Category: Social

{Leaders of Bugesera district say they have combated famine the district once experienced, a feat attained through concerted efforts between the residents, government support and development partners that have all introduced and embraced irrigation and tree planting. }

The mayor of Bugesera district, Rwagaju Louis, said that residents have been facing crops failures due to droughts, causing recurring famines.

Rwagaju said they have reclaimed marshlands using irrigation which increased yields per unit area that today they even produce surplus for markets.

“Irrigation and agricultural mechanization have contributed a lot and we harvest more reserves for Kigali city,” he told IGIHE.

Apart from irrigation, Rwagaju says they have concentrated efforts in planting drought and disease resistant trees that, as well, contribute to environmental resilience.
He said that they have provided 12 irrigation machines to cooperatives of Bugesera farmers during the 2014/2015 financial year.

He said that 52 other irrigation facilities have been availed to farmers and 190 to be donated in 2015/2016.

The mayor says that in 2011 the district had poverty levels at 48.4% compared to the current 34.3%. Those who were in extreme poverty in 2011 were at 28.3% compared to the current 13.4%.

{The Chancellery for Heroes, National Order and Decoration of Honour (CHENO) says that the upcoming celebration of Heroes’ Day will be a good opportunity to commend Rwandans who have demonstrated excellence at village levels.}

During the press briefing held yesterday, CHENO revealed that heroes’ day celebrations will be held at village levels to be preceded by a community work on 30th January 2015 in which a talk on heroism values will be held.

“Citizens at local levels that have shown excellent deeds profitable for Rwandans will be awarded,” said Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, the chairperson of CHENO.

CHENO requests all Rwandans to present names of people they think have demonstrated heroism so they get assessed for decoration.

Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi said that the brave and exemplary Rwandans should be emulated for better future of Rwandan.

CHENO says that government officials will lay wreaths at the heroes square before noon while family members of heroes will lay wreaths in the afternoon.

{Residents of Karenge sector of Rwamagana district have expressed concern over raising cases of theft of domestic animals, attributing it to drought and crop failure.
Many of Karenge sector residents say they did not harvest enough produce during the previous season. }

“Drought led to crop failure in the previous season. We are rationing to one meal a day. Sometimes we don’t eat the whole day when we fail to find one with food in exchange of laabour,” said Idrisa Rukundo, one of the residents.

Vincent Rutaganda, another resident also revealed that hunger is beginning to bite so hard that some residents are contemplating to leave for other districts to seek means of survival.

Nepo Tumusifu said that theft in their region has reached a higher level since it has extended to other material. “We are faced with domestic animals theft. We no longer pasture goats in bushes since they are stolen for whoever tries to do it. The theft has extended to other materials like bicycles during market days,” he said.

The executive secretary of Karenge sector, Marc Rushimisha, also confirmed that the prevailing hunger in some parts of Rwamagana resulted from drought.

{Heavy rains that outpoured over the weekend ravaged 14 houses and toilets in the villages of; Cyagara village, Gatebe, Mihabura, Kabeza and Muko villages in Nyange cell of Bugarama sector, Rusizi district.}

Emmanuel Nsigaye, Rusizi district deputy mayor in charge of social welfare has said they have already made an assessment of the damage and see how they can intervene.
“We have already made the assessment and we shall support the affected families. We have visited all the affected homes,” he said.

He further said that all 14 houses have been completely razed down. The local government leaders have appealed to neighbours to temporarily house the victims as they mobilize support.

“We have requested neighbors to accommodate them waiting to meet partners like Red Cross, MIDIMAR, non-governmental institutions operating in the district,” he said.

{Communication is an important tool in every relationship. Without proper communication a relationship would be over-ran with misunderstanding, frequent quarrels, arguments and even fights.}

Every relationship needs to have an understanding of how to communicate easily else the relationship would be a total fail.

7 tips for effective communication in relationships

{{1. HAVE A CALM AURA}}

A calm aura is needed while communicating with your partner; this is a very important trait that’s needed in every relationship. Some people have a harsh way of communicating without even knowing, and this character can be perceived in a very different way by your partner. “You are crazy” are three words that can either make one laugh or make one angry; it just depends on how it is said. Communicating calmly would always be a plus for your relationship.

{{2. QUIT SHYNESS}}

Shyness is a weakness when it comes to communication and relationships. Shyness would make you not say what you have to say, and sometimes all you have to say is what your partner needs to know. Shyness wouldn’t help you bear out your mind and that would haunt you later on; feel free to bear your mind but don’t forget the first tip.

{{3. SHUN THE DEFENSIVE NATURE}}

A defensive nature is also not needed in communication; a defensive nature would make you not take responsibility for your faults and actions instead you would keep blaming one person to another. This would ruin your relationship and it would make you and your partner not find a way to deal with issues.
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4. TRY TO AVOID CRITICISM}}

If possible, it’s best to avoid criticisms when communicating with your partner. You can’t effectively pass on a message when you centre more on criticising your partner all the time. There are better ways of passing a message other than direct criticism; harsh criticisms can kill your partner’s belief in that relationship.
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5. REACT SLOWLY WHEN ANGRY}}

Anger comes with a surge and if you use that surge of anger while communicating with your partner, you might end up saying things you don’t actually mean. React slowly when you are angry or even wait for the anger to subside before you air your opinion to your partner. Anger and communication would never have a synergy; anger would always make communication ineffective.

{{6. BE ATTENTIVE}}

There is nothing like an attentive partner; when you always have that listening ear to what your partner has to say, he/she would always want to confide in you the more. It doesn’t just end by being attentive; responding as well makes communication in relationship more effective. You should be able to listen and respond to your partner’s emotions and feeling.
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7. SARCASM AIMED AT MOCKERY SHOULD BE AVOIDED}}

Teasing your partner isn’t bad, as far as it’s a joke that’s intended to make you both laugh; though you should be aware of how you tease because your partner might not perceive it same way as you.

However, that’s a different scenario from sarcasm that’s aimed at inducing mockery. Showing disrespect, sneering, eye-rolling and the rest is also not a good habit during communication; all those should be avoided.

Sometimes, a lack of proper communication is what harms and kills most relationships; mastering how to effectively communicate with your partner would help your relationship in more ways than you can imagine.

{Police in Nyarugenge District has urged youth scouts to play a significant role in educating their peers about human trafficking, how it happens and also contribute to fighting it.}

The call was made to 40 boy scouts from Nyarugenge district on January 22,

While speaking to 40 scouts on January 22, Nyarugenge District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO) Inspector of Police (IP) Jean Bosco Segatare, explained to them how human trafficking is done, the most targeted groups of people and its effects.

He went on to tell the youth that fighting such a vice requires collective efforts and that that’s why their contribution is equally paramount.

“Normally young people are lured into believing that they are going to be given either lucrative jobs or education in places far away from their homes. In the end, they are flipped into prostitution or forced labors,” said Segatare

He also urged them to share information about anyone suspected to be involved in human trafficking, to the police.

“Human trafficking is an organized crime that those who are involved apply a number of tricks to lure their victims but they can’t succeed especially where there is cooperation between security organs and the general public,” said Segatare.

He went on to tell the scouts to sensitize their peers about the effects of human trafficking and also urged them to also join in the fight against other crimes like gender based violence and drug abuse among others.

The head of the scouts in Nyarugenge district Janvier Kwisanga pointed out that most of the scouts had heard of human trafficking but they didn’t know how grave it was until the police explained to them.

“The lectures from the police are very informative and gives us an idea of how we can prevent these crimes from happening,” he said.

The awareness came as part of the police’s public outreach through community policing initiative to ensure different categories of the society play a role in fighting against crimes in their neighborhoods.

{Everyone on earth must have probably told a lie, just as everyone must have been lied to. We all wish we have the power or ability to detect when someone is lying to us; definitely no one loves to be lied to.}

Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy reveals how to spot a liar in her new book “Presence”. She says that instead of looking for one big “reveal,” the best way to spot deception is to look for discrepancies across multiple channels of communication, including facial expressions, posture, and speech.

According to Cuddy “Lying is hard work,”

“We’re telling one story while suppressing another, and if that’s not complicated enough, most of us are experiencing psychological guilt about doing this, which we’re also trying suppress. We just don’t have the brainpower to manage it all without letting something go — without ‘leaking’.”

According to Cuddy, the best way to spot a liar is to look for differences between what people are saying and what they are doing, she says. Conflicting emotions, like a happy tone of voice paired with an agitated facial expression, can be particularly telling.

Cuddy believes that people are generally bad at spotting a lie.

“When we’re consciously looking for signs of deception or truth, we pay too much attention to words and not enough to the nonverbal gestalt of what’s going on,” Cuddy says. “Truth reveals itself more clearly through actions than it does through our words.”

{Rwanda National Police (RNP) has arrested a group of five people suspect to be in a ring that has been stealing money from unsuspecting people’s mobile banking accounts.}

The suspects, all hailing from Cyabakamyi Sector in Nyanza District are identified as Jerome Bamurebe, a Mobile Money agent in Kigali, Jeremy Bikorimana and Emmanuel Tuyishime, both aged 18 and Senior two students at Nyagisozi in Nyanza; Donat Uzabakiriho, 19, and Sosthene Habineza, 24.

They were arrested in Kigali in a two-day police operation conducted between January 19 and 20 in the suburbs of Muhima, Nyabugogo and Gatsata.

The suspects were paraded before the media on January 22 in which Police said that it “should signal a stern warning to anyone still involved.”

All the suspects acknowledged to have been working together to defraud unsuspecting people.

One of the suspects, Tuyishime said that they would just compose any number and if it went through, they would tell the person he or she has won a jackpot.

Unsuspectingly, he added, the victim would then follow their instructions and sends the money on their MTN mobile money, Tigo cash or Airtel money as the only prerequisite to claim their prize.

The suspects would then disconnect the used SIM-card and acquire a new one with the help of Bamurebe, who was also selling SIM-cards.

At the time of his arrest, Tuyishime had 20 SIM-cards of different telecom companies, which he was allegedly using to defraud people.

Another suspect, Bikorimana narrated that he was recruited by Tuyishime in November last year after he joined him in Kigali from Nyanza, for a holiday.

According to Bikorimana, he had already collected over Rwf200, 000 from different people in the last two months.

Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Celestin Twahirwa, said that the successful operations were conducted after some victims reported to police.

“During the operation, we found out that most of the SIM-cards these suspects were using to con people were actually registered in names of other people, who are not connected to this ring. So there was through investigations to identify and arrest real suspects,” ACP Twahirwa said.

According to investigations, the suspects would just compose any national ID number and search by use of mobile phone, and if they luckily found it to be registered, they would then use the same number to buy another SIM-card.

Investigations further revealed that in the last two months alone, they had used 89 SIM-cards, majority registered on other people’s names.

About 30 SIM-cards were registered on only one unsuspecting victim.

“These suspects are few… there are many others and we have a list, but thorough investigations are still ongoing to ensure that all those involved in this mobile telecom theft are apprehended. We are working with telecom companies in these investigations, and to also ensure that such SIM-cards that these thieves use, are disconnected,” said ACP Twahirwa.

“Why should people believe to have won a jackpot in a lottery they never participated in?” he wondered calling on the public to desist from believing such tricks fraudsters use to steal from them

He appealed to the general public to facilitate investigations to break this chain by reporting those SIM-cards that conmen use to call or defraud them.

Such criminal acts, he said, are against article 318 of the Rwandan penal code.

It states that “any person who, intentionally obtains a property belonging to another person fraudulently or by using false names or qualities, to give rise to hope or fear of harm and obtains a part or whole of a fortune shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of Rwf3 million to Rwf5 million.