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EAC warned over Common Currency use

{International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde has urged East African Community (EAC) member states not to rush the implementation of a single currency.}

East African countries are set to trade in a single currency by 2015 following last month’s signing of the monetary union protocol by the region’s heads of state.

Speaking to business leaders in Nairobi, Lagarde told EAC states to “hasten slowly” and draw upon the experience and lessons learned from other regions’ mistakes and omissions.

“As a member of the Monetary Union of Europe, I have to tell you that it is a very ambitious exciting project, [but] one where, as Aristotle would put it, you should hasten slowly in order to make sure that all the steps are taken and all the boxes are checked.

“Don’t rush. Make sure that you learn from our mistakes and that the East African Monetary Union can actually teach the Europeans how to do it right.”

In 2007, East African heads of state resolved to have a common market and a single currency by 2012. While the common market protocol which allows free movement of people within the EAC block came into effect in July 2010, the establishment of a monetary union has delayed and attracted criticism.

Sceptics have often argued that studies should be undertaken on the implications of transferring monetary powers to the regional level, insisting that after the implementation of the monetary union, any problems would jeopardise the entire region.

According to EAC leaders, a single currency will enhance trade among the five countries, reduce transaction costs and strengthen regional integration among Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The East African monetary union is the third pillar of the region’s integration.

Kenyan President and EAC chairman Uhuru Kenyatta told reporters after last month’s signing that a single currency would minimise currency volatility and fluctuation.

“Business will find more freedom to trade and invest more widely, and foreign investors will find additional, irresistible reasons to pitch tent in our region. Such advantages will no doubt result in increased investment and further transformation of East Africa,” said Kenyatta.

Lagarde said the monetary union is an opportunity “but also a major challenge” and the process needs to be managed carefully. She pledged the IMF’s support in providing technical assistance and advice in the process.

“There are multiple lessons, multiple experiences to learn from, whether it is the European Monetary Union, the Caribbean Union, the West African Union. From all those unions there are mistakes, pitfalls, gaps [and] omissions that can be learnt from,” said Lagarde.

The IMF boss noted that regional integration has opened up new markets, supported the emergence of a middle class and enabled domestic demand to become an engine of growth.

She urged the member states to deepen the integration process and ensure that the removal of tariff barriers is not replaced by reinstallation of non-tariff barriers.

{{Agencies}}

January 8, 2014
North Korea to hold parliamentary elections

{North Korea has announced the first parliamentary elections under Kim Jong Un as the country celebrates the birthday of the young leader who seeks to cement his grip on power after executing his uncle.}

The presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) decided the election would take place on March 9, the North’s official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday.

This year’s election will be the first since Kim took power after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in late 2011.

The announcement comes a month after Kim Jong Un had his uncle and top official Jang Song Thaek executed on treason charges.

Observers said the execution was aimed at bolstering Kim’s power but also showed his grip on power was not as tight as his father’s was.

Kim is expected to use the elections to replace ageing legislators with younger ones loyal to him, said analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea.

The country usually holds parliamentary elections every five years, but the polls are largely a formality because candidates are believed to be hand-picked by the ruling Workers’ Party.

The last parliamentary vote – a highly staged process with only one approved candidate standing for each of the 687 districts – was held in 2009 under the leadership of Kim’s father, Kim Jong-Il.

Kim succeeded his father in December 2011, and the March election will be closely watched for any further revelations on the changing power structure in Pyongyang.

Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

January 8, 2014
Ruto, Sang ICC trial pushed to next week

{The trial of Deputy President William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang at the ICC slated to resume on Monday has been rescheduled.}

The hearing will now start on January 16.

Mr Sang’s lawyer, Mr Katwa Kigen, Tuesday confirmed that the case had been deferred by three days. “It is the decision of the court,” Mr Kigen told the Nation by phone.

He, however, did not say the reasons for the postponement.

There have been discussions at the ICC on whether to adjust the hearing, which started in September last year.

Mr Ruto and Mr Sang are accused of crimes against humanity including murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution during the 2007-2008 post-election violence.

The trial is before Trial Chamber V(a) composed of Judges Chile Eboe-Osuji (presiding), Olga Herrera Carbuccia and Robert Fremr.

On December 13, last year, the Appeals Chamber dismissed prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s appeal against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber II, rejecting her request to amend the temporal scope the charges against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang.

Daily Nation

January 8, 2014
Gen Kiir can’t release “Coup plotters” as a precondition for talks

{After the international community has been piling pressure on Kiir to release the suspected coup plotters as a confidence-building measure in the ongoing peace talks and to enable both parties find a political, homegrown and peaceful solution to the crisis in South Sudan, President Gen. Salva Kiir said he can only budge to the request for the detainees’ release “only after legal procedures” have been exhausted.}

According to statement seen by Chimpreports on Wednesday, the first face-to-face talks between the Government and the rebel’s representatives started Monday after days of separately deliberating on the ground rules of the talks aimed at ending the three weeks of violence.

“We said in the beginning we are committed to dialogue, but without preconditions, nobody should give us conditions. We still remain committed to that principle. We are now been given conditions that we release political detainees first before talks could go ahead,” warned Kiir in a joint press conference with visiting Sudan President, Omar Bashir.

“This is a condition that I will not accept, if it a matter of releasing the detainees, we have to follow legal measures, the legal procedures will have to be followed according to the constitution,” President Kiir reaffirmed.

President Kiir while stressing accountability said “We have lost more than 100 lives and if such a number of people have died, property has either been destroyed or looted; we want to know who is responsible for all these losses. It is not just a matter of releasing people who have been the cause of all this destruction, they will be released but not as a precondition for talks”.

At least 1, 000 people have been killed and 200,000 people displaced following a “foiled coup” attempt in mid December last year.

Following the coup attempt, the Government arrested more than ten individuals and accused the former Vice President Dr. Reik Machar who has declared war against the Government of plotting the “failed coup”.

Rebel forces are still engaging the Government forces, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the two states of Jonglei and Unity despite calls for a ceasefire.

The East African regional Bloc- Inter-Government Authority on Development [IGAD] is taking the lead in the mediations.

On Monday, President Bashir called for an immediate end to the fighting and urged the two parties to take the IGAD peace initiative to end the crisis.

“Violence cannot solve anything, we fought among ourselves for 21 years and lastly we had to go to the negotiation table to resolve our difference,” President Bashir said while referring to Sudan’s long civil war that ended in the Independence of South Sudan in July 2011. President Bashir reiterated his support to a peaceful solution in ending the currently crisis in South Sudan.

January 8, 2014
RDF-Police-Training on fighting terrorism still on

{A 4-day training of 6-RDF and 21-Police officers on terrorism is going on at Ethic center (Kacyiru)}.

The training resumed this Monday 6th January 2014,and will embark on training police investigators and prosecutors on how to gather information on terrorism and how to follow up terrorists in area, s affected by bomb terrorism.

This training is being sponsored and offered by specialists from the United States of America.

While opening the training officially Deputy Inspector General (DIGP) of police DIGP Stanley Nsabimana said,” in most cases terrorists use various weapons, including bombs to create public insecurity in different areas of the world”.

He also added that,” in order to avoid and eliminate these crimes officials in charge of security should be trained on how to investigate and gather information on terrorism.

Lastly he called upon the police and army to value this training in order to utililize and put in action knowledge they will acquire from it.

January 8, 2014
MONUSCO not committed to fight against FDLR rebels

{Rwanda has expressed its concern over the fact that UN peacekeepers MONUSCO (UN Stabilization Mission in Congo) showed no sign of commitment in the fight against the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) operating freely on Congolese territory.}

“We want to see the FDLR issue finally resolved. Unfortunately no sign is shown by MONUSCO to fight against the rebels” said Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and spokesperson of the Government Louise Mushikiwabo.

The minister said that Rwanda has drawn a policy of repatriation and reintegration of ex-combatants of FDLR after participating in a training and solidarity camp commonly known as “Ingando”.

She said that MONUSCO’s role is not consistent

Last year, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Martin Kobler, said that a platoon of the FDLR goes and disarms each month.

Meanwhile Rwanda has been wondering if FDLR rebels disarm and surrender each month why don’t they return to home.

Rwanda said even if FDLR rebels are said to be weakened, the problem must be totally resolved. However, Rwanda sees MONUSCO to be reluctant in the fight against FDLR rebel group mostly composed of Hutu militia who participated in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis that left over a million Tutsis killed and moderate Hutus.

January 8, 2014
Huye: Son stubs mum to death

60 year Old Nyirahuku Speciose, a residing of Huye district was reported dead after being stabbed to death by her step son after being accused of abomination on 6th January 2013.

Her death follows charges from her 25 year old son who accused her of committing abomination on him.

Currently, the 25-year old Nsabimana Damascene is under police arrest and questioning over stabbing step mother to death.

According to the police spokesperson in the southern province CSP Hubert Gashagaza investigations started immediately after her death and the killer was arrested. Told IGIHE

He also added that after the killings Nsabimana Damascene escaped, but finally arrested by the police.

January 8, 2014
The trial of the First defendant from ICTR scheduled on January 22

{The trial of the Pentecostal pastor Jean Uwinkindi, the first defendant transferred by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to Rwanda, is scheduled on January, 22, 2014, after a year of delays}

Charged with genocide and extermination, the Pentecostal pastor Jean Uwinkindi was handed over to Rwandan authorities in April 2012.

The clergyman, now aged 63, is accused of leading deadly attacks against Tutsis in his parish of Kayanzi (East) during the genocide against Tutsis in 1994.

The trial has been postponed several times during the last year, at the request of the defense claiming not to have the financial resources to meet its potential witnesses in Rwanda and abroad.

According to a monitoring report of Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), the next hearing will take place on January 22 at the High Court in Kigali.

Meanwhile, negotiations are underway between the Rwandan Ministry of Justice and Maitre Gatera Gashabana, senior lawyer of Pastor Uwinkindi

Both parties must agree on a system of payment of fees for the defense. The accused is indeed regarded as an indigent person, unable to afford the services of a lawyer. Since his return to Rwanda, the man of the church is held in the central prison of Kigal (PCK), commonly known as “1930”.

He was joined in July by former militia leader Bernard Munyagishari also transferred from the ICTR. References of certain cases to national courts are part of the ICTR, which is scheduled to close no later than the end of the “completion strategy “. The residual functions of the ICTR will be ensured by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, a smaller institution already in place.

January 7, 2014
KCB Rwanda to Boost Profit by Reducing Bad Debts

{KCB Bank Rwanda Ltd. plans to focus this year on restructuring bad debts to almost halve the default rate in line with a regulatory requirement, said George Odhiambo, head of retail banking. }

Non-performing loans rose to about 9 percent of net credit at the end of September, above the 5 percent limit set by the central bank, Odhiambo said in an interview in the capital, Kigali. Bad debts increased to 4.4 billion Rwandan francs ($6.5 million) as of Sept. 30 from 2.3 billion francs a year earlier, according to the company’s latest financial statement.

“We are making efforts to make a recovery, restructure the same loans with the customers and have more engagement with them so to avoid the worst outcome,” he said on Dec. 31.

Rwanda’s central bank in June lowered its key lending rate for the first time in almost three years to 7 percent in a bid to stimulate credit and spur the economy. Policy makers left the rate unchanged at meetings in September and December.

The bank, a unit of Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd., targets increasing its 8 percent Rwandan market share to “double digits” this year and to triple the number of customers to 75,000, Odhiambo said.
Performance Targets

The bank may not meet its 2013 performance targets, even as it put in place a turnaround plan after posting a 844 million-franc loss in 2012, Odhiambo said.

The lender recorded net income of 79.5 million francs in the nine months through September and it plans to release full-year results in March, he said.

“We will not realize the projections” for last year, he said, declining to give the target.

Kenya Commercial Bank, which also has operations in Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Burundi, is cross-listed on Rwanda’s stock exchange.

Shares of the company, Kenya’s largest lender by market value, traded unchanged from yesterday at 48.50 shillings, the highest since Nov. 28, by 11:52 p.m. in Nairobi, the capital, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Source: Bloomberg

January 7, 2014
German Chancellor Angela Merkel injured in ski accident

{Angela Merkel has been injured in a skiing accident in Switzerland, her spokesman confirmed today.
}

The German Chancellor broke her pelvis in a fall as she skied cross-country while on holiday in the Engadin region on Friday.

The 59-year-old has been forced to cancel meetings for the next three weeks due to her injury, which requires her to remain lying down as much as possible.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters at a press conference in Berlin that Mrs. Merkel had suffered “serious bruising in connection with a partial fracture on her left posterior pelvic ring.”

He added that she “was going at a low speed” but could not confirm whether anyone else was involved.

Doctors said the injury, which was initially thought to be a bruise, is an “incomplete” bone fracture which requires an extensive period of rest.

The German politician is not able to travel by plane and has had to cancel a planned visit to Poland and a meeting with the Luxembourg Prime Minister in Berlin.

However, Mrs. Merkel will still be able to work from home and will attend the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Mr Seibert added

The incident comes just over a week after Mrs. Merkel offered her support to German F1 hero Michael Schumacher after he was critically injured in a ski accident.

Spokesman Mr Seibert said: “Like millions of Germans, the chancellor and government members were extremely dismayed when they heard about Michael Schumacher’s serious skiing accident.

January 7, 2014