Author: IGIHE

In a tweet, the Office of the Prime Minister, announced that Dr. Ngirente arrived in Bamako, the Capital City of Mali where he was received by Malian Prime Minister, Soumeylou B. Maiga.

Aged 73, Keita won presidential elections with a 67%, defeating his rival, Soumaila Cisse, whom he had also defeated in 2013.

Before ascending to presidency, Keita served as Mali Prime Minister from 1994 to 2000 and served as a Member of Parliament from 2002.

Early this year, Rwanda was hit by natural cataclysms including rainstorms which caused floods, lightning and landslides that claimed 222 lives countrywide, destroyed crops and a lot of infrastructure including roads, bridges, schools, and homesteads, leaving over 5000 homeless.

KCB Bank Rwanda through their KCB Foundation has come out to support the affected families as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The most needy families were identified by the Ministry of Disaster Management.

Speaking to the beneficiaries yesterday as they delivered the alms, the Managing Director of KCB Bank Rwanda, George Odhiambo said KCB did the act to give back to the community but also to help the population get shelter which is a basic human need.

“Shelter is among the basic human needs, when something interrupts that, life becomes threatened, security is disturbed and the development of the nation and individuals is kept behind because when you have no shelter, it becomes difficult for you to work hard and develop yourself,” George Odhiambo said.

“We were, as KCB, touched on heart, by the disasters that hit the nation, Ruhango District included and that’s why we decided to act and brought these iron sheets to residents to help rehabilitate your houses,” Odhiambo added.

Five home houses were already rehabilitated while 45 homes identified will soon be reconstructed.

The Minister of Disasters Management and Refugees, Mrs. Jeanne D’Arc De Bonheur commended KCB for its initiative to help the local communities and called on the other stakeholders to emulate KCB in supporting the citizens who are their clients.

KCB which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in Rwanda this year, recently supported the residents of Bugesera District by donating water tanks to help community address water scarcity challenges. The Bank currently sponsors 100 youth in vocational skills under “KCB Igire Program” which was launched early this year.

DFID Social Development Advisor in Rwanda, Zaza Curran said that the project will be implemented by Action Aid Rwanda, a non-governmental organization alongside different other stakeholders in Rwanda including local governments in four 4 districts where the project will operate.

She was speaking on Tuesday when Action Aid Rwanda officially launched two projects to address sexual and reproductive health rights and gender-based violence. The two projects launched are Speak Out that will be targeting girls between 9 and 18 years and Strengthening Women Advocacy (SWA) Project. This will be focused on strengthening the effectiveness of women organizations’ advocacy to advance Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).

Mrs Zaza says that DFID targets to deal with the challenges facing young women up to adulthood, cooperating with families to find sustainable solutions to the identified challenges.

“It is a 1,300,000 Euros funding that will be utilised in a period of four years. Action Aid will implement the project in collaboration with different other partners in the country in order to eradicate violence through Tinyuka Uvuge project.” She said.

Action Aid Rwanda Director Josephine Uwamariya said that Speak Out project will be working to empower girls and women with life skills and build self-confidence which will help young women facing violence to speak their problems out.

“I thank Action Aid for thinking of such a project that empowers girls to find solutions and keep their dignity. Empowerment and dignity if girls and women should be a concern for all of us,” She said.

However, she said that the journey is long but there is need for working together to achieve and ensure that girls and boys are on the same page. She noted that this project is one of the forces going to help them in preventing SGBV and its other forms.

Among the maintargets of for Speak Out project is 5600 girls, community members and women rights organisations to have increased willingness, confidence and ability to report and respond to cases of violence in Karongi, Nyanza, Gisagara and Nyaruguru districts.

Rtd CSP Gashagaza was found dead in the night of Tuesday, September 18, 2018 in Ndera Sector of Kicukiro District, Kigali.

Speaking to IGIHE, the Spokesperson of the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), Modeste Mbabazi said: “Following investigations after the murder of CSP Hubert Gashagaza, RIB has arrested two suspects in connection with his death as we pursue other leads as well.”

He said that CSP Hubert Gashagaza, who was the Rwanda National Police (RNP) Spokesperson in the Southern Province before his retirement, might have been strangled.

The identities of the suspects have not been yet revealed.

“The first person to report his death was a motorcyclist who saw him dead in the car around 5a.m. The driver’s window glass was smashed. The victim was found dead with cables that might have been used to strangle him around his neck still in the car,” he told IGIHE on the day Gashagaza’s body was found in his car.

The body was found in Ndera sector, Kicukiro District, where Chinese workers park trucks on a Murram road, about 100 meters from the tarmac road.

Gashagaza had been demobilized from the National Police in August 2016 but was serving in the Rwanda’s Army Reserve Force “Inkeragutabara”.

The call was made by Rwanda’s Capital Market Authority, on Tuesday, during the YouthConnekt Awards ceremony of best young innovators, organized by the Ministry of Youth in partnership with various partners.

One of the statutory objectives of the Capital Market Authority is to promote and develop the capital market industry in Rwanda. Investor education is one of the ways of attaining this goal.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Emmanuel Bigenimana addressing young people told them to be business oriented by embracing the saving culture to ensure a better future for themselves and the country as well.

“Don’t assume that you will start saving when you get excess money. You will not get it. Saving is about adjusting your expenses and avoid spending it on needless things,” he noted.

CMA initiated a national public education programme to facilitate an interactive and educational forum to enable the general public understand the benefits of savings and investing through the capital market.

The Public Relations Officer at CMA, Magnifique Migisha reiterated that young people are able to contribute to the country’s development efforts by saving and investing through the local capital market.

He stressed that “CMA is committed to building a financially literate generation and help them navigate the future through effective savings and investments through capital market.”

“At CMA we educate the public about the culture of saving and investment because a well-informed investor is a well-protected investor,” he added.

Claude Mutabazi, a young innovator who owns a poultry business in Karongi District said; “I now understand the benefits of saving and investing in the stock market as it pays back in the future so that we can be able to grow our businesses easily.”

CMA has committed to carry out a number of public education initiatives meant to bridge the financial literacy gap, and they initiated various drives targeting people from all walks of life countrywide to facilitate an interactive and educative forum to enable up-country investors to start saving and investing through the capital market.

“Former Director General of NIRDA, Dr Mungarulire Joseph with five senior staff still working at NIRDA have been arrested in connection with embezzlement and mismanagement of funds meant for establishment of Community Processing Centers in Districts (CPCs),” Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) has announced in a tweet.

RIB said the investigations are underway before handing the dossiers to the Prosecution.

When President Kagame reshuffled the cabinet on August 30, 2017, he named Mrs Pichette Kampeta Sayinzoga a replacement of Dr. Joseph Mungarurire as the Director General of NIRDA.

Mungarurire had been at the helm of NIRDA since 2013 when the institution was founded to replace the formal Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IRST).

Immediately after her appointment on the position of NIRDA Director General, Pichette Kampeta Sayinzoga requested for an audit for Financial Year 2015-16 and financial year 2016.

The audit was conducted and exposed irregularities in procurement, administration and financial management.

In January, Kampeta requested the then CID to investigate the findings of the audit to establish individual responsibilities and they did so.

The audit covered construction, purchase of equipment and management of CPCs as well as NIRDA management in general.

Affected centers include; Rwamagana Banana Wine CPCs, Nyabihu Potatoes Factory Nyanza Ceramics CPC, Rutsiro Honey CPC and Burera Dairy CPC.

IGIHE has not been able to establish the volume of the funds missing, but Rwf 1.6 billion for the Rwamagana Banana Wine CPC has not been accounted for. Kampeta Sayinzoga, in an interview with Taarifa , said that, “This arrest [of former NIRDA Director General and other five staff] is therefore in this context.”

The decision to admit Rwanda was announced yesterday, bringing the global network of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) membership to 32, including 6 SWFs from Africa; Angola, Nigeria, Botswana and Libya, Morocco and Rwanda.

Being Rwanda’s first sovereign wealth fund, AGDF was initiated by Rwandans in 2011 at the 9th National Dialogue Council. It was set up to build up public savings to achieve self-reliance, maintain stability in times of shocks to the national economy and accelerate Rwanda’s socio-economic development goals, among others.

The membership will bring forth potential benefits such as collaborating with peers for knowledge and best practices in SWFs investment and management, participating in collaborative research on SWFs investments, management and peer assistance.

Agaciro’s entrance in the forum will see the implementation of the Santiago Principles which consists of 24 generally accepted principles and practices voluntarily adopted by IFSWF members. The Principles endorse transparency, good governance, accountability and prudent investment practices.

AGDF’s present investment portfolio is worth Rwf51.5 billion. The Government of Rwanda recently bestowed to AGDF its shares held in different companies- a move that is expected to enlarge the Fund’s current portfolio size and diversify its investments. AGDF invests locally and internationally.

The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) is a global network of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) established in 2009 to enhance collaboration, promote a deeper understanding of SWF activity and raise the industry standard for best practice and governance.

The governor arrived in Kigali on Monday, accompanied by his wife Nicole Mouyokani. He was welcomed by the Deputy Governor in Rwanda in Rotary International District 9150, Rugera Jeanette.

Rotary Clubs consist of individuals with a passion to positively transform the lives and livelihoods of the poor and underprivileged in society.

Governor Mouyokani succeeded Burundian Frédéric Bishahushi and visiting is his first for the first time after taking office in July 2018.

Speaking to IGIHE, 65 year old Mouyokani expressed his joy at the welcome he received when he was in Kigali.

“I was not surprised by the warm welcome since they always do it. Rotary is very strong in Rwanda seeing how the clubs work. It is what I came to see even though the reports are showing great results already.” He said

In his mandate, he will work with clubs in the region to support Education, Health and sanitation.

In Rwanda, Rotary clubs have joined hands in a bid to support those goals. In August 2018, 50 doctors from 15 hopitals were given training in a partnership of the Ministry of Health, Rotary Club from Williamsburg through Kigali Gasabo Rotary club.

Rotary Club District 9150 was established in 1982, and is composed of Rwanda, Burundi, Cameroun, Congo, Gabon, Guinée Equatoriale, République Démocratique du Congo, République du Centrafrique, Tchad and Sao Tomé-et-Principe.