At least 45 of them are members of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church, who were found in the house of one Flora Mutoni, 40, praying at night.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the Police spokesperson for the Eastern region, said that at about 9 PM, residents of Gakoma Village in Rwimiyaga, raised concerns about many people, some with vehicles, who had gathered at the home of Mutoni.
“The large movements and sound pollution from the home of Mutoni from where they were singing and praying, prompted the neighboring residents to call in the Police. Indeed, Police found them including children, congested in the seating room praying,” said CIP Twizeyimana.
He added: “These people breached almost all the directives put in place to contain the pandemic of COVID-19; they were gathered in one place in large number, they did not wash or sanitize their hands before entering, no facemasks and they were compacted in a small room… no social distancing.
They had traveled from different parts of the district including those from Nyagatare and Rwimiyaga sectors. One person infected with the virus could easily infect everyone, who was there, who would, in turn, further spread it to their respective families and communities.”
All the 45 violators were isolated at Rwimiyaga Police station.
The spokesperson thanked the residents for their role in the implementation of the directives to combat the pandemic.
“One person, who violates the directives, could be the source of spread in the whole community, and this is while compliance is a must and sharing information on violators is an individual and collective responsibility.”
He reminded the public to stay within the limits of the directives to supplement the national efforts against the pandemic.
One vehicle, registration number RAA 982E, Daihatsu type was being driven by Epimaque Kabera, 37, when it was intercepted in Rubavu District in Bugeshi Sector, Buringo Cell in Gahira Village while carrying 900 liters of illicit brew.
Another vehicle, RAA 746U, Hilux type was driven by James Manirakiza, 25. It was intercepted in Nyakigezi Village, Gakoro cell of Rugera sector in Nyabihu District with over 250 liters of illicit drinks.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that the vehicle, RAA 746U was delivering the psychotropic substances to one Alexander Nduhuyabagabo, 40, another dealer in Nyabihu.
“The 250 liters were bought from distillers in Bugeshi and Rugera sectors, in Rubavu and Nyabihu respectively,” CIP Karekezi said.
This comes less than a week after more than 4,500 liters of assorted illicit substances were also seized and disposed-of in Nyabihu District.
“This is part of the ongoing operations against distillers and dealers in psychotropic substances, working in partnership with local leaders and largely based on credible information we receive from the public. The operations are meant to break the manufacturing and distribution chains,” he added.
All drinks with alcoholic content above 45 percent or with unknown alcoholic content are considered as “psychotropic substance.”
Article 263 of Rwanda penal code stipulates that any person who, unlawfully, produces, transforms, transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances commits an offense, with a sentence upon conviction, ranging between seven years and life in prison, and a fine of between Rwf20 million and Rwf30 million.
The suspects were arrested in an operation conducted with local leaders in Gashali Sector, Birambo Cell following a tip-off from residents.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that the suspects were caught red-handed mining in the river.
Their illegal mining activities had affected the water body, he said.
“There was information that the river was being affected by illegal mining activities, which prompted the joint operation and the subsequent arrest of thirteen people. They selling the minerals to other illegal dealers,” CIP Karekezi said.
He warned against the illegal acts saying that “operations are continuous to enforce the law on mining against all malpractices within the mining industry.”
“We appeal to the residents to fight such crimes and report people who carry illegal mining activities in their areas.”
“We have many times appealed to the population to abstain from such acts. Some have honored the call, others not. There is a need for collective efforts to fight all acts related to the degradation of the environment.”
He reminded that for anyone to carry out mining activities, they must be licenced and work within the limits of the law in order to minimize environmental degradation and fatal risks.
Article 54 of the law on mining and quarry operations, states that; “any person, who undertakes mineral or quarry exploration, exploitation, processing or trading without a license commits an offence.”
Upon conviction, the offender is liable to imprisonment for a term of between two and six months and a fine of not less than Rwf1 million and not more than Rwf5 million or only one of these penalties.
The court also orders confiscation of any seized minerals or quarry in storage, trading or processing without a license.
Innocent Manishimwe, 23, who was handed over to Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) at Mukamira station, is said to be part of a group that scammed a local businesswoman in Nyabihu of Rwf500, 000, recently.
Nyabihu District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Paul Byuma, said that Manishimwe, together with his two accomplices still at large, last month, made the victim believe that they are Irish potato farmers.
“They took her to an Irish potato plantation ready for harvest, which they claimed to be theirs. They settled for Rwf3 million. The victim paid them Rwf500, 000 with the rest to be paid after harvesting,” SSP Byuma explained.
The victim was later to realize that she had been duped after the rightful owners of the potato garden emerged, and the scammers were nowhere to be seen and their known telephone switched off.
“She brought the matter before law enforcement authorities in Nyabihu and the search for the scammers started. Recently, Manishimwe emerged again and started calling the victim demanding money so as to show her where the conmen are hiding.
He claimed he knows where they reside. This was another trick they were employing to dupe her again,” the DPC explained.
With this new information, on July 6, at around 9 PM, Police traced and arrested Manishimwe in Kazibake Village, Rugeshi Cell in Mukamira Sector although his two accomplices managed to flee. The search for them is still ongoing.”
He advised the public to always make thorough checks and engage other people especially those residing or operating in the neighborhoods so as to prevent such losses.
Clause One of article 174 of the law determining offences and penalties in general in Rwanda, defines fraud as deception, obtaining another person’s property, whole or part of his/her finance by use of false names or qualifications, or offering positive promises or threats of future misfortunes.
Clause Two of the same article provides a term of imprisonment of between two and three years, and a fine of not less than Rwf3 million but not more than Rwf5 million, upon conviction.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that the smugglers were caught with 24 tins of powdered milk, nine sacks of banned skin bleaching lotions and a sack of polythene bags.
“They were arrested in the middle of the night smuggling the goods, including those that are banned in Rwanda like skin whitening products and plastic bags. They were using illegal border points from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and were intercepted by the security personnel on patrol,” CIP Karekezi said.
He explained that the smugglers were arrested alongside one Rutagarama Museveni alias Murasta, who is said to be the owner of the goods.
“Two people had smuggled the goods and delivering them to Rutagarama. When security personnel detected them, they were approaching his house and indeed they immediately entered the same house, where they were arrested with the goods,” CIP Karekezi explained.
He reminded the public that such fraud can also be the source and spread of Coronavirus.
Under the East African Community Management Act, which is applicable in Rwanda, seized smuggled goods under article 199, are auctioned.
The vehicle used in fraud and smuggling is also auctioned and the driver slapped a fine of US$5000.
He warned all people to think of engaging in criminal activities.
“We are not consumed by the current situation; we are engaged in all operations against criminality and implementing all issued directives including those related to preventing further spread of Coronavirus,” CP Kabera said.
The spokesperson was throwing some light on the policing activities in this period on Monday while appearing on Waramutse Rwanda, a morning show on Rwanda Television.
He thanked the public for their role in fighting and preventing crimes through information sharing.
Rwanda started drafting and implementing measures against Coronavirus in mid-March when the first case was detected in the country. RNP is at the center of implementing all the directives.
Since then, many people have been arrested either violating the directives or in criminal acts such as drug trafficking, retailing, smuggling; drunkenness, and related unlawful acts such as assault; illegal mining, and trade of minerals, among others.
Although RNP is engaged in enforcing the directives on COVID -19, the safety of people in Rwanda and their property is the force’s overall priority.
“Many drug dealers, smugglers; illegal dealers in minerals, thieves have been arrested in this period. So don’t be deceived, we are wide awake, you will be arrested.
It’s both committing a crime and breaching government directives and derailing efforts against the pandemic,” CP Kabera said.
“Community policing empowers the people to be custodians of the law in their localities, it has become a force multiplier to detect, fight, and prevent crimes.”
He urged the general public to continue exercising their policing rights by utilizing RNP communication channels.
{{RNP communication channels}}
110: Maritime
111: Fire and Rescue
112: Emergency
113: Traffic Accidents
118: Traffic Police Queries
997: Anti-Corruption
3511: Abuse by Police Officer
WhatsApp: 0788311155
Twitter: @Rwandapolice
YouTube: Rwanda Police
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AOS Ltd Management and staff wish all Rwandans a Happy Liberation Day as we celebrate 26 years of liberation. This is a day when friends of Rwanda and Rwandans across the world come together to reflect on the time when the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was stopped and to celebrate the transformation journey.
AOS Ltd started its operation in 2014, and have contributed to the development of the ICT sector in Rwanda; developed and deployed various systems for both the public and private sectors. AOS developed and deployed the electronic procurement system (e-Procurement) of Rwanda called “Umucyo” in collaboration with Minecofin and RPPA which has increased accountability, transparency, and efficiency in the public procurement process.
AOS also deployed the public surveillance CCTV and vehicle enforcement system in collaboration with Rwanda National Police that contributes to the safety and security of Rwandans by providing real-time accurate information.
The company has been managing and operating the National Data Center of Rwanda hosting both the public and private sector offering various hosting services including cloud computing, server colocation, web and email hosting, Backup as a service and disaster recovery services to suit customer needs and improve the way they are doing business.
AOS has implemented the Government smart administration system in collaboration with RISA to improve collaboration system and ensure paperless communication between Government institutions and private customers. The project is ongoing.
There are ways AOS uses to minimize the cost of hosting websites locally.
AOS is minimizing the cost of acquisition by using customized home grown solutions and growing customer base to capitalize on the volume of sales and not on the price. The company has made a significant drop in service charges for hosting websites locally with the lowest option being Rwf2,025 per month (24,300 Rwf annually) and a price reduction for cloud computing services as well for the private sector.
AOS Ltd aims to provide good quality of service at an affordable price and will continue to offer better affordable rates to its customers.
AOS says there are several benefits of local web hosting.
The Chief Marketing Officer of AOS, Mr. Manzi Olivier Rwaka said that “Hosting locally contributes to the development of the economy by employing the Rwandan workforce and promoting made in Rwanda solutions. End users hosted locally will have a better experience reducing the network latency, therefore, enjoying faster browsing, more website uptime, and better loading time while accessing their data especially if the data hosted is mostly accessed by users in Rwanda,”
“Another advantage is that users hosted locally can get better support from the local hosting provider when needed at any time with an advantage of using our local language Kinyarwanda. There’s also a security aspect knowing that your data is locally hosted especially sensitive data for Rwandans.”
According to Mr. Manzi Olivier Rwaka, they see an increase in web and mail hosting customers over the years in the private sector. Customers look for good quality of service, good support at an affordable price. The price reduction has also contributed to attract more people to host locally but there’s still more to be done to bring back local content in Rwanda and AOS Ltd is committed to provide the best service at good rates and to contribute in the growth of the private sector in Rwanda.
The interviewer asked the Chief Executive Officer of AOS, Mr. Seong Woo Kim how AOS services are sharpening Rwanda’s vision of becoming an ICT Hub.
“We are contributing to make Rwanda an ICT hub by providing Data Center services not only to local customers but also to regional as we have been targeting the EAC market and international customers.
“As of September 2018, the World Bank officially acknowledged that Rwanda e-procurement system “Umucyo” is the first successful case in Africa. The system has attracted interest from various African countries that would like to have a similar system in their countries.”
Back in 2018, several websites went down in the country including some of the government-owned websites. The interviewer asked AOS what are the measures that have been taken to get this issue answered once and for all.
“We have reviewed policies and procedures in place to avoid incidents or technical problems and we have put in place a mitigation plan to the issues that were noticed,” The Chief Marketing Officer of AOS, Mr. Manzi Olivier Rwaka assures.
In the level of the continent when it comes to its mission of bringing ICT solutions and services that will transform Africa, AOS place themselves as an ICT provider company with expertise and experience in Data Center operations, solution development, systems integration that can be exported to other African countries. They are challengers on the market and believe to be competitive in the EAC market.
AOS Ltd has initiatives to help Rwanda to turn into a high-tech hub as well as channels that will foster their targets.
The Chief Executive Officer of AOS, Mr. Seong Woo Kim said that “We need to develop more homegrown solutions. In the beginning, we start developing our solutions with the support from others with more expertise which will increase the knowledge and skills of our local engineers in various aspects and enhance our understanding of the end-users. Then, there will be more local engagement for other solutions and at the end, we will be able to successfully deliver ourselves by given the focus to the people who are engaged in these efforts such as software developers, network and security engineers, sales and marketing experts who interact with end-users.
“We need to keep them and give them the tools that they need so that they can build their experience and build their know-how. Finally, knowledge sharing and training should be done. We also plan to have an ICT academy to teach various IT skills to Rwandans.”
They will also export those successful solutions to other African countries as Made in Rwanda products, therefore, boost the economy and turn Rwanda into an ICT hub.
Impano Sports Ltd is a company that manufactures and sells quality affordable sportswear here in Rwanda since 2018.
In an interview with IGIHE, Allen Simms, who is also a professional fitness and sports coach of Athletics, said that sports are important in the ongoing vision to build Rwanda after 26 years since the Genocide against the Tutsi.
As a coach who was also once a professional athlete for USA, Allen says that sports can heal people’s wounds and unite people from different backgrounds.
“For example when we take a professional football team that has players from different towns, cultures, races, or countries the fans only see 1 united team, not the players differences or backgrounds. This sports team can join people together under a common goal, to win thus helping in healing from past wounds. As with Car Free Day that unites several people, you see people happy even though there are those with differences from the past and normally would not gather together in peace.”
After two years in the clothing industry, Impano Sports Ltd aims to support the ‘Made in Rwanda’ program so that even Rwandan teams will start getting affordable, made-in-the-country team sports uniforms rather than purchase from Europe or Asia at high cost.
“We have to destroy the second-hand ideology on all levels and value what can be designed and produced here because the development of the country and its future depends on it, not what the outside world can sale to Rwanda. We at Impano have worked very hard with customer service to establish a quality affordable brand, without outside assistance. We rely on our customers to give us feedback to help us improve our product, we strive to build from within,” he said.
“I’m the only non-Rwandan in the company, our products are designed and produced by Rwandans, there should pride in that.”
“Our goal is to join the sportswear market in Rwanda and to dress teams participating in various sports including the Olympics, the World Championships, and other competitions. We believe that if Rwandans feel that what is being produced at home is of good quality, it will bring more trust and comfort in supporting made in Rwanda products in the future.”
Impano urges Rwandans that during this period of celebrating the 26th anniversary of the liberation of Rwanda, everyone should strive for sustainable development of the country and to liberate our minds holistically from second-hand products and cheap goods being passed as original products from outside of Rwanda.
The substances were impounded in separate operations conducted in June in the sectors of Rugera and Shyira.
The psychotropic substances were disposed-of in a public exercise held in Rugera Sector.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that the operations were conducted by Rugera Police station, which oversees the two sectors.
“There was information about people venturing in illegal breweries producing psychotropic substances especially in Gicumbi District and supplying other dealers in Musanze District. Rugera and Shyira sectors in Nyabihu were, therefore, found to be their main trafficking routes,” CIP Karekezi said.
“Two vehicles were impounded during the operations; one Daihatsu was transporting 2, 200 liters of illicit brew while another had over 1,000 liters. Other psychotropic substances were being transported on motorcycles and bicycles,” he added.
He explained that through communication between District Police Units, they traced the sources where the substances were produced, dismantled the illegal distilleries and owners handed varied penalties as the law specifies.
He observed that besides being unhygienic and harmful to consumers, these psychotropic substances have been found to be the source of other crimes related to gender and domestic and fighting.
“We commend the role of the public in these successful operations, which were mainly based on credible information they shared with the Police on producers, traffickers and routes used,” CIP Karekezi said.
All drinks with alcoholic content exceeding 45% or with unknown alcoholic content are prohibited in Rwanda and classified as psychotropic substances.
Under article 263 of the law determining offences and penalties in Rwanda, anyone convicted for producing, trafficking or selling narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances faces between seven years and life imprisonment and a fine of up to Rwf30 million.
RNP spokesperson, Commissioner of Police (CP) John Bosco Kabera appealed to those going about their errands to exercise patience to be tested to facilitate the national efforts against the pandemic.
“Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) started mass testing in Kigali on Thursday, and testing units are stationed at different points on streets of Kigali and its entry points. Police officers have also been deployed to facilitate the medical exercise.
They are deployed at these testing points to direct people, including pedestrians, those in vehicles and motorcycles. We urge the public to be collaborative and responsive to the Police officers’ instructions,” CP Kabera said.
He added: “This is a drive or ride through testing where passengers remain in their respective automobiles as medics collect samples. Motorists and pedestrians will be stopped briefly, this is a medical exercise meant to keep everyone safe from the pandemic, so there is every reason for everyone to exhibit voluntary behaviors.”
