Author: Publisher

{{Twenty Six girls from Gatsibo, Nyagatare and Kayonza districts that excelled in the 2013 Primary and O Level National Examinations have been awarded by Imbuto Foundation.}}

The girls recieved their prizes at a function held at Ntende Rice Cooperative, Rugarama Sector, Gatsibo District on March 30.

The State Minister in charge of mining and geology in the Ministry of Natural Resources Hon. Evode Imena, on behalf of Her excellence the First Lady Mrs. Jeannette Kagame, awarded 26 girls that excelled in their academics including girls from Gatsibo, Nyagatare and Kayonza districts.

The function was opened by a discussion on the hindrances girls face in their education. The discussion was moderated by MP for the Youth Hon. Justine Mukobwa.

One of the discussants, Emmanuel Karimba, a student of Groupe Scholaire Nyagasiga, Gastibo, testified of the “corning connivances” the boys carryout on best girls in class.

He said, “at one time, we were five boys, we jealously connived to corn a girl in order to divide her attention on studies because she was performing better than we (boys) did — and we succeeded”.

Hon. Justine Mukobwa warned the girls who tend to trust their boy friends more than they do to their parents of care takers.

The Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Affairs Gatsibo Isaiah Habarurema advised girls to study with a vision and boys to respect gender.

To him, girl’s inferiority complex is rooted in homes especially irresponsible men who indifferently make women work as “tailoring machines”.

He called upon parents to take an upper hand in teaching gender equality to their children by example.

In his speech, the guest of honor, Hon. State Minister Evode Imena advised the girls to be focused, not to be derailed by minor things like make-ups. He also challenged them to gain the audacity to do science subjects and joining technical schools.

“When you look at the performance of girls in technical schools, you find that girls are only better in secretarial studies and tailoring.” He said, “But if you can purge yourselves off that inferiority complex, you can perform just like boys do”.

One of the awarded students Josiane Tuyishime 14 who got 14 aggregates in her Primary Leaving Examinations at Groupe Scholaire Minini, Rwimbogo Sector, Gatsibo District, in an interview with the reporter, thanked the the First Lady for the Best Performing Girls Campaign initiative.

“I feel I’m going to study better than ever because I’ve been given scholastic material which I never had before”, she said.

The students were awarded each with a school back packs that contained a dictionary, other text books, calculator and other scholastic materials.

The Best Performing Girls Campaign was initiated in 2005 by Imbuto Foundation under the leadership of the First Lady Jeannette Kagame.

The campaign mobilizes Rwandan society to support the girl child education. Since its inception, 3,400 girls have been awarded nation wide and this year more 433 will be awarded.

This year, the campaign was launched on March 1, in Gisagara District. It has run through Gasabo, Nyabihu, now Gatsibo and the next such functions will be held in Karongi and Ngoma districts.

{{The international telecom and media company Millicom, also popularly operating under the brand Tigo, recently announced the creation of a new tech incubator in Kigali, Rwanda, called think.}}

The objective of this incubator, the company notes, is to develop innovative and scalable businesses in which Millicom will ultimately take an equity stake. The so-called think incubator will seek out high-potential entrepreneurs for which it will provide seed financing, structured training and coaching programmes.

Commenting on the launch, Rwanda’s Minister for ICT, Hans-Holger Albrecht, said, “Rwanda is a great place to do business. We know it has some extraordinary local talent whose skills and ingenuity we want to support. We are looking forward to driving the digital revolution with talented youth in all our Tigo operations in Africa.”

Moreover, selected entrepreneurs will also have access to Tigo’s technical resources for product testing and trials and support in accessing outside investors and customers. This would be a massive gain for any entrepreneur as Tigo has potential access to over 50-million current customers.

Hailing from Sweden, Milicom is dedicated to providing and promoting digital lifestyle services in Latin America and Africa with a general focus on mobile technology.

The company have been active across more than 15 countries around the world and has last year generated revenue of US$5.16-billion.

Rwanda is increasingly establishing itself as a leading ICT player on the continent. The World Bank suggests that foreign direct investments into Rwanda jumped almost 15-fold between 2005 and 2009, from US$8-million to US$118.7-million.

One popular example of the country’s advancement was the launch of the world’s first cross-border mobile money transfer service. This service has integrated currency conversion as well as Wi-Fi and mobile payment support on local bus services in Kigali.

{{Ni Nyampinga radio recently celebrated its 100th episode.

The team behind this journey says ; “it has not been easy, but it has been worth it because this is our passion: working with teenage girls really inspires, motivates, and mentally empowers us.”}}

The opportunity to produce content for girls, by girls excites and challenges us. My colleagues and I discussed the challenges and joys of producing the Ni Nyampinga radio show.

As journalists, challenges we face include trips to the field and not finding content to record, interview subjects cancel appointments, long working hours, and finding interview subjects that are willing to speak to us.

The journalists note that, “Along with these challenges, however, come great opportunities and experiences. We have the chance to travel all over Rwanda and meet girls from different parts of the country”.

“We are now confident enough to consider ourselves advocates for girls, to participate in high-level conferences at national and international levels, and to meet and interview important people from all over the world. Most importantly, we are proud to be the voice of Rwandan teenage girls.”

Sarah Duhimbaze says, “ my most exciting experience so far is when I travelled to New York last year as a Ni Nyampinga Brand Representative to the Commission of the Status of Women event. It was a great opportunity to add our voices to international dialogue and to make sure Rwandan girls were represented.

When other young girls see me as their voice it really inspires me because I now know that I am valuable in my society because I fully contribute to empowering other girls.”

Congratulations to my co-journalists on 100 episodes of Ni Nyampinga radio!

{{Members of Rwanda Patriotic Front Political party at Kinyinya Sector in Gasabo District have fundraised to build a Genocide memorial center and a commercial building for lonely widows who survived the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.}}

The decision to fundraise was reached at during the party’s General Meeting on 30th March 2014.

“Construction activities of the Genocide Memorial Center in Kinyinya have already started and the Center will accomodate the names of Tutsi vitims that were killed from Kinyinya Sector.

Formerly this area was made of two cells namely Murama and Gasharu.” said Mutsindashyaka André, Chairman of RPF in Murama Cell stating that the funds for construction will come from the contribution from RPF supporters and friends of residents of Kinyinya.

The memorial is expected to cost about Frw26 million.

RPF members are also committed to providing valuable assistance to Genocide Survivors with the construction of a commercial building worth 50 million Rwandan francs.

{{Sixteen Police officers, on April 1, left for a one year peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast and Haiti.}}

Fourteen of them will serve under the United Nations Operation in Ivory Cost (UNOCI).

The officers will serve as mentors and advisers to local Police in the two countries.

During a pre-deployment briefing at the Rwanda National Police headquarters in Kacyiru, yesterday, the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Emmanuel K.Gasana, appealed to the officers to uphold discipline and the force and Rwandan values.

He also asked them to respect their superiors and be professional in their duties.

“You are going there to represent your country, so keep the flag high and protect the image of the force and the country in general by executing your tasks professionally,” the IGP told the officers.

He challenged them not only to share RNP’s experience but also learn from this multinational environment.

The officers brings the number of Rwanda Police peacekeepers in this Ivory Coast to 40. The West African contingent is led by Chief Sup. Gérard Ntare.

The UNOCI Police component is also led by a Rwandan, Commissioner of Police (CP) Vianney Nshimiyimana.

Rwanda National Police (RNP), maintains over 500 Police officers in eight peacekeeping missions.

The missions are Haiti, Darfur, South Sudan, Abyei, Liberia, Mali, Guinea Bissau and Ivory Coast.

{{The Government of Rwanda and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) co-hosted a conference on March 31, 2014 in Kigali to discuss the new Policy Support Instrument (PSI) that was approved in December 2013.}}

PSI is a non-financial program for policy dialogue and technical assistance whose objectives includes among others maintaining macroeconomic stability, rapid inclusive growth while gradually reducing Rwanda’s aid dependency.

These objectives are set around four pillars which include private sector development, export promotion, domestic resource mobilization and financial sector development.

Under the previous PSI, Rwanda’s economic growth has been impressive which is largely attributed to sustainably pursuing prudent macro-economic policies, while creating conducive business environment.

The new PSI is a three year program which has been aligned to the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2). Implementation of the reforms agreed within the context of the new PSI is expected to underpin the transition toward private sector-led growth.

These reforms include the government’s objectives of enhancing revenue mobilization by broadening tax bases, removing exemptions, and improving tax administration.

Other reforms include strengthening public financial management, improving the effectiveness of monetary policy, increasing financial access, diversifying exports, and prioritizing the public investment program, while pursuing a prudent debt management strategy.

“Government has taken a more balanced approach to not only attract foreign direct investments but also increase domestic revenues,” said Kampeta Sayinzoga, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

“Rwanda has undertaken far-reaching economic and structural reforms over the years. “Under the new PSI, Government priorities aimed at maintaining macroeconomic stability and sustaining the inclusive growth have been addressed,” said Paulo Drummond, the IMF mission chief for Rwanda

The event brought together participants from government, the private sector, civil society, and the development community with the goal of broadening the dialogue on the vision of Rwanda’s future.

{Mpore Sylvere 31, Arrested in Gatsibo seeking employment}

{{The man who brutally cut off the neck of a teenage girl (Simbi Shalom bitaga Bella) has been arrested in Gatsibo district specifically at Kabarole cell, Kabarole I.}}

Mpore Sylvere was arrested from the home of Nkunda Steven 62, a Gatsibo resident where the suspected murder had gone to seek employment as a house keeper .

Mr. Nkunda told media that Mpore arrived at his home on March 28 requesting to be given a place to stay and also employment as a house keeper.

The Curious Nkunda said he alerted authorities after he found from IGIHE website on his smart phone that Mpore his guest/ new employee was a wanted person whose photo had been published on IGIHE website.

{{Also read related story}}: {http://en.igihe.com/news/photo-of-murderer-of-teenage-girl-bella.html}

{Mpore handcuffed after his Arrest in Gatsibo district}

{Bella in her hey days as a pupil}

{Bellas Father gives an emotional speech at his daugthers funeral}

{Casket carrying Bella’s body}