MTN, which returned to profit in the first half of its financial year in the absence of one-off charges related to a $1.1 billion Nigerian fine, said the assignment of the loan to IHS will lead to a loss of 2.8 billion rand ($228 million) on transfer of the carrying value of the loan.
The loss on transfer will impact headline earnings per share (HEPS) for 2017, the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items, but not earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), the firm said.
MTN said the loan, which is due in 2024/2025, will allow its Nigerian unit to continue to invest in its network and simplify MTN’s interests in IHS.
“The agreement will enable MTN and IHS to mutually benefit from continued investment and commitment to the rollout of broadband and data services in Nigeria,” MTN said in a statement.
MTN formed a joint venture partnership with specialist tower company IHS in 2014 to own and operate MTN’s transmitter towers in Nigeria.
IHS has operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d‘Ivoire, Rwanda and Zambia.
The group is detained at Nalufenya, a high profile police detention facility in Jinja District.
Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima has said that their investigations have pointed out to a number of offences committed by the group.
“They were arrested at the border traveling with forged documents and fake identities. Two suspects were arrested in Kampala and are their collaborators,”Kayima said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
“These individuals are not innocent. Police has found out that they are culpable of more serious offences other than forgery including terrorism.”
The group through their lawyers last week filed a complaint before Jinja Chief Magistrate’s court citing detention for more than the 48 hours mandatory by the law adding that they should be brought before court and charged.
However in response, the police mouthpiece said in a statement that investigations into their case have been completed but noted that the delay in arraigning the suspects before courts of law has been occasioned by the festive season .
“The team has completed investigations ,pending perusal and prosecution by the DPP .The delay in court has been to a large measure due to festive season.”
Kayima however noted that the group’s detention at Nalufenya is legal because it is a gazetted place of detention for high profile suspects.
According to the police publicist, the crimes committed by the group happened in various parts of the country and that no one region has complete jurisdiction over them.
“Moreover being a large number involved in the same offences it is more convenient to and efficient to manage them in one place.”
He however denied that the 45 suspects are refugees from Nakivale refugee camp, adding that they are Rwandan national who migrated to Uganda and have been living in various parts of the country .
These developments come at a time when the relationship between Uganda and her neighbour in the South West, Rwanda is frosty following allegations of kidnap of Rwandan dissidents and repatriated to be handed over to the Kigali government to face a number of charges.
Nine people including senior police officers are currently facing related charges for kidnapping and repatriating Lt.Joel Mutabazi, a former bodyguard to Rwandan president Paul Kagame to Rwanda in 2013.
They are facing charges before the General Court Martial in Makindye.
The Governor made the remarks recently while addressing about 1000 people including sector and cell executive secretaries, and village leaders from the sectors of Muhoza, Cyuve, Musanze and Kimonyi.
The Governor urged them to put much effort in fighting illicit drugs and child pregnancies.
“Drug abuse is a high impact crime and a security threat that should be given emphasis to fight it,” Gatabazi said.
He hinted on security issues related to domestic conflicts, sexual assault resulting into child and unwanted pregnancies.
He, however, noted that there is a general reduction in drug related crimes adding that much concerted efforts is still needed to combat the vice and ensure dealers are arrest.
“We have to protect the young people including preventing anything that can lure them into sexual malpractices that lead to child pregnancy, dropping out of school and engaging in criminal acts like theft,” Governor Gatabazi said.
The outreach exercise included ministers; Francis Kaboneka of Local Government, Dr. Diane Gashumba of Health, Rosemary Mbabazi of Youth, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana, Governor of the Northern Province Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi and Prosecutor General Jean Bosco Mutangana, among others.
The government awareness campaign against drugs included separate meetings with local leaders, residents, public destruction of seized narcotics and parading of about 160 suspected drug dealers that were arrested with the disposed of substances.
About 2918 dozens of banned contrabands in different brands seized in various police operations in Burera, recently, were disposed of.
Minister Kaboneka reminded the residents not to allow such drug dealers in their midst adding that “you and your children are the immediate victims.”
“A lot has been achieved in various aspects of development, but again a lot in education, health and resource development, among others is still hampered by such illicit drugs,” Kaboneka said, referring to the paraded suspects, majority the youth.
Minister Gashumba embarked on the health hazards of abusing drugs, citing heart diseases, kidney, liver and hepatitis as some of the life threatening diseases caused by illicit drugs.
IGP Gasana, on his part, said: “There is redline against narcotic drugs, and you are part of the force to report everyone still involved to face the wrath of the law.”
“We can’t allow lives of young people to be wasted by individual with personal evil agenda. We have mapped out about 80 routes between Nyagatare and Burera used by traffickers, and operations have been intensified, counting on your usual cooperation and information sharing, to arrest them,” IGP Gasana added.
The Northern region is one of the major routes for traffickers of banned gin in different brands, especially in the three districts of Gicumbi, Musanze and Burera.
Residents of Burera and Gicumbi have since formed at least one anti-drugs club in every sector, which police say, have been effective in identifying and arresting dealers.
Meanwhile, Governor Gatabazi said that action will also be taken to local leaders who areas are hubs of drug dealers, defining it as an act of incompetence.
{{State of drugs in Rwanda}}
This came on the heels of strengthened efforts between Rwanda National Police (RNP) and other institutions as well as the public, to map-out routes used by traffickers and to break chains of supply
Over the years, fighting trafficking, making, sell and use of illicit drugs has been one of the priorities if Rwanda National Police.
This is done through continuous community awareness which facilitates information flow on dealers, routes used, and abusers, which police said, has been effective in ensuring successful operations to arrest dealers and seize illicit substances.
Police statistics indicate that crimes related to narcotic drugs decreased by at least 3 percent from 4059 cases registered in 2016 to 3941 recorded this year.
Over 2040 drug dealers have also been arrested since the beginning of the year while people aged between 18 and 35 years constitute the majority 40 percent of the arrested dealers and abusers, in the same period.
Only 48 people aged below 18 years, have been arrested this year for either dealing or abusing drugs, all referred in rehabilitation centres.
While appearing on the television talk-show that focused on illicit drugs in Rwanda, over the weekend, Aime Bosenibamwe, the coordinator of National Rehabilitation Services (NRS), said that a total of 12228 addicted youth aged between 18 and 35 year, have so far been rehabilitated and equipped with vocational skills since 2012.
According to Bosenibamwe, about 90 percent of the rehabilitated youth have healed completely from drug consequences and currently putting the vocational skills attained from rehabilitations centres to good use in varied income generating activities.
Currently, there are two rehabilitation centres in the country, with the third one set to start soon.
Meanwhile, 79 illegal distilleries have also been closed in different parts of the country in a joint RNP and Rwanda Standards Board (RBS) operations.
The income is attributed to credits delivery and good monitoring for their reimbursement.
Speaking at the general meeting on Wednesday, the cooperative’s Director General, Laurence Uwambaje said the income surpassed the target of Rwf8 billion.
“We did our best to increase Umwali Sacco’s assets from members’ participation. It is obvious that we have surpassed our target to Rwf9 billion contrary to Rwf8 billion that was targeted before expenditures,” she said.
She said the cooperative had registered a net profit of Rwf2,218,000,000 by November.
The gross profit has increased from Rwf3 billion in 2016 to Rwf3.25 billion.
The cooperative has provided a total of Rwf49 billion in credits up to now, which were mainly allocated into houses construction, project development and salary advance, among other types of credits.
Among these credits, 50% went into construction purposes whereas project development took only 16%.
Protais Niyonzima, a teacher in Gakenke District, said the cooperative is helpful to teachers but pleaded for improved access to credits by cutting short the process and costs, things which discourage members.
Umwalimu Sacco is an initiative that was introduced by the government to promote teachers’ welfare through projects financing. The cooperative currently has 75,000 members.
Weah, the first African to win the Ballon D’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year – won comprehensively, clinching 12 of the 15 counties in the West African country.
His opponent Joseph Boakai, who has been vice-president for the last 12 years, only had two counties vote for him.
Jubilant Weah took to Twitter to confirm the victory.
The former Chelsea man is not known for his political nous but his clout as a footballing icon garners him significant support amongst the youth of Liberia, where 60% of the population is under the age of 30.
Weah topped the first round of voting in October but didn’t secure the 50% needed to win outright. The runoff was delayed twice after allegations of voting fraud and irregularities but Weah’s popularity won out in the end.
He will take over from Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who beat Weah in an election back in 2005. Weah’s lack of education was seen as the main reason for his loss.
The 51 year-old former striker was signed by Chelsea in 2000 on loan and had an immediate impact, scoring a header on his debut in a derby game against Tottenham.
He scored five goals in 14 matches for the club, starting the 2000 FA Cup final against Aston Villa as they beat the Midlanders 1-0.
He also played under Arsene Wenger at Monaco, calling him a “father figure” and attributing his considerable success to the Frenchman.
Moving to Europe in 1988 he went on to spend 14 remarkable years playing for Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan before short stints at Chelsea and Manchester City, finishing his European career in Marseille.
It was during his five years at the Rossoneri from 1995 to 2000 that he confirmed his reputation as one of the world’s most fearsome strikers, winning the Ballon d’Or in 1995 and FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996.
The Liberian powerhouse was known for his work-rate, instinctive ability and athletic attributes and was seen, along with Ronaldo and Romario , as a modern breed of striker who could finish and run with the ball effectively.
A highly decorated professional, he won African Footballer of the Year three times, the Serie A twice, Ligue 1 once and a smorgasbord of domestic cups in France and Italy.
Back in October, Arsenal boss Wenger mistakenly congratulated Weah on the presidential victory.
Source: The Mirror
From January to December, Kagame attended important conventions such as Munich Security Conference; the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; the 28th African Union Summit; the 2nd Africa Business Forum in Egypt, and more.
In Africa, he attended several conventions and visited his counterparts in Senegal, Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Mali, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Sudani, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt and Djibouti. He also attended the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York and received the Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde. He was also spotted in Boston and Massachusetts, USA, on different occasions.
On the Asian continent, President Kagame re-enforced bilateral relations by attending the Africa Global Business Forum in Dubai, met with his Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the United Arab Emirates’ Vice-president and Prime Minister, and the ruler of Emirates of Dubai.
On the continent, President Kagame also visited Hong Kong, China and India. He traveled to Israel where his Israel Counterpart, Reuven Rivlin with his Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu received him in the President’s abode in Jerusalem.
The President’s trips on the European continent reached England, Germany, Belgium, Vatican and Switzerland. While in the city of Zurich, he met with FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino and the two toured the world football museum located in Zurich, Switzerland.
{{Pictorial: Some of President Kagame 2017 functions
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The decision of opening borders to all visitors was announced in November stating that all Rwanda visitors will get visas on arrival.
According to the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration (DGIE), the decision will take effect on 1st January 2018.
The government of Rwanda re-affirms that the decision aimed at easing business with other countries.
However, people questioned the decision as posing security threats amid security tumbling around the world.
Appearing on the national broadcaster, RBA, on Sunday, Mushikiwabo said that they expect good impacts of the decision on the country’s economy as soon as the implementation starts.
“When you open borders for visitors, both sides wish quick and good services. It is an immense decision that has many good impacts on the economy of the country. We, Africans, cannot cooperate with countries from oversees without cooperating among ourselves. This can bring negative impacts on the economy of our continent,” she said.
Mushikiwabo noted that the decision was taken while they were aware that the world is threatened by security issues but she reassured that all the challenges have been taken into account.
“As you know, there are currently part of African countries that require travellers to pass by Europe or Arabic countries before they enter them; so, people should note that our decision is not easy, it requires tighten security. We wish to attain the most valuable things which require us to sail through those challenges and overcome them to the extent that we shall be able to attain the things that will impact the continent,” she said.
“Before we decided to open our borders, we were aware of how implementation will be difficult. It will require us other measures but security issues should not make us locked into our countries. We need to move ahead towards welcoming people from other countries. First, we need to know who they are; through exchange of information, we shall be able to identify people who might be threats. In fact, it is an exercise which is always done between countries. We always exchange direct information,” she explained.
Moving to the implementation, Mushikiwabo said that they will need to improve security personnel as well as improving technology for information sharing.
“It will require us to spur capacity building in terms of technology and security personnel on airports and in our embassies so that we will timely share information. It is not an easy job but it is necessary,” she said.
The Minister added that borders should be open for Rwandans and people from around the world so that they can be able to find opportunities that enable them live profitably.
Gatare was speaking in Burera District last weekend as ‘Wolfram Mining and Processing’, a mining company, marked 10-year anniversary operating in Rwanda.
He said that the income is attributed to the rise of prices, especially of minerals like coltan, Wolfram and Cassiterite on the international market.
“People in mining sector had this year targeted to double last year’s income from mining production and we have so far observed that we are about to hit the target,” Gatare said.
“In the past five years, reports show that we had averagely earned $200 million from mining each year. Today, we have not documented all months of the year but we had accumulated $300 million until November as we target $350 million by the end of the year,” he added.
He said the increased production in 2017 was motivated by the rise of prices on the international market.
As prices on the market motivated dealers, Gatare said, institutions in charge increased efforts in campaigns that aimed at sensitizing miners to timely take their whole production to the market.
Gatare explained that in a bid to export value-added minerals, they sensitized miners to embrace good sifting techniques.
There was a slight decrease of income from mining over the past years as they generated $226 million in 2013, $206 million in 2014 and $150 million in 2015. The production was revamped and generated $200 million in 2016.
The Government targets annual revenues worth $400 million from mining by 2017/2018 fiscal year and Rwf1.5 billion by 2024 under the Government Seven-Year Programme.
The wholesalers were Tuesday found selling Irish potatoes at Giti Cy’Inyoni, a Kigali suburb, while new directives require them to do it from Nzove in Kanyinya Sector of Nyarugenge District.
Rwanda National Police seized the cars that were transporting over 80 metric tonnes of Irish Potatoes yesterday late at night and immediately detained them at Nyarugenge Police Station.
Dealers who spoke to the national broadcaster, RBA, said that they were unable to raise the fines as their products remain seized and are perishing from the police station.
“We cannot afford that amount of money. These Irish potatoes are perishing and we cannot sell them to pay the fines. Now, where can we find the money?” said one of the dealers.
Minister for Trade and Industry, Vincent Munyeshyaka said that the fined were defaulting directives that were set to improve Irish Potato dealership.
“We previously found poor operations in the sector, we gave them good direction and we currently have constant prices on the market. The price is between Rwf220 and Rwf250 per kilogram, having reduced from between Rwf350 and Rwf450 at the markets some days ago,” said Munyeshyaka.
He said the directives were set after consultations with all parties in the business and all must, therefore, respect them.
