IGIHE

Author: Olga I. Ishimwe

  • Genocide convict dies in France

    {Claver Kamana, a Rwandan who has been living in France has died at 77 after several years of France declining to send him to Rwanda to serve life jail term after being convicted by Rwandan courts in absentia for his role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.}

    Kamana has been a trader in France. He was convicted in absentia for his role in commanding Interahamwe militia to kill Tutsi in Southern Rwanda.

    He played a central role in different assaults, looting properties, raping and disseminating hatred information among other crimes in Kamonyi district.

    Alain Gauthier, the president of Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), a France-based group dedicated to pursuing justice in relation to the Genocide against the Tutsi told IGIHE that Kamana has died and they will not continue to pursue him.

    “Our lawyers told me that they were informed to stop pursuing him after his death on 17th August” he said.

  • Sano negligence of duty caused Nyabarongo crocs deaths-Prosecution

    {The former Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) Chief Executive Officer, James Sano’s grave mismanagement of the utility body was so severe it resulted into intense water shortages, forcing consumers to fetch water from River Nyabarongo where some lost their lives to the jaws of the crocodiles, Nyarugunga Court of first instance has heard today. }

    Sano and Emmanuel Kamanzi, the former Managing Director of Energy Development Corporation Limited (EDCL) in Rwanda Energy Group (REG) appeared in court to hear mentioning of their cases. Prosecution alleges that Sano misused government resources when he negligently paid Rwf945.5 million for office rent during the period of three years. Sano denied the allegations rejected the accusations saying that all decisions implemented would first be approved by the board of directors but not single handedly executed.

    Prosecution requested court to remand Sano for 30-days.

    The ruling on bail application for both Sano and Kamanzi will be read on 15th September.

    Sano is accused of wrongfully awarding a single-source public tender worth Rwf61 million to Cerrium Advisory Ltd to recruit and orient new WASAC employees.

    Sano is also accused of illegally awarding construction of water treatment center worth Rwf371million at Kayenzi in Kamonyi District, without elaborating the terms of reference and without a bill of quantity flouting the standards tendering norms.

    For EDCL’s Emmanuel Kamanzi, Police says that he allegedly awarded public tenders illegally and misused government property.

    Police says that Kamanzi illegally awarded $45,000 tender for buying ten transformers and 400 electric poles worth $280 million.

    The Auditor General’s report issued in May 2017 indicated that WASAC had stock of material worth Rwf1.3 billion which had not optimally utilized and non-revenue water losses amounted to 42%, the equivalent of Rwf8.6 billion.

  • She Trades Initiative empowers women entrepreneurs in Rwanda’s tourism industry

    {She Trades Initiative, a flagship of the International Trade Centre (ITC) recently hosted business-to-business meetings as well as training workshops targeting tourism sector players in Kigali under the project “East Africa: Empowering Women in Trade”
    }

    Approximately thirty women attended and participated in the laudable platform for two days where trainings, presentations and experiences were shared.

    During the meeting women entrepreneurs had the opportunity to meet with international buyers. They also gained knowledge on how to identify target markets, prepare for promotional events and pitch to clients and how to conduct effective contract negotiations.

    Also women entrepreneurs were exposed to skills on how they can tap into business opportunities in Rwanda and the region.

    During her opening remarks Diane Sayinzoga, the Head of Special Economic Zones and Export at Rwanda Development Board thanked the guests in the forum for their concerted efforts and determination to contribute towards the development of the tourism sector locally, regionally and internationally.

    “This forum is very beneficial to Rwanda’s tourism industry and our stakeholders as we seek to expand and transform our tourism market into the ultimate luxe leisure and MICE destination. The event is therefore quite timely and from the discussions that will be shared here we hope that women entrepreneurs will be more empowered to increase the value of their enterprises and boost the Rwandan economy,” she said.

    “We are glad that the Government of Rwanda has shown commitment in gender equality as the top of the country’s development agenda and as a result we are seeing more women owned businesses in tourism. This forum is fundamental in training women to tap into the high- end market, whose expectations and needs are equally high.” Ms. Carol Namatovu, the Vice Chair Rwanda Tours and Travel Association has said

    The project East Africa, Empowering Women in Trade aims to enable women owned SMEs working in selected sectors in East Africa to trade by increasing the value of their international business transactions, thus contributing to the goal of raising incomes, creating jobs and reducing poverty.

    She Trades Initiative’s goal is to connect 1 million women to markets by 2020 and plan of 7 global actions, supported by a web application. In Rwanda specifically, the programme aims to link 5,000 women in Rwanda by 2020.

    In Rwanda, tourism contributes to 4.6% to GDP and 30% of the country’s exports. In 2016 tourism accounted for US$404 million and as the tourism industry expands as well as the inflow of tourists increases in the country, there is potential for more growth.

    Rwanda has four national parks; Nyungwe, Volcanoes, Akagera and Gishwati-Mukura including 6 volcanoes, 23 lakes and numerous rivers.

    The creation of the fourth national park Gishwati-Mukura National Park in 2015, home of the endangered chimpanzee and golden monkey species; Re-instatement of the ‘Big 5’ status within Akagera National Park, and the ongoing development of an ambitious strategy to increase buffer zones to protected areas and address the current carrying capacities whilst supporting communities living adjacent to these areas are some of the milestones that Rwanda has achieved in improving its tourism export endeavours.

    The training was supported by TradeMark East Africa and the International Trade Center through a partnership with the Rwanda Development Board.

  • 2017 ParaVolley Africa Sitting Volleyball Championships kicks off

    {The 2017 ParaVolley Africa Sitting Volleyball Championships kicked off yesterday in Kigali. The tournament, which runs from 13-17 September 2017, brings together seven African countries represented by four women’s and seven men’s sitting volleyball teams.}

    The competing teams are from; Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Algeria and host Rwanda. Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, and Kenya brought both men’s and women’s sitting volleyball teams. South Africa, Morocco, and Algeria came with only men’s teams. The teams are competing for the title of ParaVolley Africa champion.

    The top two men’s and women’s teams will automatically qualify for the 2018 World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships to be held in July 2018 in the Netherlands.

    Speaking at the opening of the Championships, the Minister of Sports and Culture Julienne Uwacu welcomed participants and expressed the country’s gratitude to Para Volley Africa for entrusting Rwanda with hosting the tournament.

    “We use sports as a means of social change, inclusion, and integration for persons with disabilities. In hosting this tournament, Rwanda reaffirms its commitment to promoting sports for all, with a special emphasis on sports for persons with disabilities,” Minister Uwacu said.

  • Remarkable Rwanda shines at the 13th African travel market in Lagos

    {For the fourth-time, Rwanda has been showcasing its remarkable attractions and investment opportunities in tourism and travel at Akwaaba, Lagos in Nigeria.}

    Recognized as West Africa’s main travel and tourism fair, the 13th Africa travel Market Akwaaba 2017 held in Lagos from September 10th – 12th, is a key source market for leisure and business tourism in Nigeria and Western Africa.

    Over the years, Akwaaba has grown to become an important Africa Tourism marketing platform in the region drawing attendance from over 7,000 to 10,000 Visitors from 20 Countries. Among the exhibitor’s included national tourism organizations, numerous airlines, both domestic and foreign; and leading Africa hotel chains, destination management companies.

    Rwanda has been showcasing the country as a premier business and tourism destination in Africa and building awareness of Rwanda’s diverse range of unique experiences, for both leisure and business travel.

    At the event also was the Remarkable Rwanda Stand, RwandAir; with daily flights to Lagos and a new hub in Cotonou to serve better west African cities, the National Carrier is consolidating its position in the region as a carrier of choice.

    The fair highlight was the beautiful dance of the national ballet Urukerereza which displayed Rwanda’s culture through dance and drums performances throughout the 3-days adding glamour to Rwanda’s participation at the international fair. At the closing ceremony, the cultural troop was voted the best performer.

    Speaking at the travel show, the high commissioner of Rwanda to Nigeria Ambassador Stanislas Kamanzi emphasized the importance of tourism in Africa in boosting intra-trade and deepening relations amongst nations of the world.

    He stated that Rwanda’s participation at Nigeria’s leading travel show presented a good opportunity to tap into a fast-growing market of outbound tourists in Africa.

    Additionally, three women in the Rwanda tourism industry have been presented awards at the Akwaaba Africa travel Awards as leading women in tourism.

    Top 100 leading women in Africa Travel were recognized. The winners from Rwanda includes Belise Kariza, the chief Tourism officer at the Rwanda Development Board, Josephine Fifi Rurangwa, Head of Africa Expansion at Wakanow and Annie Uwase, freelancer driver and tour guide.
    Belise Kariza, the Chief Tourism Officer at the Rwanda Development Board said that she has been thrilled of the award she and hercolleagues receivedin the tourism and hospitality industry.

    “Women play an important role in tourism development in Rwanda, these recognitions are a token for the opportunities availed to women by the good leadership our country enjoys” she said.

    Speaking at Akwaaba opening ceremony, the director general of Nigeria National Council of Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe applauded the organizers of Akwaaba and said that soon oil will be given a break as culture and tourism will become the country’s new oil.

    As Lagos is the business hub of Nigeria and tourism in Nigeria centers largely on events, the travel show was a great occasion for Rwanda to actively promote Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events (MICE), to an audience where a majority of outbound trips are for business purposes.

    During the travel show, a number of events featured among them; the Chef Challenge a culinary event aimed at promoting culinary tourism by showcasing the best of Africa’s hospitality, a conference on Aviation in Africa with the theme “One-year commercial aviation accident free year. What did Africa do right”, a discussion for women in tourism and a conference for youth in tourism.

  • Will serve with unwavering zeal—Nduhungirehe

    {The State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Community, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe has assured to serve the country with unwavering zeal and will ensure that the pace of integration gets well accelerated.
    }

    Nduhungirehe, appointed in the ministry last month in the new government,
    has been the Ambassador of Rwanda in Belgium for two years.

    The 42-year-old has told IGIHE that he considered the new appointment as a vote of confidence by President Paul Kagame.

    “I have appreciated the new responsibilities and how his Excellency trusted and appointed me among cabinet ministers,” he said.

  • 23 high-fly female students earn Imbuto Foundation training in ICT

    {Twenty-three best performing high school female students have been awarded with certificates after completing ICT training in Tumba College of Education, thanks to Imbuto Foundation. }

    Known as Imbuto z’Icyeza, all girls from different schools across the country that performed well in last year’s national examinations were given the ICT training.
    Imbuto Foundation also provided them with computers and helps them with ICT-related practical skills.

    Representing Imbuto Foundation during the certificate-awarding event, Amb. Jacqueline Mukangira requested all girls to use acquired skills to the benefit of their communities and share the skills with their colleagues.

    “My message is to have self-confidence that you are as capable as your brothers. Nothing boys can learn girls can’t do. You should use the opportunity as you join university and continue to share the skills with your colleagues” she told advised.
    Deborah Ishimwe, one of the beneficiaries said that she has learnt much during the three-week training.

    “It was like miracles to learn how to disassemble and assemble a computer. I didn’t know even the elements of a computer. They are different components you can install in a computer like operating system and wifi internet among others,” she said.
    Every year, Imbuto Foundation recognizes best performing female students in high school examinations.

    Students who have graduated thanked First Lady Jeannette Kagame for her efforts to promote education of the girl-child.

  • Police warns on public infrastructure vandals

    {The National Police has issued a tough warning of severe consequences to whoever will be caught in such acts that involve vandalizing electric pylons and those selling them as scarp metals.
    }

    The warning follows a case in Gatsibo District where three suspects are being held at Kabarore Police station in connection with vandalizing public infrastructure.

    The three suspects are identified as, Jean Pierre Nsengiyumva, Evariste Hakiza and Laetitia arrested for vandalizing five electric pylons weighing over 500kgs that had been rolled out by NPD Ltd.

    Of the three, Nsengiyumva and Hakiza were said to be the main culprits who could dismantle the pylons and sell into pieces to Urimubandi who deals in scrap metal business.

    According to a report from police, the trio was arrested following complaints filed by NPD in regards to the disappearing pylons.

    “Preliminary investigations led us to the two men who had vendalised five pylons. We arrested them along with the buyer Urimubandi,” said the Eastern Region Police Spokesperson Inspect of Police Jean Bosco Dusabe.

    NPD has since valued the five pylons at Rwf 52 million but Nsengiyumva and Hakiza were selling a kilo at Rwf300 meaning they had sold the five pylons weight 500kg at just Rwf150,000.

    Upon arrest, the two men admitted to have vendalised the pylons and said they had been sent by Urimubandi.

    “Also, during the operation, we impounded FUSO RAA 962Y that we found carrying pieces of the dismantled pylons,” said the spokesperson who added that investigations are still going on to identify if no other public infrastructures have been damaged and also process the their files for prosecution.

    IP Dusabe also issued a tough warning against vandalising public infrastructure and also hailed employees of NPD who hurriedly reported the case.
    Such acts, he said, are punishable under article 406 of the penal code on “demolishing or damaging another person’s buildings.”

    “These infrastructures are meant to improve the welfare and development of the people as well as facilitate doing business, so it should be guarded jealously by everyone. When one starts digging up electric pylons, then that person is endangering lives of thousands,” he said.

    Police also warned of severe consequences to whoever will be caught in such acts, which, IP Dusabe said, affect the country’s development programmes and at times lead to loss of lives as some people are electrocuted while stealing the pylons.

    Emmanuel Ruzindana , the head of security at NPD in the Eastern region said they pylons were being stolen at night and it was hard to identify how they were disappearing and that’s when they involved the police.

    Officials from Energy Utility Corporation Limited (EUCL), Gatsibo branch, said such illegal activities cost the government a lot of monies while serving the public becomes harder when infrastructures are vandalized.

    The last case of ravaging public infrastructure was heard in April last year in Huye District where police arrested three men in connection with stealing underground electric cables connecting Huye mineral water plant in Ngoma Sector.

  • ​WhatsApp: Now one billion people send 55 billion messages per day

    {The eight-year old messaging app WhatsApp is now used by one billion people every day.
    }

    As ZdNet reported, WhatsApp reached the one billion active monthly user milestone a year ago, and now has 1.3 billion monthly active users, most of whom use it daily, according to WhatsApp.

    WhatsApp shared the daily active user numbers in a blogpost along with other metrics showing how people use the app following Facebook’s Q2 2017 earnings yesterday.

    WhatsApp said 55 billion messages are sent each day on platform, and users also shared 4.5 billion photos and one billion videos per day.

    “Whether it’s sharing personalized photos and videos, connecting through video calling, or keeping friends updated throughout the day with Status, communicating on WhatsApp has never been easier or more personal,” WhatsApp said in a blog.

    At F8 last April Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said messages sent on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp combined totaled 60 billion per day.

    After announcing Messenger had 1.2 billion monthly users this April, Facebook’s head of Messenger, David Marcus told TechCrunch it had seen “double-digit growth percentage-wise” in terms of messages sent per user on Messenger.

    Facebook last month said it had reached 2 billion monthly users, and yesterday noted that as of June it had 1.32 billion daily users.

    Asked yesterday by an analyst about WhatsApp’s revenue prospects compared to Messenger, Facebook’s CFO, David Wehner, said the company isn’t sharing detailed engagement figures by messaging platform, but noted differences in usage for each by region.

    “WhatsApp has demonstrated significant engagement with crossing a billion daily actives. So I think that indicates the engagement that you have on that platform. There are different geographies where the messaging platforms are stronger,” he said.

    Zuckerberg said it was “still early on the monetization side” for WhatsApp.

    Facebook also reported metrics for Stories for WhatsApp and Instagram, each of which have 250 million daily users. More users of course supports Facebook’s ad business, which received $9.16 billion in revenues, up 47 percent year-on-year.

  • YouTube Red, Google Play Music services to merge

    {Google has revealed plans to merge YouTube Red and Google Play Music to create a new, streamlined service.
    }

    As reported by The Verge, Google Music chief Lyor Cohen revealed at a panel session for the New Music Seminar conference in New York that the tech giant needs to bring the two services together to entice new subscribers, especially in light of rivals such as Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, and Apple Music.

    “The important thing is combining YouTube Red and Google Play Music, and having one offering,” Cohen said.

    YouTube Red, available in the US, is a subscription service which offers ad-free music and video streaming. The music service is already streamed through Google Play Music and YouTube Music, and while ad-free videos are accessed through YouTube, you can also watch YouTube Red Original television shows and films as a paid subscriber.

    The current ecosystem seems somewhat confusing and fragmented, with some services available to subscribers and others available with the support of adverts.

    However, should YouTube Red, YouTube, YouTube Music, and Google Play Music be brought together more cohesively under one umbrella, more potential subscribers may be enticed towards a new service.

    With so many rival services competing for the same business, making life simpler for consumers makes sense.

    Back in February, Google confirmed that the YouTube Music and Google Play Music teams were being combined, which started off rumors that the tech giant may be looking at streamlining how they offer music subscriptions.

    In a statement, Google acknowledged that users will be told before any major changes take place.

    “Music is very important to Google and we’re evaluating how to bring together our music offerings to deliver the best possible product for our users, music partners and artists,” Google told The Verge. “Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.”

    In April, streaming service Spotify acquired blockchain startup Mediachain. While you may not necessarily link blockchain ledger technology with music streaming automatically, Spotify said the deal took place in order to link content to the identity of the creator, offering a channel for attribution, analytics, and payment in a time when such content is distributed without control online.