Category: News

{{Nathan Lloyd, the Managing Director of the DN International; a real estate development company, has been put behind the bars by the National Police over allegations of swindling client’s money.}}

Lloyd had earlier received sums of money from 19 people who bought houses at Hill View Estate located at Kabuga, Kigali city suburb at a cost of Rwf55m, developed by DN International at loan acquired from Fina Bank.

He therefore, never produced required documents to his clients as promised, National Police reports.

Police spokesperson Supt. Theos Badege in a statement noted; “Those who bought houses will lose their money. It’s a swindling case because the company used fraudulent means to get the money from the victims promising to give them their tittles and keys immediately after payment, concealing the fact the titles are held at Fina Bank.”

He also had misunderstandings with the bank which had resulted into the auctioning of the houses by the bank which was to be held on August 25. This brought a lot of fear by the clients over losing their houses and some of them had even paid full amount during the construction process.

Prior to his arrest RDB had brought both parties; Fina Bank and DN International together to review the appropriate ways of handling the issue.

Exclusively speaking to {igihe.com}, RDB’s Chief Operations Officer Claire Akamanzi said, “there is nothing to tell you now but we brought them together and we hope the problem will rectified soon.”

When contacted Lloyd last Friday, he noted; “yeah we had miner misunderstandings with the bank who gave us loan for the construction of this estate but we have come to an agreement and the problem will be rectified as soon as possible.”

The Managing Director Fina Bank, Rao Balivade noted, we reached a temporally agreement and put the auctioning on halt for some time.
Lloyd is being detained at Remera Police Post.

{{The Government is to undergo a second rating by Standard & Poor’s (‘S&P’) to review the country’s strong economic growth, and the reform process that made the business environment friendlier to investors.}}

The ministry of Finance and economic Planning will of August 16 host one of the world’s leading rating agencies (S&P) with coverage on 126 sovereigns globally.

Mid September, the Agency will visit Rwanda and meet with various government ministries, Ambassadors, donors, RDB among others and 8 weeks later, send initial rating to the Ministry of Finance for discussion.

According to a Press release issued by Finance Ministry Friday, Fitch Ratings recently upgraded Rwanda’s rating to a ‘B’, in recognition of the country’s more secure investment climate.

Ratings provide an independent objective assessment of the credit worthiness of a certain country or a security.

The factors considered in the rating include the country’s economic status, transparency in the capital market, level of public and private investment flows and foreign investment.

Other factors considered are foreign currency reserves, political stability, or the ability for a country’s economy to remain stable despite political change.

Frank Higiro, the Communications Advisor Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning says: “A second rating would reassure investors that Rwanda has a good investment climate which could also lead to better borrowing costs for local companies and the government.

Such an opportunity will also enable Rwanda to access the international capital markets either through a sovereign bond offering.

It will also enable local companies with better access to the capital markets. After receiving their respective ratings, several African countries have issued international bonds to raise capital.

Ratings lie on a spectrum ranging between highest credit quality on one end and default on the other. Long–term credit ratings are denoted with a letter: from triple A (AAA) which is the highest credit quality to C or D (depending on the agency issuing the rating), the lowest or ‘junk’ quality. S&P is expected to complete the ratings process by the end of 2011.

The agency began coverage of Africa 17 years ago and currently has extensive coverage with a rating on 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It is headquartered in New York with company offices located in 26 countries globally with representative office for Sub Saharan Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa.

By: Igihe.com Reporter

{{President Paul Kagame has urged relevant authorities and the general public to devise ways of improving tax collection to get increased revenues in the country.}}

While officiating at the 10th taxpayers’ day, President Kagame said that time is ripe to think collectively on how revenues can be increased to prevent over dependency on foreign aid.

“Those countries supporting our budget and different projects get their funds from their citizens with whom we should have equal dignity,” Kagame said while addressing hundreds of taxpayers that turned up to celebrate the day.

“Those countries too have problems to cater for, and once problems persist they can lose morale of supporting you, so one should think of measures to prevent dependency on foreign aid. One should think beyond the available aid in case they lose morale for supporting us today due to lost generosity or overwhelmed by their problems,” Kagame warned.

Kagame called for voluntary tax compliance so as citizens could be able to be self reliant to solve over dependence on foreign aid.

Taxpayers to contribute 48% of this year’s national budget was provided by tax while 41% from foreign aid and the rest from external debts.

Rwanda Revenue Authority managed to collect Rwf 491bn out of targeted Rwf 458bn both fiscal and non-fiscal revenues of 2010/11 tax year.

According to Ben Kagarama the commissioner general of RRA, this year’s projected tax revenue is Rwf 515 bn which is likely to be attained given the new tax reforms.

Recently, the Minister of Finance and economic planning John Rwangombwa said that the government wants the citizens’ contribution to hit a target of 60% in 2014/2015 national budget believing it will be a tremendous stride taken by Rwandans themselves to get rid of aid dependency.

This year’s 10th Taxpayer’s day had a theme “Tax Compliance Dignifies a Nation” aimed at increasing tax compliance among taxpayers as well as sharing the ownership of paying taxes.

By: Andrew Kareba

{{Rwanda’s driving schools proprietors have appealed to the national police to consider suspending general tests of provisional and permanent permits. The move will oblige all driving permit seekers to undergo training from credible driving schools.}}

Rumashana Alphonse, Director of United Driving School says he appreciates the National police’s technologic progress in issuance of permits but suggests that Police should sensitize permit applicants to attend driving schools.

He further observed that all applicants should attend final tests in driving schools where they can gain more knowledge about traffic rules.

The Traffic Police Chief, Vincent Sano said, the process of registering people using new technology is ongoing since February 2011.

He further told the school proprietors that, mass traffic tests would be abolished and whoever needs a license in future will be asked to first attend a driving school.

In order to reduce a huge number of people in need of driving permits, Sano said: “Three general tests shall be conducted in a year and two monthly tests shall also be done at the invitation of driving schools,.”

The Commissioner General of Police, Emmanuel Gasana added that national police’s vision is to fasten new technologies in daily activities.

Gasana further urged driving school owners to increase their presence in other provinces outside Kigali City and promised the public that, the delay of driving license will be soon solved within a month after the test.

Habimana François, director of a driving school in Musanze District says, some people easily pass driving tests with the knowledge of traffic rules which could protect Rwandans from road accidents.

National police changed the questioning method using “Yes” or “No” in answering which gives more work to driving schools in teaching traffic rules.

The Acting Director General of Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) Eng. Gatarayiha Régis said that: “The inspection team of driving schools will be set up and will include RURA, MININFRA and RRA to ensure quality standards”.

Police says so far, the registered driving schools in the country are 23 and at least 30 more are set to be established countrywide in 2011

{{PEARSON a renowned publisher from the UK August 11 cerebrated the business partnership with the Ministry of Education and Drakkar Limited in delivery of books to Rwandan schools.
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During the event held at Mille Collines Hotel the company’s Sales Manager for African Sarah MC lean said that the cooperation with local authors shows that local writers have potentials to the career.

She observed that they still have a long way to go in terms of skills. However, she said that the East African publisher affiliated to Pearson has been improving their performance by merging them with experienced authors in the region.

“The cooperation is marvelous especially when you read a book titled ‘New Primary English’ co-authored by Emmanuel Murenzi and Uganda’s James Lyagoba. It has been very instrumental especially in teaching English,” said Rosebelle Otieno from East African Publishers.

Despite the progress, a good number of interested Rwandan authors are discouraged by the unstable book market and high cost authors incur when publishing books.

Murenzi, one of the upcoming writers urged publishers to support local novelists particularly talented ones who lack financial means.

The Director General in the ministry of education Erasme Rwanamiza argued that local authors shouldn’t be discouraged to compile their knowledge into writings since there are many ways to disseminate knowledge to the world by the use of new media which consist of websites and social sites.

Locally the poor reading culture on one hand has been a major hindrance as the majority with writing talents do not start at an early stage.

“I have written a chemistry book but its practical part is not widely used since majority of schools lack laboratory equipment. Scientific practicals are essential but I see less efforts being put in place to equip all schools with basic instruments,” Lwishi Kasanyandjo, a science teacher at Kagarama high school lamented.

Pearson has 24 NCDC (National Curriculum Development Center) approved titles on core primary and secondary subjects in Rwanda in addition to 7 supplementary titles approved which include Longman Secondary Atlas for East Africa, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the popular English novel titled: “The Liver Between”.

By: Marcel Nzabamwita

{{The pre-season games whose role is to prepare for the regular season of football have been announced and will commence on 7th September.}}

The pre-season games will consist of the top eight teams from the last PRIMUS cup season. The exciting games in this tournament include Rayon Sports which is expected to play against Police FC while Kiyovu Sports the winner of last year’s pre-season games will play AS Kigali.

APR FC the winner of the previous PRIMUS cup will play against Marines FC that came in the eighth position while La Jeunesse will face off with Etincelles FC.

The winner of the tournament stands to win 5 million Rwf while the second place winner will get 3 million Rwf. The team that will come in third will get 1 million Rwf while each team will get 500,000 frw in preparation for each game they play.

Different teams have started preparing for the season and pre-season games with Rayon Sports which is planning a friendly game against Azam FC from Tanzania on Wednesday 17th August at Amahoro Stadium.

By: Marcel Nzabamwita

{{APR FC that came top of the table in the last season has also been purchasing new players in order to solidify its position as the leader of the league and also have a better luck in international tournaments. }}

The PRIMUS cup is scheduled to start on the 17th September.

“We have reached agreements with the players we intended to add to our list and now we are just waiting for them to come and start training with other players. The players include Karekezi Olivier, Jimmy Mulisa, Habib Kavuma and Dan Bagaruka along with other players that will be announced in the press conference” said Adolphe Kalisa, the secretary general of APR FC in an interview with radio Contact FM.

“At the moment I cannot announce the APR FC lineup for next season because we have completed agreements with some but some others are still in process and so we shall announce the full list in a scheduled press conference” he added.

“In regards to Papi Fati and Thierry Kasereka, the details are still being negotiated, and as you know a single detail can change the whole contract and so I do not want to announce until all is completed.”

Mr. Adolphe Kalisa promised that a press release will be issued soon enough so that loyal fans of APR FC could be informed about the team’s plans for the upcoming season.

Training for APR FC is expected to begin on Monday 15th August at the training grounds in Kimironko next to the national stadium.

By: Joram Muhoozi & Agencies

{{Rwandans living in London UK have been warned by their Diaspora leader Ignatius Mugabo to be carefull and avoid taking part in demonstrations. London riots spreads over to the whole of England.
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According to Mugabo, various parts including North London, South/East London, Birmingham, West Midlands and other areas where riots are taking place, are occupied by many Rwandans.

Mugabo asked them not to get involved in any riots going on, not to reach nearby roadsides where riots are taking place, and to follow the rules of anti-riots corps and all necessary ways to evade riot and report any affected Rwandan in such riots.

Rioting has spread across London on a third night of violence, with unrest flaring in other English cities.

Extra 1,700 police officers were deployed in London, where shops were looted and buildings were set alight.

The prime minister has returned early from his holiday to discuss the unrest, which first flared on Saturday after a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the fatal shooting of a man by police.

BBC has reported that least 400 people have been arrested following a wave of “copycat criminal activity” across London over the past three days, the Met Police said. More than 69 people have been charged with various offences.

Three people are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder after a police officer was injured by a car in Wembley, north-west London, while trying to stop suspected looters.

Monday’s violence started in Hackney after a man was stopped and searched by police but nothing was found.

Groups of people began attacking the police in Hackney at about 16:20 BST, throwing stones and a bin at officers.

Police cars were smashed by youths armed with wooden poles and metal bars. Looters also smashed their way into shops before being dispersed by police.

Nine police forces from other parts of the country have assisted in providing support to the capital city, as well as the City of London Police and British Transport Police.

However, eyewitnesses have reported that as trouble spread across the city, there were often few police officers around when violence flared.

{{Uganda’s popular Journalist Andrew Mwenda highly believed to have access to the presidents of Uganda and Rwanda has denied Ugandan press reports that he was instrumental in the historic meeting of Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame.
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“I can confirm to you that it’s not true because I have no capacity to influence Museveni or Kagame like that. Two presidents can influence each other but not me as Mwenda, who I am I to do that?” he exclusively told {igihe.com} today in a phone interview.

The Red Pepper, a popular tabloid in Uganda on August 9, reported that Mwenda allegedly in February flew to Kigali and asked President Kagame ‘why he can’t make up with President Museveni’.

Red Pepper wrote that President Kagame that highly believes in Mwenda, agreed to the Ugandan Journalists suggestion of meeting with the Ugandan leader.

The tabloid that regularly publishes exclusive stories about Rwanda, further reported that Mwenda contacted the Uganda first son Lt. Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba about the possibility of hooking him up with president Museveni and that Muhoozi delivered Mwenda to the President in person making his intentions were made clear.

The Daily Monitor also a Ugandan Newspaper had on July 29 reported that: “A source said the visit was put together by Uganda’s former ambassador to Rwanda, Adonia Ayebare, who is also a former journalist, and AndrewMwenda, a journalist who is also a public relations consultant to President Kagame and is equally known to have been advising President Museveni on the media since last year.”

Ambassador Ayebare is known to have been the diplomat ‘in very good books’ with the Kigali administration apparently due to his soft-spoken and assertive manner of handling both private life and bureaucratic dynamics.

{{As the European countries continue to suffer the hurting effects of the global economic crisis, German’s chargé d’ Affairs, Wolfgang Wiesner has affirmed that the German government shall continue giving financial support to Rwanda despite the ongoing financial crisis in the Euro zone.
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German is being depended upon by collapsing countries like Italy and Spain.

Wiesner made the remarks during a signing ceremony of Euros 10 million grant to Rwanda’s general budget support and Public Financial Management (PFM) systems.

The minister of finance and economic planning John Rwangombwa highlighted that Euros 7million will be channeled through general budget and will be used specifically in the implementation of the Economic Development Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) 2008-2012 while Euros 3 million will be used to implement PFM reform strategy.

Mr. Rwangombwa noted that the reforms are aimed at ensuring effective and accountable use of public funds as a basis for economic development and poverty alleviation through improved service delivery.

“We are committed to better planning of the budgetary process, accounting and all forms of finance management,” he assured the German delegation.

Wiesner also pointed out that the German government cooperation with Rwanda has showed significant results especially in health, good governance, poverty reduction amongst others.

Meanwhile, Rwangombwa noted Rwanda had confidence in German’s support and he had no worry that the ongoing financial crisis in the Euro zone would affect German funded activities in Rwanda.

“With the EDPRS program for instance we have Rwf 3.6 trillion more than what we had targeted which is Rwf 3.4 trillion and the implementation process is moving smoothly.