One of the drug dealers identified as John Munyaneza was arrested in Kabarore Sector in Gatsibo transporting 2400 bottles of a locally distilled illicit brew called Gubwaneza.
Munyaneza was at the time transporting the illicit drinks in-vehicle UBB 857N, which was also impounded to Kabarore RIB station where the suspect is also detained, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the Police spokesperson for the Eastern region, said.
“The drinks did not have the required standard specifications and legal documents as recommended by Rwanda Standards Board,” said CIP Twizeyimana.
Standard requirements include labeling (name of the products, physical and postal address of manufacturer); net contents in milliliters or liters; ethyl alcohol content; date of manufacture and expiry date; storage instruction; statutory warnings; and list of ingredients in descending order.
In Rusizi, Emmanuel Hakizimana and Deny Urwinkunda were arrested in the Kamembe sector, Kamashangi Cell, Rushakamba Village in possession of 290 pellets of cannabis.
Article 263 of the new law determining offenses and penalties in general, states that any person who, unlawfully produces, transforms, transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances commits an offense and faces a sentence of between 20 years and life in prison.
The arrest of the trio comes at a time when the Rwanda National Police (RNP) and partners are actively engaged in countrywide awareness campaigns against narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in the first week of the Police Month.
The incident took place yesterday around 2 pm at a garage belonging to Magambo in Kigugu village, Kirunga cell of Gikondo sector in Kicukiro district.
Police spokesperson in Kigali city, CIP Goretti Umutesi has told IGIHE that the tank burst as the welder mended it leaving severe injuries to the truck driver Jean Claude Gakwandi, 47, and Emmanuel Nahayo who were taken to the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) where Gakwandi died upon arrival.
She explained that the welder identified as Kamudra Mitanyurwa, 59, who had both Rwandan and Congolese nationality died on spot after burning inside the tank and his body was taken to Kacyiru Hospital.
Kamudra was welding the tank from inside while the driver was standing on top of the tank showing damaged parts to the welder.
The third injured person was a garage worker who helped mend the tank.
Eyewitnesses said the welder made a mistake of mending the tank without cleaning it with water.
The suspects; Innocent Ntihabose, 32, Bernard Iradukunda, 17, Maniragaba Rukara, 30, and Twagirimana Rutaba, 28, were caught red-handed mining in Kabacuzi Sector.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Karekezi, the Police Spokesperson for the Southern Region said that the quartet was mining cassiterite and coltan in a concession owned by the Cooperative Minerière et Artisanale de Rutobwe (COMAR), located in Butare Cell, Kabacuzi Sector.
“The suspects are not employees of the company but sneaked into the mine when employees ended their usual shift, which normally ends at 11 am. They were found in the concession at about 4:30 pm,” CIP Karekezi said.
He warned against illegal mining activities, which at times result in disasters and loss of lives. Illegal miners normally sneak into concessions at night, and in some cases, they tilt weak cliffs leading to landslides.
“It is suicidal to go into a mining concession at night or without safety gears. Mining is done by authorized professionals with professional tools,” CIP Karekezi said.
“People should consider safety in whatever they do. We have had many cases of landslides caused by illegal mining, and in some cases, lives are lost,” the spokesperson said.
CIP Karekezi urged the public to always provide timely information on such illegal and dangerous acts.
The figures have been announced today during a breakfast meeting that brought together employers and employees in private and public institutions together with other stakeholders in education loans recovery efforts to discuss measures forward to addressing the issue.
The CEO of BRD, Eric Rutabana has said that the bank took over the management after entering agreements with the Government of Rwanda in 2016 through the Ministry of Education.
He said that Rwf 70 billion had to be recovered at the time but highlighted that the journey is still long because only Rwf 10 billion has been recovered.
Rutabana however said that beneficiaries paying back are increasing overtime.
He revealed that since 2016 beneficiaries paid Rwf 1.4 billion, Rwf 2.4 billion in 2017 and Rwf 3.4 billion in 2018.
“It is improving gradually. Such event is meant to sensitize students’ loan beneficiaries and employers to help us along the journey to increase the number of beneficiaries paying back the loan,” he said.
He highlighted that only 12,000 beneficiaries out of 70,000 are actively paying back the loan.
Tracking beneficiaries who received non-electronic identities before 2008 is among challenges impeding fully implementation of loan recovery.
Rutabana said that the institution is working closely with National ID Agency (NIDA), Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) among others to track records of past beneficiaries.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Eugene Mutimura thanked institutions contributing to loan recovery to support education of future generations and called on others to support the cause.
“Your efforts can not be taken for granted. It means you understand the importance of provision of loans to students so that they study and at the same time understand the importance of loan recovery and therefore the sustainability of this effort,” he said.
Best compliant institutions and individuals were also awarded during the event.
African Union of Broadcasters (AUB) leaders who have convened in Cairo, Egypt thanked President Paul Kagame as announced by the Director-General of Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA), Arthur Asiimwe who also attended the meeting.
CAF has offered rights to show games for free (terrestrial free-to-air) to Sub-Sahara African countries.
“African Public Broadcasters meeting this morning to discuss CAF rights..greatly appreciate support from @PaulKagame who challenged CAF 2 years ago to ensure AfCON rights are run by Africans. As result, AUB took the challenge & now viewership for #AFCON2019 increased by over 60%,” said Asiimwe in a tweet.
“Thanks…for many years broadcasting rights for African football were run by non-africans charging exorbitant prices, hence few countries could afford. With #AFCON2019 run by AUB, countries showing tournament increased from 13 to 30…good progress but more work to be done!” he added.
Asiimwe has told IGIHE that rights to show these games were expensive where African Broadcasters paid €450,000 (over Rwf 450 million as per current exchange rates) to show AfCON held in Ghana in 2017 while they have for this time paid only € 200,000 (over Rwf 200 million) enabling many institutions to show the cup.
In March last year, President Kagame who was assuming the Chairmanship of African Union (AU) became the first Head of State to attend AUB meeting held at Kigali Convention Centre and held talks giving insights in different areas on African continent.
The union told Kagame that broadcasters continue to lose trust over constantly providing explanations to the audience seeking clarifications why they can’t be shown their heroes over of financial issues.
The Chairman of AUB, Gregoire Ndjaka requested Kagame to raise their voice so that Africans can get rights to broadcast African games.
“During previous AfCON in 2017, only 13 institutions showed the cup. 40 others including RBA from Rwanda didn’t show the tournament. It is sad failing to show African tournament. CAF is not behaving like an African confederation. Your excellency, kindly accept to conduct advocacy to Heads of States for this issue,” he said.
Kagame said that it is frustrating that rights to show Africans playing in Africa are run by outsiders out of the continent. He advised how countries can concert efforts to compete for the rights to be offered at an affordable cost.
“We cannot be happy for it. How long should we work under such a situation? There are many countries paying to get rights to broadcast. Money is not an issue. Why can’t we use that capability to own the rights and reduce prices?,” he wondered.
Kagame promised them support saying that Africans cannot be passive on their suffering because they know what to do to change the situation.
AUB won rights to broadcast CAF games until 2023.
AfCON is taking place in Egypt from 21st June to 19th July 2019. The final match will take place on Friday with Senegal facing off Algeria. Nigeria has won the third place after beating Tunisia. A total of 24 teams participated in AfCON2019.
The weeklong service that started yesterday is conducted by opticians from the United States (USA) in collaboration with Come and See Rwanda (CASA-Rwanda) organization and Assemblée de Dieu Church.
Frank Murenzi, the Executive Director of CASA-Rwanda has said that Rwanda’s vibrant external relations enabled the availability of these specialists.
“The service is rooted in good relations between Khalvari and churches in Rwanda particularly Come and See Rwanda and Assemblée de Dieu,” he explained.
Some beneficiaries from the program at the outset revealed that it will improve their sight because they had run short of means to access treatment.
“I would not see alphabets well and shade tears sometimes as I read. They have given me glasses that have improved my sight,” said Jean Murekezi.
“I always failed to read the bible in church and I had abandoned using my phone because I couldn’t see well. I am thankful for the support,” said another beneficiary, Patricia Mukamusoni.
Dr. Rodolfo Rudy Sarmiento one of the ophthalmologists said they were motivated to offer such free treatment realizing that eye disease is on the rise around the world leading to vision impairment.
“We found it necessary to provide the treatment. Many Rwandans need eye treatment despite the scarcity of ophthalmologists. We observed the growing demand when we came to Rwanda last year. We chose to provide our contribution in partnership with Christian churches,” he stressed.
A total of 600 residents will attend eye test where some of them will get glasses while 60 others will get eye surgery from the service worth Rwf 50 million.
The forgery took place one week after the management of Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA) stopped the auctioning of the butchery over suspected fraudulent acts committed by former managers of the cooperative.
Arrested men include contractors who built the butchery and the notary of Rubavu Sector who signed alleged forged documents.
The case is connected to the meeting held in 2015 where suspects approved Rwf 435 million KOADU owe to contractors of the butchery and signed the document without consent of the cooperative members.
The spokesperson of Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), Modeste Mbabazi has said that their file was transferred to the prosecution.
“We have transferred their case to the prosecution for quite some time,” he said.
The president of KOADU cooperative, Bertin Musabyimana Nyarubisi has said that it was a good decision to arrest the suspects.
The butchery was to be auctioned on 25th July 2019.
Considering the development of technology, PSF has upgraded its infrastructure and entered into a partnership with MTN Rwanda to explore the usability of cell phones for all transactions allowing access to the Expo ground.
Today, PSF and MTN Rwanda have a great pleasure to announce the official launch of a digital user-friendly ticketing solution named MTN m-Ticket, to be kicked off during the 22nd Rwanda International Trade Fair (Expo) starting from July 22nd to August 11th, 2019.
The ticketing solution is part of a full cashless Expo. Next, to the introduction of MTN m-Ticket, all 500 exhibitors will be trained and equipped with MoMoPay. After the Expo merchants will keep their shortcodes and keep using MoMoPay. This partnership aims at accelerating the Government of Rwanda’s cashless agenda as well as offering simplified options in ticketing sales while saving customers the time & the hassle of queuing.
MTN CEO Bart Hofker said “All 500,000 expected visitors will save time and the hassle of queuing when buying a ticket, and on the EXPO itself they can pay all 500 exhibitions with MoMoPay without cash and no fees. It will bring safety to the exhibitors and save a lot of time counting money. No one needs cash, just MoMo.”
PSF CEO, Ruzibiza Stephen said “All around 500,000 expected visitors will save time and the hassle of queuing when whiling to access the Expo grounds. It is easy and convenient for our visitors, 500 exhibitors, and PSF members to access the services wherever they are and whenever needed. This includes access to the Exhibition countrywide.
The partnership was signed by CEOs Stephen Ruzibiza of PSF and MTN’s Bart Hofker during the Transform Africa Summit held in Kigali in May 2019.
With this new system, visitors will be able to buy m-Tickets to get into the Expo and pay using MTN Mobile Money.
To purchase an MTN m-Ticket, customers must follow the user journey below;
Via SMS
• Customer opens a new SMS window
• Customer types the word EXPO, space, number of tickets (1-10) to be purchased
o Sample message: Expo 3 (for buying three tickets)
• Customer sends the SMS to 7799
• Customer receives a Rwf 1,500 debit request on MoMo.
o Where the customer doesn’t receive a debit prompt, he/she dials *182*7*1# and enters their PIN to complete the transaction
• After payment approval, the customer receives an m-Ticket via SMS
o Sample m-Ticket
• The customer can now proceed to the Expo Turnstile
• The Turnstile has a screen that validates the m-Ticket by scanning the SMS on the phone
• Once validation is completed the customer will see a green arrow indicating that the customer can go through the gate
• After the customer has passed through the Turnstile the gates automatically lock
Via USSD
• Customer dials *779#
• Select language
• Selects the number of tickets he/she wishes to purchase
• Receives an SMS notification displaying the amount to be paid and a transaction ID
• Followed by a debit request on MoMo requesting for approval of the previously displayed amount on SMS.
• After payment approval, the customer receives an m-Ticket via SMS
o Sample m-Ticket below
Please note
• If a customer purchases one (1) ticket he/she is eligible for a single entry
• Where a customer has purchased multiple m-Tickets he/she is eligible for entries equivalent to the tickets
• Unused m-Tickets will only be valid for the Expo period (22nd July to 14th August)
• The m-Ticket can be purchased remotely
• The m-Ticket is transferable to offnet customers (Airtel customers)
• Customers with a broken phone screen will be supported by MoMo agents
• Customers without phones will be supported by MoMo agents i.e. the agent purchases an m-tickets on behalf of the customer and help the customer to enter the gate
• m-Tickets are secure that they can’t be duplicated
-ENDS-
{{For more information, please contact}}:
• Mr. Eric Kabera, Head of Communications & Marketing: erick@psf.org.rw
• Ms. Teta Mpyisi, Senior Manager, Brand & Sponsorship: pr2.rw@mtn.com
{{About PSF:}}
{The Private Sector Federation – Rwanda (PSF) is a professional organization, dedicated to promote and represent the interests of the Rwandan business community. It is an umbrella organization that groups 10 professional chambers. It was established in December 1999, replacing the former Rwanda Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Private Sector Federation (PSF) has registered major successes since its creation in 1999. Beyond a strong brand and membership base, PSF pioneered Business Development Services (BDS), registered wins in advocacy and played a strong national, regional and international role.}
{{About MTN Rwanda: }}
{MTN Rwanda is the market leader in the mobile telecommunications industry in Rwanda. Since 1998, MTN Rwanda has continuously invested in expanding and modernizing its network and is now proudly Rwanda’s No 1 Network. MTN Rwanda offers superior services to its subscriber base, including innovative propositions such as personalized voice and data offers with MTN Irekure. The company is also the front runner in Mobile Financial Services in Rwanda with Mobile Money, Tap&Pay and MoKash Loans and Savings}
Kitaoka who is on a visit to Rwanda between17th-21st July 2019 visited the memorial accompanied by JICA management in Rwanda.
They were taken through the history of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and laid wreaths to mass graves at the memorial.
President Kitaoka who visited the memorial for the second time said that he was deeply moved by history reflected at the memorial reminding him of what happened in his country 47 years ago.
At the time, Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities were bombed with atomic bombs following the 2ND World War killing 3,000 people.
“What happened is beyond imagination. I am however inspired by the way Rwandans and the Government of Rwanda overcome bad history to promote good politics that Rwanda has become a dignified country. They share this with Japanese people,” he said.
Kitaoka came to Rwanda following the visit of President Paul Kagame to Japan in January 2019 and held discussions on different areas supporting Rwanda’s development programs.
He is also expected to visit various projects supported by JICA in Rwanda including k-Lab, Fab-Lab, Rusumo International Bridge and One Stop Border Post (OSBP) as well as holding talks with President Kagame.
Manchester City recorded a 4-1 victory against West Ham United in the opening game of the 2019 pre-season tour of Asia.
Stephen HA, VP of TRANSSION HOLDINGS and GM of TECNO Mobile said:” TECNO feel very honored that our brand will be with City players all through 2019 Asia tour. We believed that our blue spirit will be a winner. “
Just last week, TECNO announced the renewal of the global multi-year partnership with Man City at a celebration event in Delhi, India.
Damian Willoughby, Senior Vice President of Partnerships at City Football Group, said: “Manchester City prides itself on partnering with some of the world’s leading organizations, so we are thrilled to be announcing the renewal of our established partnership with TECNO Mobile. During the past three years, we have collaborated on a number of exciting initiatives that have engaged, connected and entertained our global fanbase.”
