IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • Tanzania:Magistrate in court over bribe

    {A magistrate with Kyaka Primary Court in Misenyi District, Nelson Bagenda (29), yesterday morning appeared before the Bukoba Resident Magistrate’s Court for allegedly soliciting for a 20,000/- bribe.}

    A prosecutor from the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Fortunatus Mpangamila, alleged before Resident Magistrate Aloys Katemana, that on November 30, 2015 the accused (Bagenda), together with second accused, Dezideri Benedict (46), a Court Assessor at Kyaka, jointly solicited for 20,000/- bribe.

    According to Mpangamila, the accused demanded and received 20,000/- from the two accused persons, who had a pending criminal case to allow them get bail. Testifying in court, Flavian Kowero, who is a Senior Official from PCCB, told the court that the matter was reported by Herman Karemire and they (PCCB) laid a trap and arrested Bagenda and Benedict.

    Both the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and were released on a 2m/- bail with two sureties. The Criminal Case No RM CC 13/2017 was adjourned until April 18, this year, for further hearing.

    Meanwhile, Jovitha Edward (25), from Kashai Ward in Bukoba Municipality appeared before Resident Magistrate Joanitha Rwehabura, facing a charge of using abusive language to induce another male to commit sodomy.

    Prosecuting, State Attorney Emmanuel Mavere, alleged before the court that the accused committed the offence between February 27 and March 31, this year, at the Bukoba Bus Stand.

    The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and he was released on 700,000/- bail with two sureties. Preliminary hearing is expected to start on April 13, this year

    Source:Daily News

  • Rights groups allied to Burundi Government: “No more need for EAC facilitation”

    {PISC Burundi and CAPES+ groups claim they base their conclusion on remarkable social, political and economic improvements that have already been achieved.}

    Two collectives of rights groups say inter-Burundian dialogue facilitated by EAC is no more necessary. Hamza Vénant Burikukiye and Jean Marie Nduwimana, respective legal representatives of PISC-Burundi and CAPES+, told a press conference on Tuesday that issues that called for the EAC facilitation had been resolved. For that, “there is no more need for inter-Burundian dialogue in Arusha”.

    They said the East African Community’s “effort should rather be focused on helping Burundi in bringing refugees back home and preparing the 2020 elections”.

    They also opposed the “meddling” of EAC in internal affairs of Burundi as far as amnesty for politicians wanted by the Burundi justice is concerned. “Let the question of amnesty or pardon be left to the Burundi people and to the country’s institutions in the strict respect of our independence and sovereignty”, they said.

    It was in an apparent reaction to a recent request by Benjamin W. Mkapa, the EAC Facilitator in inter-Burundian dialogue, to President Nkurunziza asking him to offer amnesty to coup plotters of 2015 and allow them to take part in dialogue to end the crisis.

    Jean Claude Karerwa Ndenzako, the President’s spokesman, said the Facilitator had asked for what Nkurunziza was not allowed to do by any law. “What the Facilitator requested is against national and international law”, he said. He explained that the President of Burundi is only allowed to pardon criminals who have been convicted of crimes. The President “would be charged with high treason” if he pardoned people who are still wanted by justice.

    He further said even the UN does not allow people who have committed such crimes as attempting to overthrow institutions to participate in dialogue. The UN says such criminals should rather be brought to justice.

    This new development escalates the divergence between the Facilitator, the Government of Burundi and its allied political parties and civil society organisations on the treatment of coup plotters.

    The government opposition to the invitation of politicians wanted by the Burundi justice resulted in the government pulling out of the fourth round of inter-Burundian dialogue convened by the Facilitator between 16 and 19 February in Arusha.

    During the dialogue session, Bujumbura asked in vain the government of Tanzania to arrest the politicians under arrest warrant.

    The ruling party and CSOs allied to the government have insisted that politicians and other wanted rights activists be brought back to Burundi to face justice. They said criminals had no ideas to build the country.

    The CSOs opposed the idea of giving immunity to those politicians because their protection would require the deployment of foreign armed forces to Burundi, an idea they and the government have always rejected adamantly.

    From left to right: Venant Hamza Burikukiye and Jean Marie Nduwimana, respective legal representatives of CAPES+ and PISC-Burundi.

    Source:IWACU

  • Uganda will not pay $10b to DRC, says Rukutana

    {It’s over a decade since the International Court of Justice slapped Uganda with a $10b bill for allegedly pillaging eastern DRC and committing crimes against humanity during the protracted insurgency in the late 1990s.}

    In 1999, then DRC president Laurent-Desire Kabila sued Uganda at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) sitting at The Hague, Netherlands.

    However, deputy attorney general, Mwesigwa Rukutana earlier today told lawmakers sitting on the legal and parliamentary affairs committee that Uganda is unlikely to pay the hefty bill.

    “This matter is still being contested and it’s really unlikely that we can pay that sort of money to DRC,” Rukutana said.

    Rukutana was part of government technocrats and top brass from ministry of justice led by justice and constitutional affairs minister, Kahinda Otafiire, meeting legislators over the ministry’s budget estimates for the next financial year.

    Rukutana was responding to queries by MPs Sam Bitangaro and shadow attorney general, Wilfred Niwagaba over government’s reluctance to settle the issue with DRC.

    In 2014, then attorney general, Peter Nyombi, led a delegation of government technocrats to South Africa which met DRC officials over the $10b bill.

    Uganda had been part of several countries that had supported Kabila’s three-year uprising that saw his forces overthrow president Mobutu Sese Seko’s government in 1997.

    However, after a fall-out between Kampala and Kinshasa, Kabila sued Uganda and the ICJ in 2005 granted its request of a $10b fine. Uganda insists the UPDF were deployed in the Congo to protect national security.

    Minister for Justice Kahinda Otafiire(R) and deputy attorney general, Mwesigwa Rukutana appearing before the legal and parliamentary affairs committee on April 11, 2017. Photo by Maria Wamala

    Source:The New Vision

  • Rwandans in China commemorate

    {As Rwandans in the country and around the world are commemorating the genocide against Tutsi, Rwandan students studying in universities located in the city of Shenyang met to commemorate the Genocide against Tutsi. }

    Shenyang is located in North east China, in the Province of Liaoning. The official ceremony took place at Rwandan Embassy in Beijing, but the embassy encouraged Rwandans in other cities to organize commemorations. The event started with the mass that took place at Shenyang Catholic Church, with prayers.

    After church, other ceremonies took place at Kazhihui center hall, where 40 Rwandan students met and Ishimwe Prince a master’s student in Computer Sciences explained the Rwandan history.

    He urged students to learn from the sad history to fight genocide ideology and build on the progress so far realized under the visionary leadership of HE President Paul Kagame.

    Alain Patrick MUTABAZI, medical student and the president of Shenyang Diaspora lit a candle of Hope and urged students present to be the light of hope to their classmates from other nations.

    Rwandan students in China lighting the flame of hope.
    Alain Patrick Mutabazi, medical student and the president of Shenyang Diaspora.

  • Fresh fruit consumption linked to lower risk of diabetes and diabetic complications

    {In a research article published in PLOS Medicine, Huaidong Du of the University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom and colleagues report that greater consumption of fresh fruit was associated with a lower incidence of diabetes, as well as reduced occurrence of complications in people with diabetes, in a Chinese population.}

    Although the health benefits of diets including fresh fruit and vegetables are well established, the sugar content of fruit has led to uncertainty about associated risks of diabetes and of vascular complications of the disease. Du and colleagues studied nearly 500,000 people participating in the China Kadoorie Biobank over about 7 years of follow-up, documenting new cases of diabetes and recording the occurrence of vascular disease and death in people with pre-existing diabetes.

    The researchers found that people who reported elevated consumption of fresh fruit had a lower associated risk of developing diabetes in comparison with other participants (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.88, 95% CI 0.83-0.93), which corresponds to an estimated 0.2% reduction in the absolute risk of diabetes over 5 years. In people with diabetes, higher consumption of fresh fruit was associated with a lower risk of mortality (aHR 0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.93 per 100g fruit/d), corresponding to an absolute decrease in risk of 1.9% at 5 years, and with lower risks of microvascular and macrovascular complications.

    In addition to the health benefits of consuming fresh fruit, Du and colleagues emphasize the value of their findings for Asian populations where fruit consumption is commonly restricted in people with diabetes. The main limitation of this observational study is that the effects of fruit consumption can be difficult to distinguish from those of participants’ other dietary and behavioural characteristics.

    Source:Science Daily

  • Suspected cattle thieves arrested in Kayonza

    {Police in Kayonza are holding four men suspected of stealing and slaughtering a cow belonging to one Alphonsine Mutuyinka.}

    According to the Eastern Region Police Spokesperson, Inspector of Police (IP) Emmanuel Kayigi, the four suspects, currently held at Rukara Police station, include Pierre Mujyambere and Jacque Nsekanabanga, who allegedly stole the cow from the kraal on April 10, at about 2am.

    “They were later joined by one Jean Bosco Havugimana, who provided tools used to slaughter the cow, and they took the meat at one Modeste Rugwiza to sell it.

    Both Havugimana and Rugwiza were also arrested.

    “As Rugwiza kept looking for buyers, one resident got suspicious and called the police. We arrived at Rugwiza’s home and indeed found the meat. Rugwiza admitted he had got it from the other three men. The four suspects are in custody as we investigate the case,” said IP Kayigi.

    “We are grateful to the resident that got suspicious and called the police. We urge everyone to emulate this; whenever you are suspicious of something, always call the police to authenticate your suspicions… it’s the only way we will keep our societies safe and arrest criminals,” he added.

    The spokesperson emphasized that, despite the fact that the suspects will be charged of several offenses including theft, the manner in which they kept the meat was equally illegal.

    IP Kayigi reminded residents to always avoid buying meat that is not well preserve and from a licensed person and hygienic places.

    The suspects risk a jail sentence of up to two years if found guilty as stipulated by article 300 of the penal code.

    The article states that, “Any person who commits theft without violence or threat shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine of two to five times the value of the stolen property or one of these penalties.”

    Source:Police

  • The first live-attenuated vaccine candidate completely protects against Zika infection

    {One shot with 10 live-attenuated vaccine particles triggered full immune response and completely prevented mice from Zika virus infection}

    The first live-attenuated Zika vaccine still in the development stage completely protected mice against the virus after a single vaccination dose, according to new research from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Instituto Evandro Chagas at the Ministry of Health in Brazil. The findings are currently available in Nature Medicine.

    While a Zika infection typically results in mild or symptom-free infections in healthy adults and children, the risk of microcephaly and other diseases in the developing fetus is an alarming consequence that has created a worldwide health threat. Pregnant women who are infected with the Zika virus but never display any disease symptoms may still give birth to a baby with microcephaly.

    An effective vaccine is urgently needed for women of childbearing age and travelers to areas where the virus has been reported. Since Zika virus could also be sexually transmitted, prevention of men from infection through vaccination could also halt Zika transmission and diseases.

    Rapid and promising progress has been made toward a Zika vaccine. These developing vaccines have been made from an inactivated version of the Zika virus or subunits of the virus; these vaccine candidates have been shown effective in mice and nonhuman primates.

    “We chose to pursue a vaccine made from live virus that has been sufficiently attenuated, or weakened, to be safe, and is able to illicit robust immune response to protect us from Zika virus infection. Such live-attenuated vaccine has the advantage of single-dose immunization, rapid and strong immune response and potentially long-lived protection,” said UTMB’s Pei-Yong Shi, senior author and the I.H. Kempner professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. “A successful vaccine requires a fine balance between efficacy and safety — vaccines made from attenuated live viruses generally offer fast and durable immunity, but sometimes with the trade-off of reduced safety, whereas inactivated and subunit viruses often provide enhanced safety but may require several doses initially and periodic boosters. Therefore, a safe live-attenuated vaccine will be ideal in prevention of Zika virus infection, especially in developing countries.”

    To create the vaccine, the researchers engineered the Zika virus by deleting one segment of the viral genome. A similar approach has successfully been used to develop a dengue virus vaccine, which is currently in phase three clinical trials.

    Shi explained that the data indicate that the vaccine the team is developing has a good balance between safety and efficacy. A single immunization with the vaccine candidate produced strong immune responses and prevented the virus from infecting mice at all.

    “Safety is a major hurdle when developing a live-attenuated vaccine. Our Zika vaccine showed promising safety profile in mice when compared with clinically approved live-attenuated vaccines, such as the yellow fever vaccine,” Shi said.

    “Vaccines are an important tool for preventing Zika virus transmission and microcephaly,” said Pedro F. C. Vasconcelos, medical virologist and present director of the Evandro Chagas Institute and co-author. “This vaccine, the first live-attenuated vaccine for Zika, will improve the public health efforts to avoid the birth defects and diseases caused by Zika in countries where the virus is commonly found. The initial target of this vaccine is women of childbearing age, their sexual partners and children less than 10 years old.

    Rapid and promising progress has been made toward a Zika vaccine.

    Source:Science Daily

  • Police calls for ‘extra care’ mining during rainy season

    {Rwanda National Police (RNP) is calling upon mining communities to take extra caution and desist from carrying out mining activities unprofessionally in order to avoid likely disasters, especially in this rainy season.}

    The call follows an incident in Kayenzi Sector of Kamonyi district where one Christine Mujawamariya was buried by landslide after a cliff at a cassiterite mining site curved in.

    The incident happened on April 10.

    She succumbed to injuries caused by the accident as she was being rushed to Remera Rukoma hospital.

    The deceased was an employee of GIMI Ltd (Gisizi Mining Limited) a mining company that owns the concession.

    Speaking after the incident, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Andre Hakizimana, the police spokesperson for Southern Province, called upon miners to use all necessary care to protect their employees against such catastrophes.

    “During such a period of rainy season, it is perceived that the soils get weak; this applies to mining concessions where cliffs get weak as well, and this requires extra vigilance to ensure that such disasters don’t happen, including suspending mining activities where it deems necessary,” said CIP Hakizimana.

    He said mining goes beyond getting permission but taking all necessary steps to protect the lives of the employees as well as protecting the site against any likely illegal mining activities from non-employees, which can also result into loss of lives.

    “It does not simply mean securing a license and other required documents or buying protective gears; there’s also a need to train the miners and equip them with skills to help them understand the terrain of the site they are working in, emergency and rescue procedures,” he noted.

    Source:Police

  • 6 kinds of friends that will take you backward in life

    {As you get past your teenage age and your early twenties, your friendships should begin to have value and a meaning, unlike your younger days when friendship was mostly for the fun of it.}

    As you grow older, your friends should be people who will take you forward in life and not backward; just as you ought to make your friend a better person, your friend also should urge you to be better.

    Any friendship that doesn’t take you forward will take you backwards.

    These are those kinds of friendship you should avoid:

    {{1. The friends who lead you to make bad choices}}

    When you reach adulthood and you still keep friends with people who will lead you to make bad choices, then you’ll definitely make bad choices. How far can you go when you keep making bad choices in life?

    {{2. The friends who make you feel empty }}

    Friends who make you feel bad about yourself, who make you feel less of a person and who are in competition with you aren’t truly your friends, and such friendships will bring you down.

    {{3. The friends that don’t take care about tomorrow }}

    Friends who don’t care about the future, who don’t make plans for the future and who are only interested in the short-term could negatively influence you with their short-term approach to life. While it’s good to live life one day at a time, not having plans for the future, dreams and vision is another thing entirely.

    {{4. The friends who never grow up }}

    There are friends who never grow up; they still think and act like kids and never really try to take control of their life and what’s happening around them. Friends like this can have a negative impact on you if you aren’t careful.

    {{5. The friends who always bring negative energy }}

    There are those friends who never think positively; they are always negative minded and will never see the positive side of anything. Friends like these might influence you with their negative energy, and negativity is a sure path to failure.

    {{6. Friends who aren’t ready to change }}

    Bad communication they say corrupt good manners, and being friends with someone who is unrepentantly lazy, clueless and carries around so many baggage might just influence you in the long run. A friend who isn’t ready to change will be intent on bringing you down to his/her own level – and remember that misery always needs company.

    Friends can take you far in life and friends can take you even more than two steps backwards; it’s all about the choices you make.

    Source:Elcrema

  • UN ‘peace keepers’ abandoning of Tutsi was cowardice, inhuman

    {The Speaker of Parliament, Mukabalisa Donatille has scoffed at the cowardice demonstrated by United Nations ‘peace keepers’ that left the country as Tutsi were being massacred during the 1994 genocide saying it left a great lesson to Rwandans of seeking own solutions other than relying on the external world. }

    He made the notice yesterday during the remembrance of Tutsi killed in Nyanza of Kicukiro after UN soldiers (MINUAR) abandoned them.

    Tutsi that had fled to Eto Kicukiro were attacked by Interahamwe which gathered them in Nyanza of Kicukiro, shot them while others were killed by big sticks and machetes.

    Mukabalisa said such killings could not happen had UN soldiers accomplished their mission.

    “They were killed after UN soldiers sent to maintain peace in Rwanda returned home leaving Tutsi in jaws of fierce killers. They lacked humanity to protect the victims,” she said.

    “They knew early preparations of such killings but never counteracted genocide but rather left as people were slaughtered. Such incidents create strength to seek own solutions from our culture, self-dignity and self-reliance,” she added.

    Rwizigirangabo Irene, a genocide survivor who narrated survival circumstances testified that Tutsi in the region were killed by Interahamwe the same day MINUAR abandoned them.

    “We recall how United Nations soldiers abandoned Tutsi yet they had come to Rwanda on a peacekeeping mission. I question such peace preservation because they really knew what is taking place before their arrival,” said Mukabalisa.

    “They received daily reports. We and friends would repeatedly report what happened at the time. It is clear that those who considered themselves powerful could not react because they were behind preparation of genocide and sponsoring its execution,” she added.

    Mukabalisa lauded bravery of RPF-Inkotanyi soldiers for stopping genocide.

    The memorial at Nyanza in Kicukiro accommodates over 11,000 remains of Tutsi killed in Nyanza taken from Eto Kicukiro, Gahanga, Gatenga, Kagarama and Niboyi among others.

    The Speaker of Parliament, Mukabalisa Donatille lighting the flame of hope yesterday as victims of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi were commemorated in Kicukiro.
    The Speaker of Parliament, Mukabalisa Donatille laying wreaths at Nyanza memorial.