The new warders who passed out yesterday have completed nine months’ training at RCS training school in Rwamagana district on prisoners’ rights, handling guns and resolving disputes.
It is the 3rd intake since the school was established.
The Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye who graced the event said the ceremony reflects Rwanda’s efforts to build professional prison warders.
“The core objective is to equip prison warders with skills to correct inmates to transform them to comply with Government’s regulations,” he said.
“We commend your commitment and courage that characterized you during the training. You have to apply acquired basic skills on duty, working together with fellows and strive to maintain a good reputation of RCS,” added Minister Busingye.
He urged them on professionalism and respecting laws.
The Commissioner General of RCS, CGP George Rwigamba said the new recruits join existing 1600 prison warders. He revealed that another training program is scheduled next year to increase the number which is still low.
One of the duo identified as Thacien Munyaneza, 38, was intercepted with 110kgs of cassiterite on Thursday in Kigali. Other 35kgs were recovered from an illegal dealer in Kayonza District.
Munyaneza was arrested on Thursday as he transported the minerals on a motorcycle RE 573G, which was also impounded.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Marie Gorette Umutesi said that Munyaneza was intercepted in Nyabugogo, Kimisagara Sector of Nyarugenge District.
“Police in Kigali received information that a motorcycle had left Rutongo concession with a consignment of stolen cassiterite,” CIP Umutesi said.
“The motorcycle was tracked and intercepted in Nyabugogo, its rider arrested and minerals seized,” she added.
It is said that illegal dealers connive with workers in mining sites to steal minerals from concessions. In other cases, people conduct illegal mining activities especially at night, which sometimes result into disasters in cases where miners don’t know the status of the concession, thus tilting weak or unsupported cliffs.
Article 1 of the Ministerial Regulations No 001/Minifom/2011 relating to fighting smuggling in mineral trading stipulates that nobody is allowed to purchase or sell minerals without commercial registration.
Article 4 of the same instrument indicates that transportation of minerals outside mining licensed areas (concessions and permits perimeters) is only allowed, when the consignment shows the source mine, its value and when it has the right tag.
Kagame delivered the message yesterday as he officially inaugurated three-day Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) Conference held in Kigali.
The conference is organized by Eisenhower Fellowships (EF), an organization that was started in 1953 in honor of the 34th US President Dwight Eisenhower.
The summit is themed around Africa’s integration in multiple aspects such as trade, work, technology, governance and partnerships.
It brought together over 200 delegates including top government officials, business leaders, academics, scientists and journalists.
The conference took place at a place where African Continental Free Trade Agreements (AfCFTA) were signed by 44 countries during the AU General Assembly held in Kigali in March 2018.
AfCFTA went into implementation since 30th May 2019.
As he addressed participants, President Kagame said Africa understands benefits of working together.
“I think it went into implementation for two reasons mainly Africans willingness and external factors that contributed to dividing the continent which have been slowing down. The outside is preoccupied with their own problems, rather than thinking everything is fine and all they have to do is to manipulate things, starting with Africa,” he said.
“It is the right time for Africa to correct mistakes we made. We sometimes knew that what we do affects our people and economy. Africa is at high pace to address its problems,” added Kagame.
He highlighted the youth should take the lead to correct what went wrong.
“ If you look at Africa and the enormous wealth, people should be asking why is it that parts of the world that were at the same level of economic standing 40-50 years ago, today are 100s of time better off,” he said.
“The question must be what went wrong. This is a question everyone should be answering including the young ones because otherwise how will they correct it, they must understand they owe it to themselves to understand the challenge and address them,” added Kagame.
The president explained that the youth represents great wealth along the journey to implement real Africa’s collaboration with the rest of the world.
“We know there is a lot of work to do to be where we want to be. We know we can count on not only ourselves but others for cooperation and collaboration; those are keys for us to be able to continue making progress,” he stressed.
Serving with Rwanda’s example, Kagame reflected how Rwandans unity was the enabler during 25 years resilience process after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Rwanda is the first African country to host the Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) conference.
The organization’s mission is to identify, empower, and connect innovative leaders through a transformative fellowship experience and lifelong engagement in a global network of dynamic change agents committed to creating a world more peaceful, prosperous and just.
President Kagame made the observation yesterday as he addressed participants in the Sustainable Development Goals Summit held in Kigali yesterday.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030.
These goals’ targets by 2030 are Poverty eradication, achieving Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Reducing Inequality, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water, Life On Land, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions and Partnerships for the Goals.
On the third day of the Summit reflecting on three years of SDGs, President Kagame talked on the report of Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa (SDGC/A) highlighting that on almost every Goal, the continent is not on track to achieve the 2030 targets that even the best are lagging behind the rest of the world.
“This would not necessarily be discouraging, if the rate of change was high. We all know where Africa is coming from, and how much catching up we have to do. However, on too many indicators, the pace of progress is stagnant or even declining,” he said.
President Kagame stressed, the most important thing is the right mindset understanding that ‘The SDGs are universal and ambitious, meaning they set targets that apply to countries at every level of economic development’.
He explained that achieving the SDGs represents the attainment of a significant level of prosperity and well-being, not merely the elimination of extreme poverty that Africa should consider it as the problem and responsibility.
“The development assistance is not growing, and it is reasonable to expect that trend to continue. Foreign investment is also flat. On the other hand, speeding up progress toward the SDGs is first and foremost our problem and responsibility as Africans,” said Kagame.
SDGC/A report show SDGs financing gap in Africa estimating between 500 billion and 1.2 trillion dollars per year.
President Kagame stressed the need to work closely with partners noting that the political leadership on this topic has to be heard most strongly from African voices. He said remittances from the African diaspora are now the largest source of external income for our continent.
SDGC/A has recently announced plan to concert much effort on education, health and agriculture as central areas to other goals.
President Kagame hailed the initiative emphasizing that the idea to establish dedicated African funds for education, water, and health has a lot of merit.
“This is an opportunity to work with Africa’s partners in new and better ways, and deliver human-scale projects that directly touch the lives of farmers, families, and schoolchildren,” he said.
Director General to the Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa (SDGC/A), Dr. Belay Begashaw also highlighted that achieving SDGs remains a major concern of Africans.
The Chairperson of African Union Commission (AU), Moussa Faki Mahamat said that intervention of private sector is of great importance to preparing, implementing and assessing the impact of SDGs and AU Vision 2063.
Starting from 14th June to 7th July, 12 national teams (10 South American teams, plus Qatar and Japan) will participate the Copa América in Brazil this year.
As all knows, Copa America is titled as “Thrilled with sexy football”, and explicitly expressed by super football stars like Messi (Argentina), Sanchez (Chile), Suarez (Uruguay), Fermino (Brazil), and J Rodriguez (Colombia). Their style is the purest and most enjoyable football culture which is thrilled by most football fans. StarTimes will broadcast all Copa América matches live and HD on ST World Football and ST Sports Premium.
Here are the tips for Rwandan football fans to watch and enjoy the “trilled with sexy football” Copa America 2019 for free:
Existing StarTimes Subscribers: Subscribe to any monthly bouquet and you can watch Copa America for free, plus get upgraded to a higher bouquet for free.
New Customers: Just buy a StarTimes decoder or a TV (Starting from 149,000 Rwf) and watch Copa America for Free.
The event held on Thursday was marked by a walk to remember from UTB headquarters at Sonatubes to Eto Kicukiro where a large number of Tutsi were killed during the genocide and laid wreaths at Nyanza genocide memorial in Kicukiro.
Prof. Gustave Tombola, UTB Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs and Research said commemoration period is used to honor the bravery of those who stopped genocide.
“As we commemorate, we condemn the cowardice of the Government that prepared and executed the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi as well as Rwandans who accepted to kill neighbors. When you reflect on cowards, it means you have to learn from it and strive for bravery. We commend the courage of RPF Inkotanyi soldiers that stopped genocide,” noted Tombola.
The Chairperson of National Itorero Commission, Edouard Bamporiki who graced the event took students through Rwanda’s history and reminded them to grab opportunities learning from President Paul Kagame’s outstanding leadership promoting unity among Rwandans.
“You should be active internet users to go through advice of President Paul Kagame to emulate these values. It will help you to build the nation. We need to sit and look at our role to consolidate achievements under the championship of the president in collaboration with soldiers who liberated the nation. It is a good legacy that we continue to uphold,” said Bamporiki.
Nyanza-Kicukiro is distinctly known as one of the places where thousands of people were massacred a few days after the beginning of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
When the genocide began on April 7, over 3000 Tutsi from Kicukiro sought refuge at a former technical school, Ecole Technique Officielle de Kicukiro (ETO), in the belief that they would be protected by the United Nations peacekeeping forces for Rwanda (MINUAR) that was based there.
MINUAR would however desert them a few days later, despite the tension that had built up as the Interahamwe militia and government soldiers had surrounded the school.
Following the departure of the UN troops, government soldiers and Interahamwe took control of ETO Kicukiro.
In the school, Tutsi were taken by government soldiers and Interahamwe to Sonatube to be murdered there but the then mayor of the city, Lt. Col. Tharcisse Renzaho, ordered that they instead be taken to Nyanza and killed from there because Sonatube was too visible along the road to the airport.
The Tutsi were then forced to march back, all the way to Nyanza, amid a heavy downpour. Many had not eaten for a couple of days. Those too weak to walk were killed on the way. When they arrived at Nyanza, the militia asked them to present their IDs to ensure that no Hutu were among the group.
Mass killings then began and many of them were killed using machetes. The next morning, as the killers attempted to finish off those who were still alive, the Rwandan Patriotic Army soldiers arrived and rescued the few who had survived the massacre.
Nootri flour is part of various kinds of nutritious flour for porridge processed by African Improved Food (AIF).
The act of generosity donating ‘Nootri’ flour to patients was conducted under the initiative ‘Jesus Care for Kids’ introduced by Teta Mbabazi Nadine, a Human Resources Management consultant.
Mbabazi told IGIHE that she introduced the program to help people who find it hard to afford basic needs like food and health care.
“I am a Christian mother of four children. I meditated and got courage to support those who cannot afford basic needs yet God blessed me with food sufficiency and access to health care,” she said.
Mbabazi explained that she launched the charity in 2010 where she has been providing support to patients at CHUK among other places in Kigali.
His activities are funded by different donors including Africa Improved Food.
AIF, Aretha M Rwagasore, the Head of Corporate Communications at Africa Improved Food said the company funded the charity organization ‘Jesus Care for Kids’ to push forward the drive of combating malnutrition.
“The country is worried of malnutrition. That is why we work with hospitals and different organizations to seek solution to this problem and we are optimistic we shall achieve the goal,” she reiterated.
One of the beneficiaries, Theresia Uwambajimana gave birth to premature twins of whom one died while another is incubated. She lauded the donation saying it will help to prepare porridge for her little children.
The National Coordinator of the National Early Childhood Development Program (NECDP), Dr Anita Asiimwe recently told IGIHE that the country targets reduction of stunting and malnutrition in Rwanda by 19% in 2024.
The Conference is scheduled this Friday at Kigali Convention Centre.
President Edgar Lungu who arrived at Kigali International Airport yesterday is among other Heads of State expected to grace the conference.
The SDGs conference attracts over 2000 participants from non-governmental organizations, Governments, private sector and researchers among others from across the World.
Presenting the 2019-20 National Budget in Parliament yesterday, Minister Ndagijimana pointed out that generally, economic plans enshrined in the 2019/20 budget as well as medium term will focus on “industrialization for job creation and inclusive economic growth” in line with the EAC theme of “Transforming Lives through Industrialization and Job creation for Shared Prosperity”.
Resources
Government expects to finance the 2019-20 budget through domestic resources worth Rwf 1,963.8 billion representing 68.3% of the entire budget. This represents an increase of Rwf 268.3 billion compared to Rwf 1,695.5 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year revised budget. Tax revenue collections are estimated at Rwf 1,535.8 billion which accounts for 53.4% of the total budget while non-tax revenue is estimated at Rwf 190.4 billion representing 6.6% of the total budget.
The remainder of the budget will be funded through external sources worth Rwf 906.7 billion which accounts for 31.5% of the total budget. These include grants worth Rwf 409.8 billion (14.2%) and loans worth 497.0 billion (17.3%).
Expenditure
Total expenditures for the fiscal year 2019/20 are projected at Rwf 2,876.9 billion. Recurrent expenditure is projected at Rwf 1,424.5 billion, which accounts for 49.5% of the total budget for 2019/20 fiscal year.
Spending on development projects is projected at Rwf 1,152.1 billion, which represents 40% of the total budget. In addition, allocation of Rwf 244.1 billion on net lending represents 8.5% of the total budget. Total development budget, including net lending to public companies amounts to Rwf 1,396.2 billion, which represents 48.5% of the total budget.
Minister Ndagijimana pointed out that the share of recurrent budget in the total budget of 2019/2020 is reduced by 1% compared to 2018/2019, while the share of development budget is increased by 1%, which confirms the Government’s effort to contain recurrent expenditures and to focus on development spending.
Domestically financed projects are estimated at Rwf 694.0 billion, while externally financed projects are projected at Rwf 458.2 billion. Rwf 30.6billion is allocated on payment of arrears and Rwf 25.5 billion reserved for accumulation of deposits to boost the Government reserves, and both allocations represent 2% of the total budget.
NST-1 and Resources Allocation
Minister Ndagijimana told parliamentarians that Government’s expenditure policies in fiscal year 2019/20 are guided by National Strategy for Transformation (NST-1) priorities and objectives while ensuring appropriate allocation to enhance service delivery across sectors. To this end, the Economic Transformation pillar takes the lion’s share of the resources at Rwf 1,636 billion amounting to 56.9 % of the total budget. Social transformation will take up Rwf 781.7 billion (27.2%) while Transformational Governance is allocated Rwf 458.7 billion representing 15.9% of the total budget.
In line with NST-1 strategic objectives, some of the priority areas agreed during both planning and budgeting consultations formed the basis for resource allocation in 2019/20fiscal year. These include: Supporting projects and activities that contribute to the creation of 213,198 decent and productive jobs; Revision of secondary cities’ master plans and improving transportation infrastructure and services in urban and rural areas; Improving air transport infrastructure;Promoting a Knowledge-based Economy through operationalization of Rwanda Innovation Fund and continuing support to Centers of Excellence; Promoting industrialization and exports; Scaling up agriculture and livestock productivity; Increase electricity access to households and productive uses and socio-economic facilities and Improving access to quality education.
Other priority areas include Increasing accessibility to quality health for all; Accelerating graduation from poverty by scaling up VUP to reach 158,554 households; Eradicating malnutrition and stunting by distributing Fortified Blended Foods to 14,679 pregnant women and 86,531 children, supporting 12,555 under-five malnourished children through milk distribution; Improving service delivery through scaling up services offered online and Strengthening Justice, Law and Order.
The 2019/2020 draft finance law conforms to the 2019/20 – 2021/22 Budget Framework Paper that was presented to Parliament on April 30, 2019 and amended to reflect the recommended actions by the Parliament as submitted on May 30, 2019.
The equipment were seized on Thursday from the alleged thief identified as Jean Damascene Ngiruwonsanga, a medical worker at the same health centre.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Innocent Gasasira, the Police spokesperson for Western region, said that Ngiruwonsanga was arrested at a Police checkpoint in Bunyunju, Kivumu Sector.
“On Thursday morning at about 6am, Police officers at checkpoint stopped Ngiruwonsanga, who was riding a motorcycle with registration number RB151U carrying boxes of assorted medical equipment,” CIP Gasasira said.
“He tried to argue that he got the medical equipment from Murunda Hospital and was taking them to Nyakiriba Health Center, which the management at the two health facilities dismissed,” he added.
“We later learnt that he is a medical worker at Kayove Health Center, and when the management there checked, they found that the same quantity of medical equipment and their exact codes had been taken from their store.”
Among the medical equipment recovered from Ngiruwonsanga include HIV and combo tests, 13 cartons of gloves and cartons of needles.
CIP Gasasira wondered how “people charged with the healthcare of the people, instead endanger their lives.”
“These are unethical acts and criminal in nature, which create loopholes in the health system, and must be reported and fought by everyone,” CIP Gasasira said.
