Before the Nyarugenge Intermediate court on Friday, Karegeya pleaded that he killed his wife Marie Rose Mukeshimana using a hammer. The tragic incident happened in October 2017.
The hearing was heard publicly in Nyabisindu Cell where the crime took place.
Karegeya told court that he killed his wife due to ‘disobedience’ she had started to display before him. He said that she used to insult him and had insulted his family until Karegeya’s family shunned him with no relatives visiting their home.
He said that he ensured that his wife was asleep when he hit her with a hammer on her head and killed her instantly. He said that he buried his wife in the sceptic pit.
Prosecution said that Karegeya had plotted to kill his wife and dug the pit to use in burying her. The prosecutor requested life imprisonment for Karegeya.
Asked whether he can comment on the sentence the prosecution requested, Karegeya said that all powers are in the hands of the Judge.
Nyirasafari was speaking yesterday in Shyogwe Sector of Muhanga District during the national event to celebrate International Women’s Day.
In Rwanda, the day was celebrated under the theme, ‘Let’s pursue efforts to build the Rwanda we want’. Internationally, the day was celebrated under the theme ‘Time is now: Rural and Urban Activists Transforming Women’s Lives’
Nyirasafari said that when women’s efforts are properly used; they can develop countries.
However, Nyirasafari said that there are funding for women which are wasted because of discouragements in the society.
She said that some women fear to join men dominated jobs; though they are capable to perform them properly.
Gender Minister added that women who have acquired practical skills are now capable of taking care of the well-being of their families.
“You have all it takes to develop yourselves; the government is there to support you. We have Business Development Fund (BDF) to support your projects, you should not give room for discouragements,” she urged women.
Monique Uwizeramariya, a woman who learnt electrical engineering and now a teacher at Kabgayi Technical Vocational and Education Training said that the profession enables her to compete for tenders of electrical installation.
“Today I am capable of supporting my family’s living as well as for the future,” she said.
Kagame said this in his message on International Women’s Day.
He said that the day was an important event to talk about.
The Head of State said that Rwanda has made great strides in empowering women and girls be in good politics, legal reform, and policy frameworks which helped speed up the progress.
“Increasingly, everyone understands that there is an unacceptably high cost to gender inequality,” he said.
He said that it was no accident that the renewal of the country was also accompanied by significant upgrades in the status, roles, and responsibilities of women. The same is true in nearly every country where gender equality has been taken seriously.
“Women are a cornerstone of prosperity for society as a whole. Even in situations of conflict, they are in a position to make unique contributions to peace and stability,” he noted.
Kagame reminded that there still much more to do to ensure women fell safe.
“Even so, all over the world, we see that the facts on the ground still don’t reflect those good intentions. The recent media attention to the disturbing experiences many women continue to live with is a wake-up call for all of us not to take the gains for granted. Indeed, there is still much more to do to ensure that women feel safe and enjoy equal opportunity,” he said.
In pursuing this Kagame urged that it is important to act together, not women on one side, and men on the other. He said that no one loses when women and girls experience equality and empowerment.
The fact that Rwanda has made great strides in gender equality is proven by the number of women in different institutions. Rwanda is the first country with the big number of women in parliament where they occupy 64% of seats.
Speaking to IGIHE, Nyabihu District Mayor, Théoneste Uwanzwenuwe confirmed the move saying that they are yet to know the reason behind Mugwiza’s resignation.
“He was not sacked, but he resigned citing personal reasons. The resignation letter was received at the district secretariat yesterday morning, but I am not aware of the real reason behind his resignation,” he said.
Nyabihu District council chairperson, Jean Damascène Gasarabwe said that they will soon meet to deliberate on the resignation.
On Wednesday, Ruhango District council sacked mayor and both vice-mayors over what they called poor performance.
Didé Foundation has been working with Rwandan prisons since 20 years ago. They work in children rights protection in prisons and prisoners’ mental problems.
In the research conducted on 757 inmates from six prisons, 50.7% have mental disorders.
The research revealed that 30% have extreme depression, 14.5% have trauma, 7.8% have fear, 9.9% have mental-sexual related disorder among others.
The research was conducted on 44 women, 550 men and 163 children.
While launching the findings of the research on Wednesday, the coordinator of Didé Foundation, Odette Mukansoro said that it is important to help those with problems to overcome them.
“For Rwandans, it is not worse, many people have mental disorders. For those in prisons, it depends on the crime one committed. If a person is serving long sentence, the more they spend years in prison, the more they develop mental disorders,” she said.
“The way forward is to collaborate with institutions in charge of mental health and see how we can improve the number of people in charge of mental health in prisons,” she added.
The Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS), George Rwigamba said that more efforts need to be invested so that identified problems could be addressed.
“The research was not conducted among all prisoners, but sampling was done; we have over 60,000 inmates in all prisons, well, it is understandable that when people are imprisoned many of them get traumatized, but when they are counseled, after certain period, they calm down. We should put in place some measures to reduce such trauma,” he said.
The Chairperson for National Human Rights Commission, Madeleine Nirere said that particular attention should be given to specific categories such that those who need medical assistance and those who need counseling are accorded the respective support.
“Women and children have particular problems. A woman who left children at home always thinks about her home, they need counseling. A person should be responsible of crime consequences, but it is essential to help them end the sentence,” she said.
She said that it is essential to train prison staffs on good practices in handling a person with mental disorders.
Last year’s RCS statistics show that there are 64,757 inmates in Rwandan prisons, among who 28,806 are genocide crimes related convicts.
Marked annually on 8th March, International Women’s Day (IWD) is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.
IWD 2018 is being celebrated under the theme “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives.”
With the majority of its workforce being female, Brussels Airlines advocates equal opportunities for men and women in their work life.
Today, Brussels Airlines’ flight SN2579 to Berlin will be led by Captain Sofie and First Officer Marie-Aude. Purser Liesbeth will take care of the service in the cabin together with cabin crew members Kaya and Gillie.
All other Lufthansa Group airlines (Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian and Eurowings) also operate all-women flights to Berlin from their respective home airport. With this symbolic flight, the airline wants to help strive for a more gender inclusive world.
With female co-workers on all levels and in every department, including HR, Marketing, Ground Operations, Aircraft Maintenance, Cabin Crew and support services, the majority of Brussels Airlines’ workforce is female (51.6%). At 10%, the airline’s percentage of female pilots is one of the highest in the aviation industry, where the global average is slightly over 3%.
Besides the flight to Berlin, Brussels Airlines also operates a 100% female crew flight to Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and to Accra (Ghana), where Brussels Airlines’ Country Manager and Station Manager are both women. In the cockpit will be Captain Daniela and First Officer Marie. The service in the cabin will be overlooked by Veronique, Patty, Xandra, Isabelle, Maité, Ingrid, Caroline and Peggy. This way the airline wants to support gender equality in Africa, the continent Brussels Airlines considers its second home and where International Women’s Day is widely celebrated.
“At Brussels Airlines we find it important to contribute to IWD by organising these symbolic actions because we firmly believe in gender equality. We understand that having a family and a career can be a balancing act and we strive to support all our colleagues, men and women, to ensure that each and every person is able to reach their full career potential, while maintaining a good work-life balance,” says Diane Cauwenberghs, HR Talent Manager at Brussels Airlines.
From 1st April, the Belgian giant carrier will also have a female CEO. Christina Foerster will be the first ever woman to be heading a Lufthansa Group airline.
Brussels Airlines, a member of Lufthansa Group and Star Alliance, is the Belgian airline that offers the widest choice of flights to and from the capital of Europe, Brussels Airport. The company has more than 3,600 employees and 48 aircraft operating some 250 flights daily, connecting the capital of Europe to 90 premium European destinations, 24 African destinations, three North American destinations and Tel Aviv and Mumbai.
Nkurunziza has been in Ruhango District council since December 2016 after being elected to represent Ntongwe sector.
The chairperson of Ruhango District council said that Mayor François Xavier Mbabazi, Vice-mayor in charge of Finance and Economic Development, Epimaque Twagirimana and Vice-mayor in charge of Social Affairs, Annonciata Kambayire were sacked after a report revealed mismanagement in some projects of the district.
“Take an example of the project to construct a landfill in the district; the landfill was constructed without a feasibility study, but they referenced to feasibility studies which were non existen; this resulted into mismanagement in the project. It is two months now since we received the report,” he said.
He added the district has been poorly performing in the districts performance contracts (Imihigo). In 2016/2017 district performance, the district came in 28th position among 30 districts.
“The positions of districts show the level of performance. In different retreats as district council, we showed them that we were not contented with our position and we suggested measures that should have been taken for the district to perform well,” he explained.
“Lagging behind is among reasons we decided to sack them,” he added.
The refugees received in Bugarama sector of Rusizi District started to cross the border in midday yesterday.
Speaking to National Broadcaster, RBA, Rusizi District Mayor, Frederic Harerimana said that the refugees were facilitated by United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Organisation Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
“They started to arrive at around 12:00pm to 1:30pm. As we talk now, no more others are coming, these came in with the facilitation of UNHCR and Monusco,” he said.
“We are helping them settle in, but, we are yet to talk to them about the cause. Sources say that they decided to come because their security was not well ensured. We are receiving them at Bugarama and Kamanyola boarders, we are registering them, we are putting them together so that we can provide them with basic needs like food and water,” he explained.
It is expected that they will be taken to Nyarushishi refugee camp in Nkungu Sector. Rwanda accommodates over 75,000 Burundian refugees that have fled to the country since April 2015.
The signing ceremony took place between the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Claver Gatete and the World Bank Country Manager Yasser El-Gammal.
Of the $55 million approved, $25 million credit was provided by the International Development Association (IDA), $20 million is a grant jointly provided by The Power of Nutrition and the Global Financing Facility provided $ 10 Million.
The targeted districts include Nyabihu, Ngororero, Karongi, Rubavu, Rutsiro, Rusizi, Nyamagabe, Huye, Nyaruguru, Ruhango, Gakenke, Kayonza and Bugesera.
The project will aim at maximizing overlap with the existing Social Protection project to achieve synergy.
Rwanda Stunting Prevention and Reduction Project (SPRP) will support community-based approaches, improve the delivery of high-impact nutrition and health interventions, incentivize frontline community health workers and health personnel, strengthen accountability mechanisms, and promote a learning-by-doing approach to draw lessons on what works and how it can be scaled up.
SPRP will focus on children under five (particularly children under two to reach them in the critical 1,000-day window of opportunity, before stunting becomes largely irreversible), as well as pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and poorest households.
Minister Gatete said “The project will support the Government to adopt and implement a bold strategy to improve the visibility of stunting in Rwanda, and to deliver harmonized behavior change messages across various platforms. What is transformational and ambitious in this project is the engagement in interventions across multiple sectors, leveraging and strengthening existing and new institutional structures to mobilize stakeholders; improve ownership and accountability; and ensure convergence of key interventions at the household and individual levels,”
World Bank’s Yasser El-Gammal urged that involving partners and ensuring coordination will be key to successful programme.
“We look forward to the government’s leadership on this important agenda, and to working with it to add stunting reduction to Rwanda’s numerous achievements. Bringing all partners together and ensuring seamless coordination with the work supported by all development partners will be key to its success” El-Gammal said.
According to Demographic Health Survey of 2015, stunting was on average of 38% Countrywide and investing in Early Childhood Development (ECD) will serve as an entry point for addressing malnutrition, in line with the recently issued ECD policy.
Under this project the support will be provided to strengthen home-based ECD sites.
Of the $55 million approved today, a $25 million credit is provided by the International Development Association (IDA)*, and the rest is a grant jointly provided by The Power of Nutrition ($ 20 million) and the Global Financing Facility ( $ 10 Million).
The targeted districts include: Nyabihu, Ngororero, Karongi, Rubavu, Rutsiro, Rusizi, Nyamagabe, Huye, Nyaruguru, Ruhango, Gakenke, Kayonza and Bugesera. Where the project will aim at maximizing overlap with the existing Social Protection project to achieve synergy.
Rwanda Stunting Prevention and Reduction Project (SPRP) will support community-based approaches, improve the delivery of high-impact nutrition and health interventions, incentivize frontline community health workers and health personnel, strengthen accountability mechanisms, and promote a learning-by-doing approach to draw lessons on what works and how it can be scaled up.
SPRP will focus on children under five (particularly children under two to reach them in the critical 1,000-day window of opportunity, before stunting becomes largely irreversible), as well as pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and poorest households.
“The project will support the Government to adopt and implement a bold strategy to improve the visibility of stunting in Rwanda, and to deliver harmonized behavior change messages across various platforms. What is transformational and ambitious in this project is the engagement in interventions across multiple sectors, leveraging and strengthening existing and new institutional structures to mobilize stakeholders; improve ownership and accountability; and ensure convergence of key interventions at the household and individual levels,” said Claver Gatete, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.
“We look forward to the government’s leadership on this important agenda, and to working with it to add stunting reduction to Rwanda’s numerous achievements. Bringing all partners together and ensuring seamless coordination with the work supported by all development partners will be key to its success” said Yasser El-Gammal. World Bank Country Manager.
According to DHS 2015, stunting was on average of 38% Countrywide and investing in Early Childhood Development (ECD) will serve as an entry point for addressing malnutrition, in line with the recently issued ECD policy. Under this project the support will be provided to strengthen home-based ECD sites.
