Category: News

{{Focused on addressing the major causes of poor customer service, Rwanda Development Board has launched a two day training of trainers in customer care.}}

According to a press release from RDB, the training is part of a series of initiatives of the Na Yombi campaign, which was launched by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) geared towards improving the quality of services across all sectors in the country.

Apollo Munanura, RDB’s Head of Department for Human Capital and Institutional Development noted;

“While RDB has been training and providing orientation to various groups about customer care, this new training is designed to equip trainers with knowledge and skills to address the root causes of poor or indifferent customer service, specifically in timeliness, communication and problem solving.”

This training explores foundations of good customer service, critical pillars of customer care including timeliness, problem solving and communication.

Research conducted in 2010 to establish the level of satisfaction of users of services provided in 7 sectors, both public and private by the Boston-based consulting firm, On The Frontier Group, revealed that customer expectations with regard to these three pillars of customer care were minimally or in some instances never met.

The 40 trainers who are being trained are drawn from 18 organizations including the Private Sector Federation, Rwanda Tourism University College, School of Finance and Banking, Rwanda Association of Customer Care Professionals, Mount Kenya University, Akilah Institute, Adventist University, Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Authority, among others.

Yves Ngenzi, the manager of the Customer Care Unit at the Rwanda Development Board said, “trainers will be resourceful to their institutions in all customer care matters by conducting formal and regular training of customer facing staff.”

“They will also mentor selected employees to transfer the right attitude and skills in customer care.”

RDB will continue to upgrade the skills of the trainers by providing them with other tools to evaluate the level of customer satisfaction in their respective institutions.

It will also endeavor encourage them to provide their training and technical assistance to organizations which might seek to benefit from their services.

At the end of the training, trainers are expected to preparetraining and skills transfer plan to ensure that the knowledge they have acquired is transmitted to as many of their colleagues as possible and that best practices in customer care are disseminated as widely as possible.

{{The Rwanda Defense Forces have launched an army week to commemorate the 50th Independence and 18th Liberation celebrations through provision of outreach Health Care Services to the needy population.}}

The Army Week Healthcare program to be conducted by Rwanda Military hospital will cover patients in Rusizi and Nyamasheke districts from 24- 30 June.

According to the RDF leadership, the Army Medical Outreach to the needy population signifies true liberation and Independence, as a healthy population translates to a human security that the national leadership strives to achieve for all Rwandans.

The RDF not only defends the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country but engages in many other activities aimed at true independence of Rwandans, as stressed by the RDF Leadership.

About eight thousand people of Rusizi and Nyamasheke districts will benefit from this medical outreach whereby Rwanda Military Hospital will deploy a specialized multidisciplinary medical team made up of orthopedic surgeons, general surgeons, ophthalmologists, physiotherapists, dermatologists, radiologists, gynecologists and other specialists to help the community.

About 180 medical doctors and nurses including twenty six specialist doctors will leave Kigali on Sunday 24 June 2012 this week to the two remote districts whose population has no access to specialized services often available in urban and referral hospitals.

They will work hand in hand with local doctors to treat citizens at different Health Centres of Bushenge, Kibogora and Karengera in Nyamasheke district and Gihundwe, Nkanka, Muganza and Mibirizi in Rusizi district.

The official launch will be held at Gihundwe District Hospital on Monday 25th June 2012.

{{Prof. Esiron Munyanziza has been laid to rest. The Academician died on Monday 18 June in a surprising manner that has left relatives and residents shocked. He was burried on Wednesday at Ngoma public cemetry in Huye district.}}

{{The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda (ICPAR), held a workshop June 20, to equip those charged with responsibilities related to audits of financial statements with the new skills in current audit program and procedures.}}

ICPAR is a Professional Accountancy Organization (PAO) mandated by law to regulate the Accounting profession in the republic of Rwanda.

Speaking to the press during the seminar; Peter Rutaremara ICPAR president said, “Practical approach in this seminar will impart skills on how to audit in financial statement.”

“We are training them on international standards in auditing and how it is being done internally.This is to refresh them and to make sure what they are doing is in compliance with international auditing standards,” he added.

Rutaremara also said that in auditing every time there is a new development and that such workshop is to keep them updated and to help them overcome challenges in the particular field.

He further noted that among the challenges auditors go through is mainly time to update themselves on the current programs saying they always busy.

Over 50 participants from the cross cutting fields including; Professional Accountants, Audit Practitioners, Internal Auditors, Audit Consultants, among others turned up for the one day seminar held at Lemigo Hotel in Kigali.

Among the trainees; Leger Iradutiza from GPO Partners Rwanda Ltd, a cabinet of External Auditors said, “I applaud the training it is in the exact line with our work as auditors, and they taught us new standards to help us perform well during our work.”

According to ICPAR; compliance to International Standards on Auditing continues to be a real challenge to the professional Accountants and Auditors.

Participants were trained on Audit Planning, Audit of the statement of Financial Position, Audit of the Statement of Comprehensive Income, and also Audit Completion.

The case of Rwanda is also highlighted by the 2008 World Bank study on compliance with accounting and auditing standards.

The International Standards on Auditing Clarity Project commissioned by the International Accounting and Auditing Standards Board (IAASB) IN 2008 requires Audit Firms and Practitioners to implement the introduced significant changes as soon as is practicable.

{{The East African Community (EAC) partner Statesare finalising plans to craft a common position that the region will present next month at the UN ArmsTrade Treaty (ATT) in New York.}}

Ahmed Wafuba, the coordinator of Uganda’s National Focal Point (NFP) on Small Arms, says that the move will enhance efforts aimed at ridding the region of illegal firearms that have led to loss of innocent lives.

“We have come up with a position and it remains to be sent to the council of ministers,” Wafuba said during the launch of the global week of action against gun violence in Kampala early this week.

The awareness week in Uganda has been coordinated by the EAC secretariat in collaboration with the German International Development Agency (GIZ) and the Eastern Africa Action Network on Small Arms (EAANSA).

Wafuba said that EAC partner States would support the UN arms trade treaty that is legally binding for it to achieve the highest common international standards for transfer of firearms.

“The issue of conventional arms and small arms plus the ammunitions should be regulated,” he said, adding that Uganda had so far destroyed 97,000 pieces of assault and firearms over a period of three years. Many governments have voiced concern about the absence of globally agreed rules to guide their decisions on arms transfers.

Citing Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer who was once dubbed the “Merchant of Death”, Uganda’s State minister for Internal Affairs James Baba, urged that the treaty should stop manufacturers of weapons from giving them to wrong hands.

“Our people aren’t killed by tanks or any sophisticated weapons, they are killed by light weapons supplied by these merchants of death,” said Mr Baba.

Uganda’s minister of Internal Affairs Hillary Onek said that his government is now in the process of reviewing its laws on firearms and ammunitions to ensure that issues of small arms are expressly addressed to include severe and deterrent measures for offenders.

Martin Ogango, an official from the GIZ-SALW programme on promotion of peace and security wondered why up to now there is no law that globally controls the movements of arms from the manufacturing stage to the final user.

Preparations to address the absence of globally agreed rules for all Countries to guide their decisions on arms transfers have been underway since 2006, and are culminating into the UN Conference in New York to run from July 2–27 this year.

{{In Zimbabwe one person reportedly died and 15 others were seriously injured in a crash involving President Robert Mugabe’s motorcade on Sunday. This is the third such accident in two weeks.}}

A car thought to have been leading the motorcade in the president’s convoy hit a commuter bus on the Robert Mugabe highway outside the president’s home town of Zvimba.

Zimbabwe Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said Sunday’s accident happened because the bus failed to make way for the president’s vehicles quickly enough.

Mugabe’s convoy involves an escort of around 10 vehicles including the presidential limousine, motorcycles and army vehicles.

Bvudzijena said the bus driver had failed to heed the siren and beacon of the escort vehicle, leading to a head-on collision between the minibus and a police car.

“One passenger in the commuter bus died on the spot while 15 passengers from both vehicles were injured in the accident,” Mr Bvudzijena told the AFP news agency.

Police VIP protection spokesman Martin Mbokochena criticised what he called “some unruly elements in society who want to disturb”.

Two weeks ago, a motorbike in the presidential cavalcade hit and killed a homeless man during another visit to the president’s home town.

A member of the presidential guard died and seven others were hurt in a separate leg of the same trip, when a truck in the motorcade overturned after one of its tyres burst.

{{Surprising Police operations have resulted in the seizure of several litres of illicit brew and narcotics.

Police in Gasabo district arrested Emmanuel Ntibanyurwa in possession of 23 rolls of cannabis in the bar.}}

Meanwhile in another incident, during cordon and search operations Apollinaire Mukansanga, a resident of Kacyiru Sector, in Gasabo district was arrested with 14 kgs of cannabis.

Police in Ngoma District on Sunday also arrested Jerome Dusabimana 26, after he was found in possession 2 Kilograms of Cannabis.

35 litres of illicit brew were confiscated at the residence of Christophe Habimana, 35, after he was found selling Kanyanga during a cordon and search operation conducted by Police in Nyarubuye sector, Kirehe district.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Theos Badege said, “Such collaborations are not good news for criminals because they know that they can be arrested anytime”.

Prof. Esiron Munyanziza attached to the National University of Rwanda was found dead in his toilet room and blood stained on his bedroom floor.

The Academician died on Monday 18 June in a surprising manner that has left relatives and residents shocked.

Prof. Munyanziza was a lecturer in the faculty of Agriculture. He had been living with a housemaid only.}}

On the fateful day, the housemaid found the academician dead in the toilet room and alerted residents.

Micomyiza Jean Baptiste in charge of media at the national University of Rwanda told IGIHE that, the Housemaid noticed that Munyanziza had not left the house for work by ten o’clock in the morning.

That the housemaid knocked on Munyanziza’s bedroom door and there wasn’t any response. He later decided to break the lock and entered only to find blood on the floor and saw the body of the Professor lying in the toilet room. The housemaid later notified residents in the area.

Goretti Mukambanda a niece to the late professor said that her uncle did not have any prior problem that could have resulted in such a sudden death.

Mukambanda was preparing to visit the professor when she learnt of his death.

“I had spoken with uncle Munyanziza on telephone on 17 June about my new baby I had showed to the church. Uncle told me he was pleased with the news and asked me to visit him on Monday. I was preparing to visit him and learnt of his sudden death,” Mukambanda narrated.

Mukambanda further said that Munyanziza had been suffering from a knee complication.

She added that a small five-litre can containing urine-like concoction was found in the housemaids room suspecting it could be a local concoction that could have been used to end his life.

On learning about the death of the academician, Police swiftly sealed off the premises of University staff and began investigations including seizure of the five-litre can containing urine-like concoction.

{{President Paul Kagame Monday met with a delegation of members of Nigerian Oxford-Cambridge Club. Their visit was aimed at acquainting themselves with the Leadership of President Kagame. }}

The delegation comprises of former students at Oxford and Cambrigde universities in Britain.

The Oxford-Cambridge Club comprises of over 400 members.

Akinfela Akoni the leader of the delegation explained that the club members had come to express their satisfaction with President Kagames leadership in Rwanda.

“We are pleased to be invited at the Gacaca courts closing ceremony. We have learnt a lot from this event and we have learnt how the traditional Gacaca courts helped Rwandans,” Akinfela noted.

{{Fire destroyed a van belonging to Kigali Independent University (ULK). The incidence took place at Muhima sector offices.

The driver of the van had parked the car and gone to find a spare parts. Later the van caught fire before he had returned.

Police arrived on time at the scene but attempts to put out the fire were futile.
Dushimirimana Jerome an eyewitness told IGIHE that the fire was so strong that it was impossible to extinguish it.

However, by press time the ULK officials could not be reached by telephone for comment.}}