Category: News

{{The World Bank Country Manager Omomunmi Mimi Ladipo has declined to give data pertaining unemployment in Rwanda.}}

Unemployment or jobs issues is one of the top priority item on the agenda to be discussed in the World Bank spring annual meeting to take place September 23-25 in Washington DC.

Ladipo was addressing the journalists from both public and private media in a press conference that took place at WB country office in Kigali.

“That one I know is an area with a lot of concern, attention and interest. We can’t and we are not yet in a position to give the specific data but this is what the government is looking at very closely-across the whole of Africa for example we know 7-10 million youth are coming up on Job market every year,”Ladipo said today.

“It is very significant proportion about our population and the expectations is that Rwanda is also somehow similarly impacted so I don’t want to go into data now, what we are trying to do in Rwanda is to pre-empt the possibility of it becoming a significant development issue,” Ladipo added.

She however said that the WB has supported social protection sector projects support aimed at making government to be in a position to provide employment and opportunities for youth in rural country side.

According to Ladipo priorities selected to be listed on the meeting’s agenda base on a combination of a lot of things driven by what is happening in the world giving an example of Jobs referring to what has been happening in the Middle East.

In April this year, Rwanda’s Minister of Public Service Anastase Murekezi the government was targeting to reduce unemployment rate to 4 percent from the current 8 percent in seven years through the formation of cooperatives.

According to the Minister, the working age group stood at 5.3 million with 670,000 still in school while public servants account for two percent representing 120,000 jobs.

It emerged that on average, between 100,000 and 140,000 new jobs are created per year out of a target of 200,000 new jobs by the year 2017.

While formal sector share of vacancies is 6.2 percent, the informal sector is said to dominate the employment industry with 93.8 percent.

Experts say unemployment currently stands at over 205 million worldwide which is the highest-ever recorded.

This year’s theme for the WB spring meeting is ‘Jobs, Gender and Climate change’ of which she said these affect different region differently and they don’t carry the amount of emphasis.

The meeting allows number of lectures, talks and seminars aimed at information sharing across countries and number of cooperate events are organized with Africa region specific events.

“There is accountability of one side done on the other side. It is about what we’ve been doing and about what we see as possible changes in policy direction. Basically to pick back what they think we should be doing and what we are not doing, if they think we have been doing things we shouldn’t have done they would tell us and if they think we have been doing more of a certain things they would also tell us,” Ladipo enlightened about the meeting.

On Rwanda’s context, Ladipo said that the meeting will focus mainly on how WB can continue supporting Rwanda to generate electricity to attain her target of 1000 megawatts by 2017, private sector development and how to support Secretary General Dr. Richard Sezibera’s plans at EAC secretariat.

The Rwandan delegation will be led by John Rwangombwa the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and Rwanda’s Central Bank Governor Claver Gatete.

{{Finally, Kenyans in Rwanda under the association named All Kenyans in Rwanda have voted Boniface Mutua as their chairman, though at some point his candidature was derailed for a month by a few who allegedly wanted to cling to the executive posts.}}

According to some voters who turned up at the Kenyan Embassy located in Kacyiru, voting Mutua was the way forward to the association’s growth..

“Many promise us wonders when they are campaigning but once we elect them they shy away from their pledges.Anyway, Mutua seems to be a performer and a visionary man we hope he doesn’t change,” says one Caroline Wambui.

On his part the unopposed Mutua assured AKR members that he will do his best to change the leadership history of the association where the outgoing executive is accused of be having been corrupt and greedy.

He adds that his first task is to register members who had paid registration fees but didn’t appear anywhere on the members list. “This is one of the signs of corrupt activities I want to end,” Mutua assured voters.

Prior to his nomination, Mutua had already started a campaign to collect donations of food and money to help those suffering of hunger in Kenya’s famine stricken areas.

He also wants foreigners to take part in national activities since they are also part of the society. He has organized several initiatives and among them is the communal cleaning (Umuganda) at Bwiza cell in Kacyiru.

What is more, Mutua who’s also the country director of PKF an auditing firm, urges those who are professionals to act like mentors especially to local students who have just finished their higher learning educations as there are few local companies to nature their skills.

“On my part as an accountant, I intend to connect some Rwandans who are practicing accounting for instance to some of the Nairobi’s renowned auditing firms and those in Rwanda for them to gain experience ,” he said.

Contributing to the society is not only forced task to Mutua but also a passion. So far he has constructed a school in his village situated in Kenya’s Mwala district close to Machakos town, in the same community he took part in the construction of a water well which connects more than 200 households.

Moreover, he wants to replicate the same in Rwanda by constructing houses to orphans as well as sponsor students who were unable to continue with their education.

“I can’t work alone, that’s why I’m encouraging my fellow Kenyans to contribute to the great progress of this country Rwanda,” he said.

{{The National Police of Rwanda, department of traffic has cautioned both drivers and pedestrians to respect Zebra crossings.}}

Disrespecting zebra closings by drivers will even attract punishments, according to the Chief Supt Célestin Twahirwa c/o Traffic Police.

In an interview with igihe.com today, C.Supt. Twahirwa noted, “Pedestrians should respect zebra crossings and avoid mixing themselves with cars, something may attract accidents.”

He added that disrespecting of zebra closings is a traffic offence that will also attract punishments.

The police is continuously sending text messages to mobile telephone subscribers cautioning the public to refrain from talking and texting messages using the phone while driving. This is an offense that is punishable.

“RNP reminds you that talking and texting on phone while driving is a traffic offence. Disregarding Zebra crossing also attracts punishment,” reads the text.

Years ago, Bicycles were banned from the main tarmac roads of the city. Then they were the largest source of road accidents.

Later Motor cycle Taxis emerged and dominated the transport sector within the city. They too took over as leader in road traffic accidents claiming many lives and serious injuries. This attracted the introduction of compulsory Helmets.

However, it has since become easy for many to acquire motorcycles through bank loans resulting into the presence of many motorcycles on roads without proper legal documents especially drivers permit and technical control pass. Many have been impounded in the on going crackdown by traffic police.

However, there are many road accidents in the countryside most of which are a result of ignorance about the road traffic rules by the citizens and reckless driving,overspeeding,non herded cattle crossing and use of phones while driving.

{{Mountain Gorilla Doctors have confirmed that the death of Ntobo, a female gorilla was caused by severe pneumonia with many abscesses in her lungs, and she had also suffered a miscarriage, probably because of the pneumonia.}}

Before her death on Friday 9 September Dr. Jean Felix Kinani from Karisoke Research Center (KRC) trackers requested a veterinary assessment for Ntobo, one of the females in the Bwenge group, who had become sick suddenly.

“When I checked on her, Ntobo appeared lethargic and had a dry cough and a high respiratory rate with audible respiration and Ntaribi, Ntobo’s 4-year-old infant, staying close to her,” the physician says.

The silverback Bwenge displayed when Ntobo was not moving with the rest of the group, and he pushed her gently, as if to encourage her to move. She slowly got up and joined the others. All the other gorillas in the group were looking fine but they seemed to know that Ntobo was sick and they kept checking on her.

The following morning Dr Kinani was accompanied by Dr. Jan Ramer from Gorilla Doctors, KRC trackers, Fundi Hategekimana and researcher Winnie Eckardt, also from Karisoke, and Volcanoes National Park Veterinary Warden Elisabeth Nyirakaragire.

They reached Bwenge group at 8:43 am and found Ntobo close to her son Ntaribi. She was lying on her stomach, trying to eat a little bit, but she was very weak and kept closing her eyes. Her respiratory rate increased from yesterday and was 48 breaths per minute.

Ntobo was darted anesthesia and sedated by 10:22 am. Silverback Bwenge charged for several minutes and dragged Ntobo a short distance. Her son Ntaribi cried but eventually rejoined the rest of his group around the perimeter.

The doctors performed a physical examination of Ntobo and saw that she was cachectic (suffering from loss of muscle mass), and dehydrated and had pale mucous membranes, an empty stomach, and some hair loss.

Blood samples were taken from the right femoral vein, and they also took viral and dry swabs samples from her mouth, throat, nose, vagina and anus. No urine was present. “We gave her injections of antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs as well as IV fluids,” said Kinani.

“She was also injected with a reversal drug at 11:16 am but did not respond to it. We gave her the same does 30 minutes later, again with no response. Her mucous membranes turned white (a sign of lack of oxygen) and so Dr. Jan put an intubation tube down her throat and blew several breaths into Ntobo’s lungs.

Ntobo began breathing again and her mucous became pink, but her temperature started to drop. We tried to warm her and stimulate her by rubbing her body for 2 hours, but she finally stopped breathing and died at 1:50 pm,” says Dr Kinani.

On Saturday, Dr Ramer noted that Ntobo’s body was carried off the mountain and taken Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project’s (MGVP) headquarters for a necropsy, where they found that Ntobo had severe pneumonia with many abscesses in her lungs, and she had also suffered a miscarriage, probably because of the pneumonia.

“We are all so sad. The Gorilla Doctors and trackers from KRC and the Rwanda Development Board will keep a close eye on the rest of the gorillas in the park to see if any other animals show signs of respiratory disease,” said Ramer.

{{The Minister of foreign affairs Louise Mushikiwabo has revealed that Rwandan government is willing to extraditing Congolese warlord Gen. Laurent Nkunda provided his home country assures her government it will not convict him to death penalty.}}

“We are talking to the Congolese authorities with regard to his extradition, but it is difficult,” Mushikiwabo told reporters in Paris on the sidelines of a state visit by Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

She further insisted. “It’s difficult for us to extradite a person to a country that has not abolished the death penalty even with certain guarantees.”

Gen. Nkunda, a former leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a rebel force that repeatedly routed Democratic Republic of Congo’s army, has been held under house arrest in Rwanda since 2009.

Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama said that Nkunda’s position as a soldier with supporters and his own military force meant that his case could not be treated like everybody else.

“It’s a delicate issue not just about extradition, but generally legal and political aspects and the stability of the region,” he said adding: “It’s difficult for Rwanda and Congo and we hope that soon there will be a lasting solution.”

His arrest is believed to be part of Rwanda and DRC’s military joint effort meant to halt activities of active rebel forces in their borders.

So far, the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has not indicted Nkunda, but has opened investigations into accusations against him and the U.N. has accused his CNDP of serious human rights abuses, including sexual violence and recruitment of child soldiers during his five-year rebellion in eastern Congo.

{{MTN’s latest promotion, ‘Faranga Yellow Yellow’ has so far given out up to Frw 30M to the 30 subscribers in a period of three weeks.}}

Today, September 13, the MTN has given out Frw 1M to each of 10 subscribers who managed to win with the ongoing promotion. This adds to 20 people each of whom won Frw I million previously.

Speaking to igihe.com, Robert Rwakabogo, Marketing Operations Manager, attributed cash splashing to the promotion as an offer to improve the standards of living of the Rwandan community of which almost 98% of the population’s telecom users are registered as MTN clients.

“This is the third week and we now gave out Frw 30M, and the main reason for the offer is for capacity building to our subscribers,” said Rwakabogo.

Evaliste Nsabimana, a taxi conductor from the district of Musanze and among the winners of a million said, “The money I have won today will assist me to build and finish my house back in Musanze of which I stopped the construction because of the limited capital.”

Feresien Nduwayezu a business man from Kayonza district said for him, he is going to inject the money and develop his shop that sells clothes.

The third week winners, among ten people, only one were a lady.The remaining Frw 33M by the promotion; Frw 20M will be won by other 20 chanced subscribers in the next two weeks, and one grand winner will go away with Frw13M as the biggest single cash prize ever given out by MTN Rwanda at the end of the promotion.

To enter the draw, a prepaid customer must have recharged a minimum of Frw 200 on the previous day.

The numbers for the customers who meet the eligibility requirement will be picked at random during the live draw with automotive machine and the winner will be called upon notifying him of the winning.

The promotion is open to MTN prepaid and postpaid subscribers, excluding MTN employees and their families, MTN agents, and anyone else professionally connected with the promotion.

Faranga Y’ello Y’ello’s promotion shall award a total of Frw 63million to lucky subscribers and will run for 5 weeks from August 22, to Sept 25.

The telecom company is also giving out an offer to people with sim cards that have spent at least 60 days and above not operational to re-insert them and start to operate and the airtime doubles per loading.

Topping up airtime to new sim cards bought also doubles and the offer will last in three months.

{{The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning John Rwangombwa has said that combating, and zero tolerance to corruption have facilitated the improvement of public financial management.}}

Rwangombwa made the remarks at the Learning Exchange on Best Practices between Francophone Countries meeting in the preparation for the Busan Forth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.

“Guided by Rwanda’s Aid Policy which we adopted in 2006, the Government of Rwanda and our partners have made considerable efforts enhancing effectiveness of aid provided to Rwanda,” Rwangombwa said in the meeting.

“The results of the recent Paris Declaration Survey in 2011 have indicated that we have seen improvements in our performance on aid effectiveness. This is the result of the joint efforts made by the Government of Rwanda and our partners,” he added.

Rwangombwa, however, said that improvement in performance of Aid effectiveness in Rwanda was possible due to strong leadership role over aid coordination and development management.

“To make aid more effective and in spill a sense of donor confidence, the Government of Rwanda has enhanced domestic accountability. This has also made development assistance register strong and good results on the ground,”

He also noted, “Recent global development landscape also necessitates us to be ever more diligent for the efficiency and effectiveness of aid”.

The minister added that global financial and economic crises and political changes in many donor countries resulted in tighter resources for development cooperation.

According to him, quality of development cooperation is one of the key to national agenda for Rwanda and that aid supports development of sustainable national capacity to facilitate the transformation of society and economy so that aid is no longer require.

The minister said Rwanda can offer many important lessons for aid effectiveness.

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4), which will be held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 29th November to 1st December, 2011 is said to be important for Rwanda.

Minister Rwangombwa says the outcomes of the Busan High-Level Forum need to speak about the reality on the ground and to help Rwanda achieve her vision and goals that aim at seeing people out of poverty.

The participants at the forum are expected to first attend the 3rd Regional Consultative Meeting on Development Effectiveness in Addis Ababa later this month is one of the significant African consultations prior to the Busan.

{{The new state-of-the-art modernized city transit buses belonging to a town service Transportation Company; Kigali Bus Services (KBS) have launched their operations within Kigali city.}}

The 20 buses were manufactured by a Chinese company; Zonda with engines made from the U.S under the order by KBS were shipped into the country a week ago.

Exclusively speaking to igihe.com, Lambert Muco KBS’ Managing Director said that the new buses are very safe and meet international standards of town services transportation and also fit well within the town’s Master Plan.

“The buses are safe because they are very comfortable and electronically controlled to avoid over speeding and accidents,” Muco said.

Muco (pictured above) also said that the introduced buses’ floors are made of aluminum that makes it easy during washing. They also have ‘in and out doors’ to avoid congestions inside, able and licensed to carry up to 80 passengers with 45 seated while 35 standing.

The buses also uses electronic cameras by the drivers to view behind cars and electronic display used as sign post by passengers to know the location where the bus is heading to, and another display that shows the next stopover.

According to Muco, the 11 meter long buses will be added to the 40 coaster buses that KBS has been using and that the main objective of the company is to solve the problem of transport around the city of Kigali.

He added that the company is due to open new lines of operation within the feeding roads like Nyabugogo, Kacyiru, Kimisagara among others.
The company currently has 60 buses both coasters and buses and also planning to import more 20 simillar buses before the end of the year and other 40 in the next phase.

{{Antoine Shaban a music trainer and director of La Musical- a music academy, is willing to train further ex- soldiers and police constables who have previously worked for bands of the security institutions.}}

His target is to broaden their talents. “The majority of former soldiers or police staff who were members of the band, often come to my music school to widen their talents and since some of the lessons are a bit expensive I’m willing to sponsor about 20 of them” he remarks.

And according to him, offering the sponsorship will be a milestone to promote live music in the country as digital made songs were becoming monotonous and unpleasant to fans of live concerts.

“The reason I prefer the ex-soldiers and police is because in their bands have used live instruments in the past especially in ceremonial occasions and most of their music are still played to date.”

Indeed in Rwanda digitally produced songs have a tendency of fading away and Shaban who’s in his late 60’s seems to have solution.

He blames the lack of longevity of songs to the fact that they are not original. That, he says, is because Rwandan musicians rely too much on computer programs such as Fruity-Loops, Kinetic and Music Match which have pre-programmed tunes and beats for almost all musical instruments.

“It seems people like it quick and easy,” Shaban says. But he warns that such software puts a musi­cian in a straightjacket, it is hard to produce some­thing unique,” he says.

At the same time, Shaban believes that computers have a big role to play in music production, but only if used wisely. For him, computers are useful to master songs, meaning balancing vo­cals and instruments.

“When you listen to rock or jazz music, for instance, you will hear a rich and creative melody from real instruments, unlike Hip-hop, which has amateurish drum beats generated by software.”

And the music teacher warns that even those who want to use computer-aided music won’t get any­where if they do not know how to play the real-life in­struments they want to use.

“I wonder why the majority of young producers hesitate to take music lessons. At our academy we have piano and keyboard lessons for Frw 20,000 a month, and quick learners can achieve a lot in that period. Guitar is more compli­cated, here the curriculum takes nine months.” Shaban explains.

One of Shaban’s students, Andre Mukundire, says he took the lessons after being disappointed by producers when he started singing two years ago.

“I didn’t have the basic music skills and enough money for private sponsorship. Those seriously affected my performance in concerts and believe me, that’s the worst you would wish for as a musician.” He laments.

The reason for singers and producers not taking music lessons is due to the fact that there are simply no any acade­mies in the country, and the few existing ones often lack ad­equate equipment. Here, Shaban thinks the govern­ment has a role to play to facilitate music academies since it molds the country’s music industry which may become a viable eco­nomic sector.

“And, who knows, it might give us another song worth remembering” Shaban concludes.

{{A man identified as Twagiragatonda Edward of Gasabo district was yesterday injured in a motocycle accident that occurred at Remera center opposite FINA bank at Kisementi area}}.

The accident occurred when a cruising motorcycle rammed into a Toyota RAV4 car registration number RAB 940Z.

Efforts by our reporter to talk to accident victim were futile as he was rushed to CHUK hospital by a Good Samaritan.

However, Habyarimana Emmanuel an eye witness attributed the accident to the carelessness and over speeding by the motorcyclist identified as Ndahiriwe Jean Bosco, “He was in a hurry to overtake the cars in the lane (from kimironko –town) and suddenly a bus from town to Kimironko appeared. Ndahiriwe lost control and crashed into the RAV 4 car that was driving at a slow speed and the passenger fell off the motorcycle hitting his chest onto the ground.”