IGIHE

Author: Publisher

  • Foreign markets require quality products, Kanimba advises potters

    {{The ministry of trade and industry (MINICOM) in conjunction with Rural Small and Medium promotion projects (PPPMER) has donated, 32 bicycles and one computer to a potters cooperative (COPORWA), the aim is to facilitate their work.}}

    While handing over the equipments to the cooperative, MINICOM minister Francois Kanimba encouraged the potters to be more hard working rather than basing their progress on sponsorships.

    In addition, Kanimba advised the potters to come up with quality products since it not only promote their sales locally but also in foreign markets. The intervention is in line with the ministry’s program to support (SMEs) to acquire latest technology aimed at improving their delivery.

    What’s more, PPPMER will offer literacy training to the potters in a bid to advance their communication skills particularly when dealing with foreign clients.

    On the same occasion the Rwanda Cooperation Agency (RCA) was also given 21 motorcycles meant to facilitate the staff in awareness activities.

    The RCA director Damien Mugabo noted that the donation will help them to reach out to members specially those under the crop intensification program which has so far shown progress in various parts of the country.

  • Budget, deficit will be narrowed to 2.3% of GDP after grants

    {{Rwanda plans to narrow its budget gap to 2.3 percent of gross domestic product in the year through June 2012 on increased donor grants and tax revenue said Fred Quarshie, an adviser to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.}}

    The shortfall will shrink from 4.2 percent in the current fiscal year, Quarshie said by phone yesterday.

    The deficit before grants will narrow to 13.7 percent of GDP from 15 percent, Quarshie said. Grants to the government will increase 19 percent to 444.7 billion Rwandan francs ($743 million), while tax revenue is expected to rise by 57.7 billion francs to 501.4 billion.

    Spending will increase to 1.12 trillion francs from 984 billion, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance.

    However, Inflation rate fell from 5.9 percent in December 2009 to 0.2 percent in December 2010, the lowest in the region.
    The Finance Minister said the government was monitoring the inflation rate that started to rise in 2011 before taking appropriate measures as it is expected to be highly affected by oil and food prices on global markets.

    The level of imports was lower than projected in 2010 due to delays in implementation of strategic investment projects.

    Certainly, the surplus of Balance of Payments helped the country to increase external reserves to US$814.2 million, enough to cover 5.4 months of imported goods and services. The full budget 2011/2012 will be presented to parliament later today. {Some parts of the story were borrowed from Bloomberg news agency}

  • Kagame affirms Rwanda’s democracy

    {{President Paul Kagame has bristled at suggestions that democracy is not flourishing in his country, and said that the 93 percent of the vote he won last year was not enough.}}

    Kagame further added that Rwanda enjoys a multi-party political system and that he supports, “a right that allows anybody, everybody to express themselves.”

    He said the will of the people was expressed during last year’s presidential election. “So, 93 percent — I wonder why it wasn’t higher than that,” Kagame told the Council on Foreign Relations, a prominent New York-based think tank.

    When a senior Human Rights Watch director in the audience challenged Kagame, the president said he did not want to hear “lectures.”

    Responding to Peggy Hicks a Human Rights Watch director on mere claims that there were no strong opposition in the elections and that some journalists were silenced.

    Kagame denied this, insisting that there were four presidential candidates from four different parties, although his three nominal opponents in fact had ties to his Rwandan Patriotic Front party.

    The president said anyone can participate in Rwandan politics as long as they do not advocate a return to the genocide that tore the country apart in 1994.

    “There are things that are unacceptable here or in Rwanda, or anywhere else if they work to the detriment of society,” Kagame remarked.

  • Villages yet to raise their own revenues, Japan’s way

    {{Rwanda is yet to replicate Japan’s way of raising revenues in respective districts, a team of experts from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will assist in the implementation of the program known as One Village One Product (OVOP).}}

    The program will enhance entrepreneurship by supporting business activities within a community then later the revenues would be used to support developmental activities in the same area.

    Implementation of Rwanda OVOP program will begin with 4 target districts which are Huye, Musanze, Nyagatare and Rubavu. It will expand countrywide and around 5000 business groups are to be nurtured through the program by 2014, impacting on poverty reduction through increased volume of export products and development of small and medium scale industries.

    “This is not a new concept it was first implemented in Japan over two decades ago and became and its success was mostly seen in economy growth,” said Kunio Hantanaka, Japan ambassador in Rwanda.

    Moreover, the program is expected to contribute the private sector-led economy set as one of the pillars in Vision 2020, through boosting local based business, creating employment and generating exports. It is designed as a practical, operational, sustainable and self assessing scheme providing capitalization and accumulation of economic advantages and business development services to empower communities through systematic nurturing of business initiatives and activities.

    As a result, there will be a reduction of the country’s deficit which is staggering at Rwf 1 billion; this will be achieved through formation of Small and Medium Enterprises. OVOP Program in Rwanda has three key pillars which justify its suitability to the Rwandan context: Focus on value addition for products and services; streamlining of business extension services and branding of certified and unique quality.

    “These SME’s are a vital engine to our socio economic progress,” said PSF, Chief Executive Officer Roger Munyampenda adding that, “we’re trying to promote a strong SME sector in order to increase employment at the same time widen our tax base.”

    He however remarked that among the challenges of sustaining the SME’S was due to lack of credit access. In this respect the PSF established a Business Development Fund (BDF) which totals to Rwf 8.4 Billion,” he remarked.

    OVOP is a regional development program originated in Oita prefecture, Japan in the early 1980s. A village produces value-added products made from local materials for both domestic and global markets. JICA assists many developing countries to adopt the program to boost local business.

  • Traffic week aims to discourage reckless driving

    {{The annual road safety week conducted by Rwanda’s traffic police will emphasize on discouraging reckless driving. The campaign is themed {make every journey home a safe one.}
    }}

    speaking at the awareness launch in Nyamirabo, traffic commander Chief Superintendent Vincent Sano explained that the aim was to ensure orderly traffic to all as way of reducing road accidents.

    Certainly, drivers are advised to avoid reckless driving especially those who drive under the influence of alcohol, a habit which causes the majority of road accidents.

    The police Inspector General Emmanuel Gasana was quick to support Sano by further warning that out of 365 deaths and over 30,000 serious injuries from road accidents each year are caused by uncalculated maneuvers, ridding without helmets and pedestrians carelessness while crossing roads.

    In this respect, the weeklong campaign will sensitize drivers on some of the road signs which are repeatedly ignored by some drivers, among the overlooked signs are zebra crossing, sharp corners and speed limits.

    In order to address the issue of negligence, traffic police will issue flyers to drivers showing causes of accidents. What is more there will be a reward for best drivers especially those who work in public service vehicles (PSV).

    “Road accidents have affected our economy through loss of productivity and infrastructure such as road lights and destroyed city gardens,” said the mayor of Kigali Fidel Ndayisaba.

    The mayor further encourages PSV drivers to ensure etiquette while transporting passengers. “Playing music in your taxis for instance is ok but avoid loud volumes since not everyone is comfortable,” Ndayisaba warned.

    Ndayisaba was backed by James Musoni the minister of local government who encouraged passengers to stop a vehicle once there not comfortable with the driving situation. “It is your right to stop the bus which is over speeding or inform the police,” Musoni remarked. He further assured drivers that the government has plans to provide good road networks in the country.

  • construction of primary schools receive a US$ 1m boost from a Chinese conglomerate

    {{A visiting team representing a Chinese business community has donated US$ 1million to support the construction of primary school classes; members of the conglomerate will use the tour to examine Rwanda’s investment opportunities. }}

    Prime Minister Bernard Makuza said the initiative was timely with the country’s activities in improving access to education especially in rural areas. He further encouraged the Chinese business community to take advantage of Rwanda’s investment opportunities which range from mining, tourism, construction amongst others.

    In this respect, Makuza applauded the country’s bilateral ties with china which has seen several joint operations in areas including education, health and energy.

    The fund will be used in the first phase of construction which will take place in five districts namely Kirehe, Nyagatare, Kamonyi, Nyaruguru and Ngororero.

    Junqing Lu, the chairperson World Eminence Chinese Business Association (WECBA) explained that they have a plan to build several classrooms in Africa and Rwanda was an ideal country to benefit from the initiative. “We have a 20 year project of building hope primary schools in Africa and we intend to build more and more here,” he remarked.

    In addition, the program will support the curriculum by offering scholastic materials such as computers and laboratory equipment.
    Juqing Lu further pointed out that out of five countries selected; Rwanda is a favorable beneficiary due its good entrepreneurial climate which requires an educated population in order to sustain the progress.

    WECBA is among Chinese largest business network organizations which provides services in the areas of finance and investments, management, human resources, corporate branding among others. The organization also aims to improve the welfare of vulnerable people and the construction of schools which are currently taking place in four other countries namely Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi seeks to provide education to all.

  • Mu gususurutsa Abanyarwanda baba muri USA, Kizito Mihigo abashyiriye indirimbo nshya yahimbiye Diaspora

  • RSE market highlights as of 6 June 2011

    {{Today, the market continued to go up as the BRALIRWA share price closed at Rwf 233, an increase of Rwf 3 from last }}

    week’s closing price of Rwf 230. A total turnover of Rwf 18,701,300 was recorded from 80,300 BRALIRWA shares traded
    at Rwf 231 and Rwf 233 in 3 transactions.

    At the end of business, there were outstanding bids of 1,678,000 BRALIRWA shares at various prices ranging between
    Rwf 233 and Rwf 225 and no outstanding offers.

    The BRALIRWA shares are trading cum dividend up to 13 June 2011.
    The KCB and NMG counters did not record any activity today and their share prices remained unchanged from last week’s closing prices of Rwf 175 and Rwf 1200 respectively.

  • Kobagaya trial: Jurors unanimously rejected genocide

    {{Jurors in the trial of Lazare Kobagaya accused of ordering atrocities during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide revealed to the media the panel agreed unanimously that he had nothing to do with the mass killings.
    }}

    In their first public comment since the trial ended earlier this week, two jurors also said that some questioned the amount of money spent to prosecute 84-year-old Kobagaya.

    The jury convicted Kobagaya of visa fraud for lying about his whereabouts during the Rwandan genocide, but deadlocked on a count over his citizenship paperwork.

    The two jurors said prosecutors failed to prove that Kobagaya incited others in Rwanda to kill members of another ethnic group. They also said some jurors felt the government failed to show criminal intent on the paperwork charge.

  • Conclude genocide law review – Amnesty urges Rwanda

    {{Amnesty International has asked the Government to conclude a review of its genocide ideology laws which were created to silence critics, it said on Friday.
    }}

    In a new report titled “Unsafe to speak out: Restrictions on freedom of expression in Rwanda”, Amnesty said ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’ laws were being used to suppress political dissent and stifle freedom of speech. However, Government quickly rebuffed the claims in a media statement.

    According to International Business Times, Amnesty said it urged supporters to call on the Rwandan authorities “to allow opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others to express their views, including legitimate criticism of government policies, without fear for their safety.”

    It said they should also urge the authorities “to accelerate the review of the ‘genocide ideology’ law and the 2009 media law to bring them in line with Rwanda’s obligations under international human rights law.”

    The Government rejected the human rights group’s report.

    “Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution of Rwanda,” the government said in a statement.

    “We have a vibrant and growing media community and varied political discourse but once again, Amnesty International has chosen to misrepresent reality in an inaccurate and highly partisan report.”

    President Paul Kagame has won praise for restoring stability after the 1994 genocide and promoting economic growth through reforms encouraging investment. But critics say his government is intolerant of dissent.

    Earlier this year another rights group, Human Rights Watch, also said the Rwandan government was using the judicial system to stifle criticism.

    Amnesty said in its report that the ‘genocide ideology’ laws contravene Rwanda’s regional and international human rights obligations and commitments.

    “Even judges, the professionals charged with applying the law, noted that the law was broad and abstract,” it said