Category: News

{{Diplomatic relations between Kenya and South Korea are currently unpleasant following Korean Air online Advertisement that refers to Kenyans are ‘Primitive’.}}

Kenyans have demanded an immediate apology.

Korean Air advertisement was aimed at launching direct flights to Nairobi.
Part of the advert which has generated heated debate on the social media reads in part: “Fly to Nairobi with Korean Air and enjoy the grand African savanna, the safari tour, and the indigenous people full of primitive energy.”

The term ‘primitive energy’ has apparently annoyed many Kenyans on the social media who have demanded an apology.

Primitive means ‘belonging to a very simple society with no industry or belonging to an early stage in the development of humans or very simple and old fashioned.’

However, Korean Air via its twitter handle @KoreanAir_KE on Today (Monday) has issued an apology promising to investigate how the offending advert came to be.

“Regarding our recent promotional notice of Nairobi, we are checking on this issue accordingly. We sincerely apologize for this situation,” the airline posted on twitter on Thursday at 11:22 am.

“After ‘checking’, it will be appropriate to issue an apology to ‪Kenyans on your website and mass media,” Kimunya Mugo tells the airline on twitter.

“You’d better be thoroughly apologetic. We are not very pleased with our primitive energy,” says Nick Walubengo on twitter.

“Seems like they have realised that the people they thought were primitive aren’t afterall,” Nomkhoni Warui adds.

{{Burundi Police has handed over a Rwandan national suspected of murdering Colette Munyana 19.
Jacques Shumbusho 23 allegedly murdered Munyana on March 12, 2012 and fled to neighbouring Burundi.}}

The Prime suspect was handedover to Rwanda National Police on Saturday at Akanyaru boarder post. The Bourgmestre of Kabarore in Burundi and his Rwanda mayor of Nyaruguru district, Francis Habitegeko were present.

Shumbusho was arrested in Burundi after the Burundian Police was notified about the Rwandan criminal who was on the run.

He has been held at Kayanza prison for nearly three month as Burundian Interpol office liaised with their Rwandan counterparts.

He was deported after completing Interpol transfer procedures. Shumbusho had sought refuge in Burundi to evade justice.

However, due to the bilateral cooperation of the Police forces of the sister countries he was apprehended and is set to face justice.

He is currently held at Nyaruguru Police Station while investigation continues.
“Shumbusho has been handed over to the Police who will have to observe the normal procedure of handling a criminal case by holding him for not more than 72 hours before handing him to the prosecution,” Police Spokesperson Superintendent Theos Badege said.

{{Police in Nyamasheke district has detained a woman for allegedly carrying out an abortion and dumping her baby in a pit latrine.}}

The suspect has been identified as Marceline Nyarambanjineza. She was arrested Thursday.

According to Police sources, Nyarambanjineza was suspected by her neighbors after they found her lying on a mat outside her house.

After confirming that the suspect had aborted, residents called for Police intervention.

The dead body was retrieved from the pit and taken to Kibogora Hospital for postmortem. The suspect is detained at Kanjongo Police station.

Nyarambanjineza Confessed to the crime but claimed she never intended to terminate the life of her baby.

“I went to the toilet to release myself as usual but did not intend to lose my child,” she narrated.

{{Last week (14th-15th) the largest event the U. S. government shares with Sub-Saharan Africa nations; the AGOA Forum – brought together U.S. and African ministers, members of Congress, private sector and civil society representatives.}}

The 12th annual forum was titled “Enhancing African’s infrastructure for trade”.

Minister Francois Kanimba led the Rwandan delegation along with Ambassador James Kimonyo and other delegates from Rwanda from the private sector and Rwanda Development Board.

The meeting reviewed the idea of selling the opportunities that Sub Saharan Africa offered to U.S investors and consumers, while also acknowledging the challenges faced as well as the benefits of good quality competitive products from Africa under AGOA for U.S consumers and Importers.

Discussions resolved to engage the US corporations on a win-win basis in order to ensure that industrialization benefits for US investors went along with development benefits for Africa. Above all, emphasis was placed on Africa’s importance in the global economy, thereby necessitating AGOA’s extension beyond 2015 and the Third Country Fabric provision beyond September 2012.

Participants expressed serious concerns on the delay in extending the Third Country Fabric Provision which is set to expire in September 2012. Given the lead time of nine months required to place orders, the experts also noted that orders had dried up, making the extension an extremely urgent issue.

There is, therefore, a need to intensify lobbying from all fronts in order to have the extension renewed without further delay.

The Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opened the forum and paved her remarks for others by applauding the great success of the pivotal economic development program. “AGOA has helped to increase trade and investment and opened new doors of opportunity”.

“It’s led to new jobs, the rise of new sectors and new business opportunities for people in every country represented here, as well as the United States.”

She further stated that this week the US President, Barrack Obama approved a Presidential Policy Directive that outlines his vision with respect to U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa. This document is drawn from and reflects that Directive.

This calls for partnership with African nations as they grow their economies and strengthen their democratic institutions and governance.
Highlighting this year’s topic, Minister Kanimba co-chaired a plenary section titled, “optimizing Africa’s transportation infrastructure to increase international trade”.

He noted the need of a “stronger partnership” between the countries in order to optimize trade.

It was further noted that the major challenge is finance, which requires more of public private partnerships and long term commitment more than the humanitarian approach. The session was on optimizing Africa’s transportation infrastructure to increase international trade.

The panel focused on National and Regional transportation infrastructural development initiatives. The three main areas of concern were maritime, roads and railway transportation.

It was noted that over 90% of merchandise transportation is done through maritime means and there is need to address the efficiency of the ports as they affected the competitiveness of SSA products.

Further, the panel noted that most of the roads connected to the ports were congested which caused inefficiency at the said ports, and particularly prevented land locked countries from taking advantage of AGOA.

As a result, the meeting acknowledged the need to develop an integrated transportation network which links roads and rails to the ports.

The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the cornerstone of U.S. economic engagement with the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA has succeeded in helping nations grow and diversify their exports to the United States.

In 2011, 40 AGOA countries exported $53.7 billion in products to the United States contributing to economic growth for African nations as well as creating new opportunities for American businesses to export U.S. goods and services.

AGOA is important to Rwanda in that it improves the value addition of Rwandan products as a result of access to the American market and the closer collaboration with important US partners.

Over the years, AGOA Forum discussions have focused on how to improve AGOA utilization by beneficiary countries. This year’s annual AGOA Forum is a mix of programs and events that will take place during the month of June.

After the 2012 AGOA Forum Ministerial June held 14-15 in Washington, DC hosted the US government, the preceded event was a two-day civil society program held June 12-13.

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) will host its infra-structure conference June 18-20, and the U.S. Africa Business Conference (USABC) will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio June 21-22.

After the AGOA forum, the Honorable Minister Kanimba and the EAC- Secretary General were hosted at Bourbon Café in Washington DC to speak to the Diaspora community and the friends of Rwanda interested in investing in Rwanda and the East Africa region.

The platform was to discuss the current Economic development activities in Rwanda and the East Africa region and to see how the Diaspora should be part of these development activities.

{{The East African Community Secretariat is organizing an event that will focus on sustainable development in the context of regional integration. The event is scheduled for June 20.}}

The Event will be organised in collaboration with EAC Organs and Institutions mainly Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) and East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and Partner States- the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda through designated UNCSD National Focal Points.

The overall objective of the side event is to showcase EAC’s efforts, achievements and challenges in the implementation of sustainable development goals in the region within the context of EAC’s integration process.

More specifically, the event shall review the progress in the implementation of the EAC Treaty and its related Protocols relevant to sustainable development namely; the Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria Basin (2003), Protocol on Environment and Natural Resources Management (2006); and Environment and Natural Resources provisions of the EAC Common Market Protocol (2009).

The event is expected to mobilize political will and support to EAC on the Implementation of Regional Policy Instruments aimed at contributing to the three pillars of sustainable development in the region and identify the role of EAC?s in monitoring the implementation of the Rio+20 Outcome.

{{Two men have been arrested found in possession with over 10 kilograms of cannabis as they attempted to smuggle the narcotics into Kigali city.}}

David Gashugi 21, and Alfred Niyitegeka 25, were seized at the Police checkpoint at Gitikinyoni .

The suspects were travelling in a commuter taxi. They are currently being held at Mageragere Police Station.

According to Police sources, the suspects tried to conceal the drugs in small sachets hidden and tied across their bodies and in a bag.

The suspects admitted to have been transporting narcotics from Goma and Ruhengeri respectively to Gisozi.

Police is on the hunt for other accomplices as investigations continue.

{{A representative from Bureau Veritas will visit Inyange Plant in Masaka this Friday, 15th June, to present the official certificate from the International Organization of Standards (ISO) to Inyange Industries.}}

The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of International Standards.

Bureau Veritas, which operates in more than 100 countries, is part of the ISO Technical Committee, TC34/SC17 (Management Systems for Food safety) and helps every player in the food supply chain to meet the highest standards of Quality, Health & Safety and Environmental compliance.

Inyange Industries has reinforced its commitment to complying with global food safety standards by implementing the ISO 22000:2005 Certification as concerns for Food Quality and Safety continue to rise across the nation.

The International Food Safety Management Standard, ISO 22000:2005, defines a set of general food safety requirements that apply to all organizations in the food manufacturing industry.

This globally recognized certificate will be presented to Inyange Industries in recognition of its high standards of quality in the food industry.

Since 2010, Inyange Industries had to undergo a long series of both internal and external audits to ensure that strict safety standards are consistently upheld so that Inyange products can be enjoyed by all, without fear of health risks and to meet the international requirements for Food Processing companies.

Inyange industries will be among a few food companies in EAC having the ISO 22000:2005 certificate, enabling Inyange to trade on the global market.

ISO, a non-governmental organization, is a network of the national standards institutes of 164 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system and forms a bridge between the public and private sectors.

This certification is an incredible achievement for Inyange and an official “stamp of approval” in terms of higher standards of quality and brand reliability.

Consumers can have full confidence that Inyange’s products come from reliable sources thus eliminating any associated health risks.

This certification process which began in 2010 was intended to accomplish two (2) specific goals: (1) improve internal efficiency processes by reducing operating costs.

(2) improve customer satisfaction through the delivery of products that consistently meet customer requirements including quality, safety and legality.

Legal compliance is a major component as this certification contributes to compliance through internal audits and management reviews.

Furthermore, Inyange now has proven business credentials through independent verification against recognized standards and the ability to win more business – particularly where procurement specifications require certification as a condition to supply.

{{A team of officials from World Health Organisation are in Rwanda to acquaint themselves with Rwanda’s healthcare programmes.}}

They will also assess progress on the ground with the view of sharing some success stories with the rest of the continent.

The team is led by Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo the boss of World health Organisation (WHO) in Africa. His visit seeks to reinforce the UN’s country team in health care improvement.

“We intend to reinforce our technical team in Rwanda to address some of the areas that need to be strengthened in collaboration with international agency operating in the field of health,” Dr. Sambo noted.

Dr. Sambo met with President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro.

“During my visit to Rwanda, I have found that the health care system in Rwanda has been strengthened at local level with a great positive impact on the people.”

He added, “I have realised enormous progress in the control of certain diseases like malaria, and improving child health”.

“It’s upon this satisfaction that I paid a courtesy call to President Kagame to thank him and his government for these wonderful achievements in the sector”.

{{It is now Criminal offense to Skype in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian government has passed new legislation that criminalises the use of Internet-based voice communications such as Skype and other forms of Internet phone calling.}}

Authorities have also installed a new filtering system that monitors the use of the Internet in the tightly-controlled Horn of Africa country in a move seen as targeting dissidents.

The telecoms law strictly prohibits VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) which includes audio and video related social media communication, and the transfer of information packages through the fast growing global cyber networks.

It also authorises the government to inspect any imports of voice communication equipment and accessories, while also banning inbound shipments without prior permission.

Anyone involved in “illegal” phone calling services will be prosecuted and could be jailed for up to 15 years or fined heavily if found guilty.

{{Luanda the capital city of Angola is the most expensive place to live in Africa and the second in the world after Tokyo in Japan.}}

The Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2012 conducted by human resource consulting firm Mercer Group shows that Luanda, last year’s global “winner” is the most expensive city in the continent and second in the world.

According to the survey, three of African cities are among the world’s 20 most expensive places for expatriates to live in.

Djamena city of Chad is listed as the second most expensive and Libreville city of Congo is the third most expensive.

The survey, gathers information used by governments and major companies to protect the purchasing power of their employees when transferred abroad,
Tunis capital of Tunisia ranks at position 209 of the 214 cities covered by the study across five continents is the least expensive African city for expatriates.

“It might be surprising to see 20 African cities in the top third of the ranking.
The main driver behind this is the difficulty in finding good secure accommodation for expatriates. So the limited supply of acceptable accommodation is very expensive,” says Constantin-Métral, the group’s spokesperson.

According to her, the cost of imported international goods is also very high in these cities, considerably contributing to the high cost of living.

The fourth most expensive city is Khartoum up 18 places from last year and ranked 26 on the global list. Ndjamena, Chad (8), follows, dropping five places since 2011.

Dropping eight places, Libreville, Gabon (20), is the next followed by Niamey, Niger.

On the list after Niamey are Lagos in Nigeria, Bamako, Mali, Abidjan,Cote Devoir, Brazzaville, Congo, Djibouti, Djibouti and Dakar, Senegal.