Rudahunga who has been for long suffering from chronic illnesses died on Monday, Bishop Smaragde Mbonyintege has told IGIHE.
Rudahunga was ordained priest in 1953, being the 111th person to be ordained priest in Rwanda.
In a yet to be published exclusive interview with IGIHE, Rudahunga who held the honorary title of Bishop said he did so many works for the Catholic Church in Rwanda including Kabgayi Minor Seminar.
At 97, Bishop Eulade Rudahunga was the oldest priest in Rwanda.
The eye testing activity was held at the headquarters of the company at Kigali Industrial Zone in Masoro on February 9th this year in partnership with Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital.
Sandeep Phadnis, Business Head of Safintra Rwanda Ltd said several researches done on eye health revealed that eye problems affect employees productivity which inspired them to get their staff screened, an activity that will continue.
“Researches showed that the productivity reduces by at least 40% among people aged between 40 and 55 years with eye defects,” Sandeep said.
“When the employee’s ability to see reduces, he starts taking medicaments while sick, it affects his performance at work which also affects the employing company,” he added.
Sandeep said they held the activity as it is the employer’s duty to know his employee’s health status and take care of it as it is usually done at Safintra Rwanda Ltd.
After eye testing, those who were found with defects were advised to seek optician advise.
The Director of Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital in Rwanda, Kanagaraj Rajagopal said the first eye testing of staff at Safintra was done at no cost.
Dieudonne Hakizimana, an employee at Safintra Rwanda Ltd said that some of his workmates were found with eye defects which they were not aware of and they will now go for eye treatment.
In August last year, AC Group Ltd initiated a project to renovate internet in bus under Tap&Go Wi-Fi. This was after the initial project to install internet connection in public buses seemed to have failed after the passengers raised concerns that it really did not work.
After some months of trial, now passengers who travel in public buses in Kigali say the internet in buses is effective and it helps them enjoy time they spend in transit.
“It used to be much boring to sit in a bus while waiting for it to be filled with passengers, but see, now my phone is connected to internet and I am chatting with friends on Facebook,” Zawadi Mukeshimana told IGIHE’s reporter.
Other passengers who talked to our reporter said they are thankful as they now maximise the amount of money paid for transport as it also includes internet charges which they paid for but didn’t use.
Fidèle Bizumuremyi, another passenger said: “The internet is now working well. They used to tell it is installed in buses but it really didn’t work yet we would pay for it in transport fares.”
Christa Munezero, the In charge of Tap&Go WiFi at AC Group Ltd said they installed the wireless internet connection in 100 buses in August last year as a trial phase and later installed it in all public buses operating in Kigali City after passengers expressed satisfaction with the internet connectivity.
Munezero revealed that figures in December last year showed that a total of 300,000 passengers used the Tap&Go WiFi per day.
Munezero said they plan to install a program that will help passengers read books while in buses with cameras to control drivers who receive transport fees in cash from passengers instead of usingTap&Go cards that were introduced by AC Group Ltd to promote a cashless economy.
Kagame made the remarks on Sunday as he chaired the Official Opening of the 32nd AU Summit where he also handed the AU Chairmanship to new AU Chairman, President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt.
Opening the Summit, Kagame said he was grateful to his fellow African Heads of States for entrusting him with “the privilege of leading our organization during this eventful year in service to you and the people of Africa.”
“Our objective was to continue building a stronger and more capable African Union that is able to deliver on the pillars of Agenda 2063, and better represent Africa’s interests on the global stage,” Kagame said adding that the steps forward achieved reflect the long-standing commitment and aspirations of Africa’s leaders and citizens.
Achievements realized during Kagame’s one year spell as Chairman of the African Union include ,among others, the signing of the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement which was done in Kigali on March 21, 2018.
“The CFTA was signed, and now, less one year later, it stands only weeks away from entry into force,” Kagame said as he commended Guinea-Bissau, Botswana and Zambia for “signing the instrument during this [32nd AU] Summit and encouraged those signatories who have not yet ratified to do so at the earliest opportunity.”
“Last year, we strengthened our partnerships with other regions both in substance and tone, and that trend will continue,” Kagame said, revealing that the relaunched Peace Fund now stands at 89 million dollars with 50 Member States contributing.”
“This demonstrates the force of our collective resolve and ability. We will continue to work with the United Nations towards a sustainable mechanism for funding African-led peace support operations,” he noted.
Kagame also commended the recent peace agreement reached among the parties in the Central African Republic, and thank the Commission and the Member States involved in supporting this process adding that “this accord must be implemented and respected.”
On President Fattah Al-Sisi whom he handed the AU Chairmanship baton, Kagame said; “With our full and unqualified support, there is no doubt that he will take our Union forward decisively, to new and greater heights.”
“In Africa, we have high-quality people for any service you want, from any part of our continent. All we need to do is tap into that talent and move forward with Africa’s agenda,” Kagame told the AU reform committee members.
Kagame also thanked the African Union Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahammat and and the Commissioners.
“I would be remiss if I did not particularly single out the comfort, joy, & support that I got from the AUC Chairperson and the Commissioners working together as a team. They are world-class & did everything we needed of them,” Kagame said.
Kagame who doubles as the Chairperson of the African Union made the remarks as he chaired the African Leadership Meeting on Investing in Health held in Addis Ababa ahead the 32nd African Union Summit.
The meeting has brought together African Heads of State and Government, business leaders and global health organisations to launch a new initiative designed to help deliver increased, sustained and more impactful financing for health across Africa.
In his remarks, Kagame said, “Investing in the health of our citizens has already had transformative effects on the people of our continent. But there is much more to do. We will get better results if we work together as a continent.”
“We also have a lot to learn from each other’s experiences implementing programmes such as universal health insurance, and community-based healthcare,” Kagame said.
According to the 2018 WHO Global Health Expenditure Database, only two out of the 55 AU Member States meet Africa’s target of dedicating at least 15% of the government budget to health and do not reach the suggested threshold of US$86.30 per person required to provide a basic package of health services.
Here, Kagame called on the governments to increase domestic investment in healthcare.
“Governments should surely be willing and able to increase domestic investment in healthcare. A good indicator of this is the progress we have made toward securing the financial health of the African Union and mobilising our own resources for joint priorities, such as the Peace Fund. We should be the first ones to contribute to efforts that directly benefit our people,” Kagame said.
“We are entering a period where most of the special health financing vehicles must replenish their resources. This creates the necessity—or rather the opportunity— for Africa to increase its ownership of the process. Together we can set an even more ambitious agenda for the next phase,” he emphasized.
Kagame also called on private companies to invest more in the business of healthcare in Africa.
“The private sector is the key to success. The role goes beyond taxes and philanthropy as central as those are. We also need to see the private sector investing more in the business of healthcare in Africa as service providers,” he said.
Kagame also noted that companies can also ensure their employees have high-quality, private health insurance coverage and this creates more demand in the market, and allows governments to focus on the most vulnerable.
The Mitsubishi branded vehicle was handed to INTERPOL NCB – Nairobi represented by Sgt. Elvis Kiplimo Rutto, on Saturday, 09 February 2019.
The vehicle belonging to Mr. Robert Stephen Jones was declared stolen in June 2014 and it had been bought by two Congolese namely Mupero and Jean Claude from a Kenyan broker James Mweya on February 28, 2014 under the sale contract made in Bukavu, DRC.
Thereafter Balaluka Masonga Benjamin bought it from the duo on March 4, 2014.
“Those who buy vehicles should first know their origins,” said Modeste Mbabazi, Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) Spokesperson, adding that “the Rwanda Investigation Bureau authorities are working with DRC to finally arrest the suspect who stole the vehicle from Kenya.”
RIB said that vehicle theft is a highly organized criminal activity affecting all corners of the globe including the EAPCCO (Eastern Africa Police Chief Cooperation Organisation) region within which Rwanda belongs.
“These operations [to hand intercepted vehicles to countries where they were stolen from] are in line of the mandate of Interpol member countries to combat transnational crimes,” RIB said in a statement.
Of the Rwf1.3 billion stolen from private cooperatives, only Rwf214.000 was recovered while 174 people are under investigation suspected of having a hand in the embezzlement.
The numbers were released by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Soraya Hakuziyaremye as she appeared before Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Livestock Development and Environment on Friday.
The Minister was asked by Honorable Jeanne d’Arc Uwamariya, the strategies the Ministry and organs they partner in cooperatives management has taken to curtail rampant embezzlement witnessed in private cooperatives and government managed Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCos) which result in the loss of public funds.
“All those 174 people were taken to courts of law and are still under investigation. Until today, Rwf240 million were recovered since December last year when the ongoing funds recovery process in SACCOs started. The objective is to have recovered 60% of funds stolen from SACCOs by the end of February this year,” Hakuziyaremye added.