Gen Muhoozi, the first born son of Uganda’s President who also serves as the Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations is in Rwanda for the third time since the beginning of this year.
Gen Muhoozi was last in Rwanda in March 2022.
Also present at the mass sporting event were the Minister of Sports, Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju; the Mayor of Kigali City, Pudence Rubingisa and Ugandan journalist, Andrew Mwenda.
The sporting event serves to make Kigali a green city while promoting a healthy lifestyle.
The bi-monthly Car Free Day usually takes place between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. every first and third Sunday of the month, bringing together city dwellers for physical fitness exercises.
The exercise started in 2016, aimed promoting healthy lifestyle among Rwandans and help them benefit from other health activities like screening for non-communicable diseases.
The Car Free Day provides a platform to educate people on healthy lifestyle choices in general and creates awareness that roads are not only built for vehicles but also for pedestrians.
Among others, the mass sporting event helps to reduce air pollution.
The sporting event held on Sunday saw participants setting off from BK Arena and ran through Gishushu to the premises of Prime Minister’s Office and Kigali Heights in Kimihurura.
They also received messages encouraging them to intensify efforts in the fight against Breast Cancer.
Participants were also urged to go for regular diagnosis because the type of cancer can be cured when detected early.
The stockpile includes hundreds of weapons ranging from small arms and rockets as well as ammunition and shells.
The weapons and ammunition were hidden by the terrorists during the time when the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) pursued and dislodged them from their strongholds in areas in Siri 1 and 2 in the general area of Mbau.
The operation to discover the weapons is a pre-emptive action which denies the enemy the opportunity of returning and re-equipping themselves for further insurgent actions.
He comes to Rwanda few days after he was promoted from the rank of Lieutenant General to General in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
Gen Muhoozi was last in Rwanda in March 2022 for a three-day visit that was concluded with a donation of Inyambo cows from President Kagame.
The visit aimed at mending bilateral ties between the two neighbouring countries that had deteriorated since 2017.
Muhoozi later revealed that Kagame gifted him ten cows.
On the first day of his visit to Rwanda on Monday 14th March 2022, Gen Muhoozi was received by Chargé d’Affaires at Uganda’s Embassy in Kigali, Anne Katusiime along with senior officers from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) upon arrival at Kigali International Airport.
He was received by President Paul Kagame on the same day. On the second day, Gen Muhoozi visited Kigali Genocide Memorial where he paid homage to victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi laid there and other facilities including Kigali Arena.
In Rwandan culture, cows represent a very significant symbol of friendship and are considered part of the best wealth a person can ever possess.
Cows were the only token that would be given for dowry or as a present to a friend in Rwanda. Even today, a cow is still considered the best present one can ever give a beloved one. Be it a wedding, graduation or a birthday party, cow giving makes the occasion more colourful and real.
It was not the first time Kagame was giving cows to the family of Museveni.
On 31st July 2011, President Kagame gave cows to his counterpart of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who was on a visit to Rwanda.
At the time, Museveni was joining Rwanda for a community work to build a school for Nine Year Basic Education in Kanombe. Museveni pledged a contribution worth US$300,000 for completion of the school.
Towards the end of the same year, President Paul Kagame who was in Uganda was given 20 cows by Museveni.
This year’s donation of cows to Gen Muhoozi was considered as a great symbol evidencing that efforts to restore bilateral ties to normal are yielding good results.
Rwanda, Uganda relations worsened since 2017 where Rwanda expressed concerns over Rwandans who travel to Uganda for business purposes but were abducted, imprisoned and tortured accused of being spies.
Rwanda also accused Uganda of hosting dissidents posing threat to national security.
In 2019, the Government of Rwanda closed Gatuna border and officially advised citizens against travelling to Uganda for their security following testimonies of over 1000 Rwandans tortured and deported from Uganda.
In August 2019, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame signed a memorandum of understanding ‘Luanda Agreement’ in a bid to solve conflicts between both countries.
Negotiations did not yield expected results until efforts to mend Rwanda and Uganda relations took shape in February this year following the visits of Gen Muhoozi.
Since he was involved in the process to restore relations to normal, Gen Muhoozi has been warning Rwanda’s dissidents that they have no place in Uganda. He revealed that no official fighting Rwanda would retain job in Uganda.
Gen Muhoozi also echoed similar message in February this year where he warned Rwanda’s dissident Kayumba Nyamwasa against using his country to threaten the neighbouring country’s security.
His first visit to Rwanda was on 22nd January 2022, a move that was followed by the reopening of Gatuna border.
Later on, Rwanda reopened all land borders on 7th March 2022.
Gen Muhoozi visited Rwanda for the second time on 14th March 2022 where he held talks with President Kagame on pending issues affecting bilateral relations.
On the occasion of his birthday celebration in April this year, Gen Muhoozi said that both countries currently have good relations with optimism that the situation would improve further in the future.
The cabinet meeting held on Friday 14th October 2022, also reviewed existing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 where they remain in effect to be reviewed after one month upon a health assessment. Read the full statement below:
The RDF Army Chief of Staff (ACOS), Lt Gen Mubarakh Muganga presided over the graduation ceremony held on 14th October 2022, at the RDF Command and Staff College in Nyakinama, Musanze District.
The ACOS congratulated the graduating officers for successfully completing the course.
He said the course enriched the officers in military knowledge, competencies in operations, national security interests and the understanding of changing security environment.
The RDF Command and Staff College Deputy Commandant, Col JC Ngendahimana said that Junior Command and Staff Course aims to equip the officers with the ability to perform command and staff responsibilities.
Junior Command and Staff Course 19/22 run for 20 weeks from 30th May to 14th October 2022.
The second phase of the highly demanding course was facilitated by trainers from Scuba Diver Centre in Genoa as part of the cooperation between Rwanda National Police (RNP) and the Italian Carabiniere.
Trainees acquired skills in transiverse and baseline search methodology, set up trim, review and new knots.
Commissioner of Police (CP) Vianney Nshimiyimana, while officially closing the course, reminded the trainees of their tasks as professional marine officers to ensure the safety and security of the people.
He outlined discipline and patriotism as key factors in their service, and urged them to always work as a team and with the people.
The Commanding Officer for the Police Marine Unit, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Elias Mwesigye, said that the second phase of the course focused on advanced marine operations, including rescue operations and underwater search.
Trainees demonstrated various acquired skills, including search for an object (knife) used in murder crime and thrown in the lake, the search for a box of narcotic drugs hidden under water by criminals.
Lt. Col. Luca Falcone, one of the trainers from Italy, thanked the trainees for their discipline and determination, adding that being professional must be done as a team.
He added that the cooperation between Rwanda National Police and Carabiniere is an opportunity for both parties to enrich the capacity of Police officers.
“Through this cooperation, we inspire, we improved our skills, our knowledge and our capability,” Lt. Col. Luca said.
The details emerged at the launch of the 9th edition of RGS on Friday 14th October 2022.
RGS is an independent annual publication of the RGB that seeks to gauge the state of governance in Rwanda, comprehensively assesses governance in using both primary and secondary data sources.
It is mainly designed to generate credible and reliable data on governance issues, serves as practical tool that drives policy reform in the domain of governance through the identification of areas for improvement and generates actionable recommendations and to contribute to current and authentic knowledge formation about Rwanda.
Like previous editions, the research carried out in this year was entrenched on eight pillars, 35 indicators and 144 variables. The pillars include; :(1) Rule of Law, (2) Political Rights and Civil liberties, (3) Participation and Inclusiveness, (4) Safety and Security,(5) Investing in Human and Social Development, (6)Control of corruption, Transparency and Accountability, (7) Quality of service delivery, (8) Economic and corporate governance.
The CEO of RGB, Dr. Usta Kaitesi has said that the pillars are aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in resources allocation.
They are also aimed at promoting citizens’ inclusiveness and rule of law among others.
As for the overall performance of pillars, five out of eight scored 80% and above, where the Safety and Security leads with a score of 95.53% and remains the highest performing pillar since the introduction of RGS.
The Rule of Law performed at 90.81% while Political Rights and Civil Liberties registered 87.84%. The latter recorded the highest rate of increase (4.04%) compared to the 8th edition.
The pillar of Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability scored 87.31% up from 86.77% while Participation and Inclusiveness scored 87.19% from 84.19% in the previous edition.
Meanwhile, three pillars registered scores below 80%. These include Economic and Corporate Governance which scored 77.85% from 74.65% of the previous edition as well as the Quality of service delivery registered 77.69%.
Among others, the pillar of Investing in human and social development registered the lowest performance of the RGS 9th Edition with a score of 75.81%.
The Deputy Resident Representative the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) in Rwanda, Varsha Redkar-Palepu congratulated Rwanda for the production and launch of the 9th edition of RGS.
She stressed the need to reflect on the outcome of the RGS 9th edition, and adjust management approach to meet current needs.
The assistive devices were provided on the funding of different charities including Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian, International Charity Organization and Islamic Affairs & Charitable Activities Organization.
The handover of these wheelchairs took place on Thursday 13th October 2022 at Rilima Specialized Orthopedic Hospital managed by the Catholic Church.
UAE Ambassador to Rwanda, Hazza AlQahtani said that the donation aligns with his country’s initiatives to develop partnerships aimed at improving humans’ wellbeing.
He revealed that his country has changed the name of people with disabilities to ‘people with determination’ because they recognize their role in the development of the country.
Amb. AlQahtani explained that the donation is not driven by political or religious interests among others, but rather seeks to improve people’s lives irrespective of their background.
“The program was initiated by late President of UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who emphasized that supporting other countries is among key foundations for UAE foreign policy,” he said.
Amb. AlQahtani thanked the ministry of Health for conducting advocacy and expressed optimism that the assistive devices will be helpful to ‘people with determination’.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije said that Rwanda prioritizes strengthening early detection, intervention and rehabilitation of People with Disabilities and ensures availability and affordability of assistive devices to ensure that specialized medical services are available countrywide.
He commended UAE Embassy in Rwanda noting that it is an addition to other projects being discussed with the country to promote healthcare.
Minister Ngamije also expressed optimism that the discussions will yield good results.
Dr. Albert Nzayisenga, the Director General of Rilima Specialized Orthopedic Hospital which received 25 wheelchairs revealed that the assistive devices will pave the way for improved services.
Direct beneficiaries expressed delight for the donation noting that the wheelchairs will facilitate them to move easily.
Bugesera District Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs, Yvette Imanishimwe said that the donated 49 wheelchairs will contribute to their performance contracts.
“We have received 49 out of 150 wheelchairs we want to donate to differently abled people. We will mobilize resources to continue improving the wellbeing of this segment of the population,” she revealed.
In 2019, UAE also donated 72 wheelchairs in Kigali City.
The incident took place in Iviro business center, in Nyagisozi Cell of Nyagisozi Sector on 12th October 2022 around 7:00 p.m.
Nyaruguru District Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs, Assoumpta Byukusenge has told IGIHE that Ndabakuranye was a teacher at Groupe Scolaire Nyantanga while the suspect is a teacher at Groupe Scolaire Nkakwa.
It is said that the two teachers got in heated arguments as they shared drink after work. They clashed until Ndabakuranye was seriously injured after his colleague hit him with a bottle in the head.
Ndabakuranye was immediately taken to Butare University Teaching Hospital (CHUB) where he died in the same night.
The suspect is detained at Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) Station in Nyagisozi, pending further legal process.
Gachagua came to Rwanda for the YouthConnekt Africa Summit 2022 taking place in Kigali.
He was among other dignitaries that attended the opening ceremony on Thursday at BK Arena.
Gachagua was hosted at Urugwiro Village on the same day after attending the summit.
President Kagame was in Kenya last month where he attended the inauguration of President William Ruto and Deputy President Gachagua. The ceremony took place on 13th September 2022.
Rwanda and Kenya enjoy cordial relations built on cooperation in the areas of justice, trade, agriculture, education, technology, telecommunication, and security among others.
Before the outset of COVID-19, 30% of Rwanda’s imports were transited through Mombasa Port.
On Thursday 13th October 2022, Kagame also met with football legends from Africa who are in the country as part of their world tour ahead of Veteran Clubs World Championship (VCWC) due in Rwanda in 2024.
The legends’ tour aims to uplift the next generation of professional footballers on and off the pitch.
On Wednesday 12th October 2022, the football veterans participated in the opening of ‘Legends in Rwanda’; a promotional event aimed attracting global participation during the VCWC2024.
It brought together legendary football players including Roger Milla from Cameroun, Khalilou Fadiga from Senegal, Patrick Mboma from Cameroun, Ghanaian Anthony Baffoe and French national Lilian Thuram.
The event was also attended by government officials, members of the private sector and other sports personalities.
