Alphonse Sebazungu who represents Serubibi told court that police stopped him from accessing his client from where he is detained to prepare their defence.
“Yesterday I wanted to meet my client at a police station where he is being held, but police officers did not allow me. Yet, it was necessary for us to meet and prepare the defence,” he said.
The prosecutor in charge of the case informed the court that there is a general problem in the online system, specifically on the part of Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) who are currently unable to feed documents into the system; the prosecutor said that the defendants’ lawyers should have approached court or prosecution itself and got the documents in another form, like flash disks.
As a response to Sebazungu’s claim on him being stopped from seeing his client, some of the hindrances were as a result of measures by police to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
They prosecution said to have talked to police to facilitate the meetings between lawyers and their clients.
Due to such hindrances, the presiding judge postponed the bail hearing to June 18, to give time to the lawyers to access the files and also meet their clients to discuss their defence.
Nkurunziza’s death was announced Tuesday, June 9, by government spokesperson Prosper Ntahorwamiye. He succumbed to a cardiac arrest at Karusi Fiftieth Anniversary Hospital in central Burundi, where he had been hospitalized since June 6.
In his Twit, President Kagame said that the government of Rwanda sends condolences to the Burundian people including the first family.
“On behalf of Gov’t and my own behalf, I send our condolences to the Gov’t and People of Burundi for the passing of President Nkurunziza. This also goes to the family of the President. God Bless!” – President Kagame tweeted.
At 5 pm, Monday, the first group of 79 arrived at Kagitumba One Stop Border Post crossed and handed to Rwanda by Uganda Immigration authorities, followed by another 51. This handover ceremony was overseen by immigration officials from both countries. It was also witnessed by officers from Rwanda National Police and Rwanda Defence Force, among others.
Looking exhausted and weak, members of the group said they had been detained in Uganda for lengthy periods during which they were subjected to torture, mistreatment and violation of rights such as being denied consular visits.
Reports say some were separated from their children while others lost their valuables.
Though the Ugandan Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the released had been pardoned by President Yoweri Museveni, majority of the returning Rwandans said they had served and completed their sentences.
Innocent Hakizimana, one of the released Rwandans, said that he was jailed at the beginning of 2018 and sentenced to two years which he had completed upon his release.
They will be tested and quarantined for the compulsory 14 days in line with measures to prevent the spread of New Coronavirus.
The Rwanda Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Dr. Vincent Biruta said that Rwanda emphasized key concerns to Uganda, mainly rotating around Rwandans who continue to be arrested, tortured and detained incommunicado in Uganda.
“As you might be aware, we have raised these issues with Uganda on different occasions, including the continued arrest and torture of Rwandans who are held in unknown detentions, sometimes releasing them after a long time.
“There are issues relating to continued aggressive media propaganda targeting the Government of Rwanda and the country’s leadership and many other issues which we have previously discussed in different meetings. The last summit gave a direction on how these issues can be addressed,” Dr. Biruta said.
Last week following the meeting of the 4th Ad Hoc Commission, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Vincent Biruta said that despite some progress made in the implementation of February 21 Heads of State summit resolutions, challenges remain in place despite Uganda committing to release 130 Rwandans.
“This is a good step, but there are other issues we raised which they need to work harder on to address, mainly the aggressive media campaign against Rwanda and the arrests which haven’t stopped, much as they are planning to release some people next week,”
He said that every week there is a Rwandan arrested and tortured in Uganda, pointing out that this must stop with immediate effect.
“For that to happen, we need to have political will. If there is no political will, then we will not get anywhere. We agreed that there is need for political will on both sides and if there is an issue that needs to be addressed, it is frankly discussed and resolved,” Dr. Biruta insisted.
He pointed out that Rwanda has appreciated actions such as deregistration of terrorist outfits such as Self-Worth Initiative which masquerade as NGOs while mobilizing and plotting against the government of Rwanda.
Dr. Biruta said that though the outfit was deregistered, it still operates Rwanda National Congress (RNC) cells in Uganda, something he said goes against the Government of Uganda previous commitment of disbanding the activities of the said criminal organization.
There are other 310 Rwandans, who Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa said committed capital offenses remain in detention. Rwanda said they should be formally charged and permitted consular visits as Rwanda is doing to Ugandan citizens jailed in Kigali.
The Ministry statement said that the new cases relate to the Rusizi cluster, they have been isolated and contacts traced.
There are no more deaths registered, except the two that were registered on May 30 and June 3 respectively.
Rwanda has today concluded the first week since public transport and the moto transport resumed across the country.
Last week has seen the confirmation of cases that were mostly detected in the Rusizi district of western province, while others are truck-drivers at the Rusumo border.
The government placed measures in order to curb the spread of this pandemic in other areas include the total lockdown enforced in Rusizi’s busy city Kamembe and few of its surroundings.
As a new company, RFC was set to initiate its operations at the end of 2020, but in the face of the pandemic, it launched a crisis action plan prior to officially opening to help curb COVID-19’s impact on agriculture. RFC is a newly created joint venture between the Government of Rwanda and OCP, a Morocco-based fertilizer producer and world leader in the phosphate industry.
The emergency relief component of RFC’s plan is a donation of 500 metric tons of DAP fertilizers to provide essential supplies to smallholder farmers. The donation will cover over 5.000 hectares of land for season 2021.
The Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Dr. Gerardine Mukeshimana said that providing fertilizers to farms as part of emergency relief is in line with the government’s ongoing COVID-19 response intended to build the resilience of the country’s farmers, allowing them to increase productivity and continue producing enough to feed the population.
“This is a significant contribution to our work to provide farmers with the essential nutrients needed to boost agricultural productivity, thus ensuring enough food supply.” She added
In addition to the short-term relief, RFC is implementing agricultural development programmes that will help Rwandan farmers to become more adaptive to crisis situations in the long-term. RFC is developing a partnership with the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) to support the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) and RFC staff with regional training on blending soil-specific and crop-specific fertilizers.
“This will ultimately enable the farmers to better understand their soil and create fertilizer solutions that are adapted to their crops and more resilient,” according to the statement of MINAGRI.
In total, almost 1.000.000 USD will be invested to set up more than 450 demonstration platforms to build capacity and increase market knowledge. The aim is to introduce farmers and relevant stakeholders to best farming practices for all stages of the harvest, from seed selection to nutrient management, mechanisation, and post-harvest handling.
RFC’s actions during the pandemic contribute to the recent calls from the African Union and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on African states and partners to “safeguard input supply chains for small-scale agricultural producers” in the context of COVID-19.
