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Rwanda prepares this year’s National Heroes’ Day

{The recent council of Ministers held on Friday 17th January 2014 was briefed on preparations for the National Heroes’ Day celebrated in Rwanda on February 1 of each year.}

This year’s National Heroes Day is organized under the theme “The Rwandan spirit, pillar of heroism”.

Ad hoc ceremonies will take place at the village level (imidugudugu). The Cabinet calls on all Rwandans to actively participate and honor the Rwandan heroes who gave their lives for their countrymen.

On this occasion, the dignitaries of the country will lay wreaths of flowers at the Heroes’ Square located in Remera, where are buried many heroes. These include the Major General Fred Gisa Rwigema pioneer of the war of liberation; students of Nyange who bravely sacrificed their lives rather than accept to separate according to their ethnicity. Also the Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana murdered in 1994 in the early hours of the genocide, King Rudahigwa which abolished all forms of slavery and advocated the unity and independence of Rwanda and the Unknown Soldier which represents all the soldiers who fell during the liberation struggle. The heroes and heroines of Rwanda are classified into the following three categories: “Imanzi “supreme hero known as exceptional and unprecedented achievements, “Imena” which are known to the sacrifice they made for their country and “INGENZI” which are recognized for their exemplary actions.

{{angedelavictoire@igihe.com}}

January 19, 2014
Museveni says he is old but my brain is fresh

{Kampala- President Museveni has said although he is old, he still has fresh ideas to lead the country.}

“They say I am old and that I should bring on fresh ideas. These are my new ideas and if there is a fifth one that can be added on the four sectors [agriculture, service, industry and ICT], then somebody should tell me, unless one is talking about working for public sector — government!” Mr Museveni said at the launch of the Finance Trust Bank in Kampala on Friday.

He said he has regularly been reminded about his old age but he was adamant that he is still relevant and vibrant.

He said he cannot adopt fresh ideas before achieving the set targets for the old ones.

“I am opposed to some new ideas because the old ones have not been implemented yet. Let’s first implement the old ones and move on to new one,” President Museveni told an audience of bankers, businessmen, government representatives and technocrats.
According to the President, his relevance is demonstrated by how the country’s economy has been turned around or reshaped.
Recently, the President said he was born in 1944 at Mbarara Hospital, which means he will be turning 70 years this year.

The contradiction
However, the president has sometimes contradicted himself, saying he was not sure of when he was born.

His critics say he is stuck with old ideas as the world continues to move at a much faster pace.

President Museveni listed agriculture, service, industry and ICT sectors as some of his ideas that could turn around Uganda’s fortunes.
“In agriculture money can be made by shifting to commercial farming. And there are also opportunities in the services sector, industry, especially the small scale ones, and ICT,” he said.

However, there have been complaints of how the government has failed to assist the growth of some of the sectors listed above.
For instance, agriculture that employs more than 70 per cent of the population receives less than 10 per cent of the country’s budget . Uganda’s 2013/14 budget stood at about Shs13 trillion.

Dressed in military uniform, the President cautioned the management of the Finance Trust Bank against risks that come with expansion and upgrading to a commercial bank status, which the Central Bank granted them after working for years as a MicroFinance deposit taking institution.

The Bank of Uganda Governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, said the bank was granted a licence to operate as a commercial bank after satisfying the requirements, including minimum required capital of not less than Shs25 billion.
“I have faith that you will do a good job but I must remind you to strengthen your supervision to safeguard your customers and shareholders from unnecessary risk,” Mutebile advised the bank’s management.

During her speech, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Annet Nakawunde Mulindwa, said although the bank’s focus is on women, it would also serve the youth and other sections of the population.

The board chairperson and Minister of Energy, Irene Muloni, assured the public that the bank would professionally conduct its duties and provide affordable credit without compromising the rules or exposing customers to unnecessary risks.

THE DEBATE ON MUSEVENI’S AGE

President Museveni’s revelation recently, that he was born at Mbarara Hospital in 1944 stirred public interest that the country was closer than ever before to knowing the actual age of its leader who has been in power for 27 years. The President’s exact age remains a mystery because he has previously professed not to have known his birth date.

In the opening paragraph of his autobiography titled, Sowing the Mustard Seed, published in 1997, Mr Museveni notes that his parents were illiterate and could only approximate timelines based on historical events.

Accounts offered in the book indicated his probable year of birth was “about” 1944. “I use the word ‘about’ because my parents were illiterate and so did not know the date. In such circumstances, dates were associated with events,” Mr Museveni wrote. “In my case, my parents had two events for dating the approximate time of my birth.

Daily Nation

January 19, 2014
BBC World TV’s Komla Dumor dies at 41

{Ghana-born Dumor was a presenter for BBC World News and its Focus on Africa programme.}

One of Ghana’s best-known journalists, he joined the BBC as a radio broadcaster in 2007 after a decade of journalism in Ghana.

BBC Global News Director Peter Horrocks called Dumor a leading light of African journalism who would be deeply missed.

“Komla’s many friends and colleagues across Africa and the world will be as devastated as we are by this shocking news,” Mr Horrocks said in a statement.

“The sympathies of all his colleagues at the BBC are with his family and friends.”‘Sadness and gratitude’Komla Dumor was born on 3 October 1972 in Accra, Ghana.He graduated with a BA in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Ghana, and a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.

After a decade of broadcast journalism in his native country, where he won the Ghana Journalist of the Year award in 2003, he joined the BBC in 2007.

From then until 2009 he hosted Network Africa for BBC World Service radio, before joining The World Today programme.In 2009 Komla Dumor became the first host of Africa Business Report on BBC World News

He travelled across Africa, meeting the continent’s top entrepreneurs and reporting on the latest business trends around the continent.He interviewed a number of high-profile guests including Bill Gates, Kofi Annan and Paul Kagame.

{standardmedia.co.ke
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January 19, 2014
Ban, UNSC strongly condemn “horrific” attack on Kabul restaurant

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council late Friday “condemned in the strongest terms the horrific attack” on a Lebanese restaurant in the Afghan capital Kabul earlier in the day.

The attack killed at least 16 Afghan and foreign nationals, including four UN civilian staff, and injured scores more.

Such targeted attacks, later claimed by the Taliban, are “completely unacceptable” and are in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law. “They must stop immediately,” the UN press office said in a statement. Ban’s statement was echoed by the Security Council whose members also “condemned in the strongest terms” the Kabul terrorist attack.

The Council stressed that “no terrorist act can reverse the path towards Afghan-led peace, democracy and stability in Afghanistan, which is supported by the people and the Government of Afghanistan and the international community.

” The Council reiterated its steadfast support for the role of the United Nations and United Nations-affiliated organizations in Afghanistan, and reiterated its “serious concern” at the threats posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and illegal armed groups to the local population, national security forces, and international military and international assistance efforts in Afghanistan.

The Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these “reprehensible” acts of terrorism to justice, and urged all States to cooperate actively with the Afghan authorities in this regard.

It once again reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is “criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of its motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed, and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.” The Council also reaffirmed the need and reiterated its determination to combat the scourge by all means.

KUNA

January 19, 2014
Rwanda asks for U.N. report on Congo to be dismissed

{Rwanda asked a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on Friday to dismiss a report that says the defeated M23 rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo are still recruiting fighters in Rwanda and Congolese troops are involved in rights abuses.}

The confidential report by independent experts, seen by Reuters last month, also said it had “credible information that sanctioned M23 leaders are moving freely in Uganda and that M23 continued to recruit in Rwanda.”

The experts monitor U.N. sanctions on Congo and report on violations to a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee, which is made up of all 15 council members. The committee was meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss the experts’ report.

“Considering the many flaws indicated in this document, the U.N. Sanctions Committee should consider dismissing the Group of Experts’ final report,” Rwanda said in a seven-page document submitted to the committee, which was obtained by Reuters.

Rwanda, which just started its second year of a two-year term on the Security Council, said the allegations against it in the report “have no relevance in the current circumstances,” and could undermine regional efforts to bring peace to the volatile, resource-rich eastern Congo.

“The Sanctions Committee should thus consider removing these allegations against Rwanda in the final report,” it said.

The U.N. experts have repeatedly accused neighboring Rwanda of backing the 20-month rebellion by M23 in eastern Congo, a claim the Rwandan government has fiercely rejected. The U.N. Security Council has blacklisted M23.

Congolese troops and the U.N. peacekeeping mission – which includes a unique Intervention Brigade mandated to eliminate armed groups – defeated M23 in November and the group signed a peace deal with the Congo government last month.

But Martin Kobler, the top U.N. official in the Democratic Republic of Congo, warned on Monday that there were “credible reports of emerging M23 activities in Ituri in northeastern Congo.”

M23 is one of dozens of rebel groups in eastern Congo. Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger in the region since the 1990s as armed groups have fought for control of the area’s vast deposits of gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and uranium.

‘BLAME RWANDA’

In the document given to the committee, Rwanda said: “A clear pattern has been established whereby the Group of Experts seeks to entrench a ‘blame Rwanda’ narrative by endorsing any account that incriminates the government of Rwanda and dismissing those that exculpate or vindicate it.”

“It should be made clear that the use of a U.N.-sanctioned mechanism to launch deliberate attacks against a U.N. member state through grave but unsubstantiated and damaging accusations without any credible evidence to back them are unacceptable,” it said.

Uganda also wrote to the Security Council committee to deny accusations in the report that sanctioned M23 leaders were moving freely within Uganda and that most of the gold produced in Congo was traded in Uganda.

“It is difficult to understand why the group (of experts) came up with falsehoods and misconceived conclusions against Uganda in this way,” Uganda’s minister of state for international affairs, Okello Henry Oryem, wrote in a letter to the committee, also obtained by Reuters.

“The report in our view is obstructive in the ongoing efforts … in bringing peace and stability to Democratic Republic of Congo,” Oryem wrote.

Rwanda and Uganda both argued that they had cooperated with the U.N. experts and that information they had provided to the group had been ignored.

World Bulletin

January 19, 2014
Teta Diana releases song “Canga ikarita”

{Rwandan Musician and TPF5 star Diana Teta, who sings both traditional and mainstream music is set to release her new song « Canga ikakarita »(which means looking for money) today.
}

At the age of 21, she is ruling the airwaves with hit singles, performing with big names in traditional music, acting in theater and writing songs.

Diana Teta is currently the female behind the hit song “Fata Fata” and the only female in Gakondo Music group.

Téta commonly records as a solo artist, and mainstreams music such as reggae, RnB and jazz.

However, when she is in her Gakondo Music group she does traditional music.

Gakondo group is composed of big names popular in the Rwandan music industry like Masamba intore, Jules sentore, Daniel Ngarukiye, Michel Ngabo and others.

She started recording in 2009 after coming in the top three in a singing competition that was conducted by à German group.

After that she was offered a recording opportunity whereby she managed to record two songs.

Although she didn’t put much effort into promoting the songs because she wanted to go for Tusker Project Fame 5.

In 2012, she tried TPF but was eliminated in the first round but on her way back she thought about joining the music industry.

After some serious thought, she made a decision to join the music industry and It’s been a year since she started doing music professionally.

According to Téta, her plans for the year 2014 is working hard on, audios and vidéos although her video “Undi munsi” project is still on as it was ranked the best among others yesterday at magic F.M.

January 19, 2014
Rwanda stock exchange Market report for Friday 17th January, 2014

{Today on RSE, the market activity was lower compared to the previous trading session. The total turnover for the day was Rwf 32,812,800 from BoK counter which recorded 3 transactions of 133,500 shares traded between Rwf 245-250 and Bralirwa counter was quiet.}

Both BoK and Bralirwa share price remained unchanged from yesterday’s closing prices of Rwf 250 and Rwf 840 respectively. KCB shares last transacted at Rwf 185 while NMG and Uchumi Supermarket shares last transacted at Rwf 1,200 and Rwf 175 respectively.

January 17, 2014
Being a young, independent entrepreneur in Kigali.

{As a young adult who returned from Canada to Rwanda in 2011, I was worried as to how I was exactly going to make a living at home, especially since it really was not in my plans to stay here after the summer vacations. One of the first thing I noticed while here was that there were a lot of young adults, 20 to 30 years old, already owning or starting their own businesses. Sure this is not a general statement, the great majority cannot afford to start their own business and work and grind from 9 to 5. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that and we must all do what we can.
}

When I landed in Kigali, one of the first things I did, even though I had a degree in International Studies from the University of Toronto, was to sign up for school again but this time in Mass Media and Communication. As my primary interest I figured if I wanted to really embed myself in Rwandan life was to get accustomed to the demands of the local society and school is often the gateway to that. Meeting people who have been working here for years, I managed to find some with similar interests and associate myself with them.

Personally, I wanted to get involved with the entertainment business and it brought me great pleasure to see the youth working radio presenters, concert organizers and fashion designers. Having mentors help me navigate the way people do business here has helped me a lot but I know the majority did not have the connections I had and I’m glad to see the progress that is taking place.

Many of the diaspora acquaintances I happen to know who have returned from abroad are trying to bring their ideas, skills and expertize to life directly from their hard work. The private sector still plays a very small role in the overall economy and these SMEs are mostly learning through trial and error. They aren’t completely stranded though; PSF, RDB and schools like Cambridge University, amongst others, are doing a lot to help.

The Private Sector Federation of Rwanda had established a five-year strategic plan back in 2007 to generate baseline data to help develop comprehensive capacity building plan for its SMEs members. Their focus was and still is to provide the most basic of information and tools in order to accomplish simple tasks such as keeping accounting records, develop marketing skills and much more.

Rwanda’s Development Board also established the Entrepreneurship Development, which is a strategy to increase business start-ups in Rwanda. With their five-year plan, they seek to provide existing and potential entrepreneurs with the right skills and knowledge to become competitive locally and regionally.

Cambridge University in collaboration with KIST have started an Entrepreneurship Week event which still runs to this date and aims at providing product development, market analysis, networking and funding for their initiatives.

Having studied abroad, I have not used these initiatives but knowing they are available for all gives me hope in tomorrow’s Rwanda. Some of us have landed here and scrambled to make ends meet and I personally know of successful stories that continue to inspire me to this very day. My message to all the dreamers and doers out there is to persist; believe in yourself and work hard. Those of you still outside of Rwanda wondering if you should come home, to you I say come home! Let us build this beautiful country with our own hands and realize our dreams.

Check these websites for more help:
www.psf.org.rw
www.rdb.rw

About the Author

{{Bill Nyirimihigo}}: billnyi3@gmail.com, Tel: 0786 592 470.
Student at Mount Kenya University in Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media & Communication.

January 17, 2014
Washington Pressures MONUSCO to end FDLR Rebellion

{Washington has asked the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) to redouble their efforts in the fight against the Rwandan Hutu rebels in the eastern part of the DRC.}

The call was made Friday by the special envoy of the United States to the Great Lakes region, Russ Feingold, during a telephone press conference which comes before a trip he must do in the coming days in the DRC.

Feingold said that FDLR must face a similar end as of M23

Feingold was referring to the March 23 Movement (M23), an essentially Tutsi rebels who caused trouble for eighteen months in the province of North Kivu (eastern DRC) before being defeated in early November by the Congolese army, with the support of MONUSCO.

“It is essential that MONUSCO, in accordance with its mission, stepping up efforts to honor its commitment to conduct operations in support of [fighting] against the FDLR” said Mr. Feingold, who was in Johannesburg.

In March 2013, the Security Council of the UN with MONUSCO approved an intervention brigade of 3,000 men with an offensive mandate to enable it to neutralize all active armed groups in the DRC, mainly in the East.

After the victory against the M23, the Congolese government announced its intention to forcibly disarm all foreign and Congolese militias in the country who have not surrendered, starting with the FDLR.

In December, MONUSCO and the Congolese army launched operations against the FDLR in North Kivu, but without really going into battle.

Wednesday, Deputy Special Representative of the UN in DRC Wafy Abdallah said that the fight against the FDLR could not take the same form as against the M23 that Rwandan rebels moved with women and children so there was a big risk of civilian casualties.

During his telephone press briefing, Mr. Feingold said that MONUSCO should conduct its offensive operations against armed groups associated with actions inciting peaceful demobilization and reintegration of combatants who wish to surrender.

In fact, since the defeat of the M23, the UN reported a significant increase in defections within armed groups, including among the FDLR.

January 17, 2014
Amb. Mujawamariya presents letter of credence to Putin

{Russian President Vladimir Putin received letters of credence from 18 newly arrived ambassadors of foreign states, at the Kremlin hall in Moscow this Thursday 16th Jan 2014.}

Among the ambassadors who presented their credentials include the new Rwandan ambassador to Russia Honorable Jean d, arc Mujawamariya.

Immediately after submitting credence to the Russian president Putin, she also submitted a letter from his colleague H.E president Paul Kagame showing 50-years of good relations and friendship between the two Nations and also wishing Putin and his people a prosperous new year.

Other ambassadors who presented their credentials to the Russian head of state include: Cesare Maria Ragaglini (Italy), Zyad Khazer Al Majali (Jordan), Carmel Brincat (Malta), Vasile Soare (Romania), John Ronald Kerr (Canada), Mohamed Abdel Sattar Mohamed Elbadri (Egypt), Jean-Maurice Ripert (France), Mehdi Sanayei (Iran), Poondi Shrinivasan Raghavan (India), Abdul-Aziz Ahmed Saud Al-adwani (Kuweit), Antonio Jose Vallim Guerreiro (Brazil), Vladimir Remek (Czech Republic), Alex Van Meuven (Belgium), Ousman Badjie (Gambia), Bernard Francis Shamli (Seychelles), Lameck Ntekela (Botswana), Wilfred Eduard Christopher (Suriname).

“During its G8 Presidency, Russia will focus on searching for common approaches to combating present-day threats to security and maintaining stable development. Our goal is to prepare the ground for the G8 Summit, scheduled to take place in Sochi on June 4-5, and ensure its success”. Said Putin

After presenting credentials to the Russian head of state, the activity of the newly arrived foreign ambassadors and permanent representatives of international organizations in Russia acquired the official status of representing there nations in Russia.

According to the Russian tradition this ceremony is usually held at the Alexandrovsky Hall at the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow.

The previous ceremony for presenting credentials was held on October 23, 2013.

January 17, 2014