Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente announced President Paul Kagame’s decision to drop Dr. Mujawamariya from the Cabinet on Thursday morning, citing matters of accountability under investigation.
“Pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, especially its Article 116; today, 25th July 2024, Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya has been dismissed from her position as Minister of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) due to matters of accountability under investigation,” the Prime Minister announced.
Dr. Mujawamariya’s dismissal comes barely two months after she was appointed Minister of Labour.
The long-serving public officer, with a career spanning more than two decades in government, was among several ministers affected by a Cabinet reshuffle initiated by President Kagame on June 12, 2024.
She previously served as Minister of Environment for the Republic of Rwanda from 2019.
From 2013 to 2019, she served as the Ambassador of Rwanda to Russia. Prior to that, she had been the Vice Chancellor and Rector of the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology from 2011 to 2013.
From 2008 to 2011, she held the position of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office in charge of Gender and Family Promotion.
She was the Minister of Education from 2006 to March 2008, and before that, from 2005 to 2006, she served as the Minister of State in Charge of Higher Education within the same ministry.
Between 2003 and 2005, she was the Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education in the Ministry of Education of the Rwandan government.
Earlier in her career, from 2001 to 2003, she worked as a lecturer of Physical Chemistry in the Faculty of Education, Department of Biology and Chemistry at the National University of Rwanda.
In a twist of events, Ruto handed critical dockets including Finance, Energy and Mining, to opposition leader Raila Odinga’s allies in what has been perceived as an attempt to appease the protesters demanding radical changes in government.
Addressing the media at State House, Nairobi, Ruto hoped his new cabinet would revive efforts to deflate anti-government protests that have been going on for weeks.
President Ruto nominated the chairman of the ODM party, John Mbadi, as Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning (Finance). He also picked ODM deputy leaders Wycliffe Oparanya and Ali Hassan Joho to head plum dockets previously held by his loyalists.
Oparanya has been nominated to head the Ministry of Co-operatives and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development, while Joho will be in charge of the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy, and Maritime Affairs.
Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi, also a senior member of Odinga’s ODM party, has been nominated as Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum.
Seven more new appointments were made in addition to the [11 that Ruto announced last week->https://en.igihe.com/news/article/president-ruto-retains-6-ministers-in-new-cabinet-appointments#:~:text=They%20are%20Kithure%20Kindiki%20(Interior,takes%20over%20the%20Roads%20docket.].
Salim Mvurya was moved from the Ministry of Mining and Blue Economy to the Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industry. Kipchumba Murkomen is set to become the Minister of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy, and Sports after a stint at the Road and Transport docket.
Former Trade Minister, Rebecca Miano, will be in charge of the Tourism and Wildlife portfolio.
Alfred Mutua has been nominated to head the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, while former Attorney General Justin Muturi has been nominated to head the Ministry of Public Service and Human Capital Development. Stella Soi Lang’at is set to take over as the new Minister for Gender, Culture, the Arts, and Heritage.
The ODM party is the main opposition party in Kenya. It is also the largest party in the Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition, which was formed in the run-up to the 2022 presidential elections.
The Ministry of Finance and Planning recently found itself at the center of the Kenyan protests after drafting the Finance Bill 2024, which sought to raise $2.7 billion local revenue through collection of additional taxes.
Former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga last week opposed calls for President Ruto to resign over government failures and instead called for dialogue to resolve the issues raised by the youth.
While announcing the additional members of the cabinet, Ruto promised to tackle corruption in government by undertaking stringent measures.
“I will be proposing the amendment of the Evidence Act, Criminal Procedure Code, as well as other necessary changes, to expedite and prosecute corruption cases within six months,” he said.
Additionally, the president pledged to propose amendments to the Witness Protection Act to protect and incentivize whistleblowers as well as enhance witness protection.
Through the Kenya Media Sector Working Group, journalists carrying placards with messages such as ‘Shoot Not the Messenger’ brought business to a standstill as they marched across Nairobi streets to deliver their petition to the police.
In the petition, the members of the press listed several demands including accountability for illegal shooting, beating, abduction, and harassment of journalists by state operatives.
They demanded immediate prosecution of rogue police officers including the one who shot a journalist in Nakuru.
The journalists also castigated the government over threats to shut down media houses covering the [anti-government protests->https://en.igihe.com/news/article/protesters-storm-kenyan-parliament-as-controversial-finance-bill-is-passed] that continue to be witnessed in the country.
“Today, we have appropriated our rights as citizens and professionals to gather and express our anger over police brutality against journalists, threats to shut media houses, and other primitive strategies by state organs and agencies, politicians, and their ill intentions bent on curtailing the hard-won freedom of expression and media,” the journalists said.
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Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki, a journalist working with K24TV, was shot four times by police during an anti-government protest on July 16, 2024. Medics confirmed that three rubber bullets were lodged in her thighs, with one of them causing a serious injury.
Narrating her ordeal at a Nakuru hospital where she was admitted, Wanjeri told local media recently that she was being targeted by the police alongside other journalists for covering the anti-government protests.
“Nobody would convince me that I was not a target, it is not the first time I have been targeted. I had been hit by a teargas canister but I did not report nor escalate the matter. I just showed my colleagues the scar on the same leg that I was shot at,” she recounted.
In the same week, veteran journalist and newspaper columnist Macharia Gaitho was violently arrested while driving around Nairobi with his son. However, the police later freed the scribe without charge, terming the arrest a case of mistaken identity.
Recently, the Communications Authority of Kenya cautioned the media against broadcasting content pertaining to the ongoing protests, arguing that airing such content violates the Constitution.
Citing violent protests that have resulted in the loss of lives and destruction of property, the authority said the media is mandated with the critical role of maintaining public order and sensitivity.
The AU chief made the comments while congratulating President Paul Kagame on his re-election in the recently concluded general election.
“H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat warmly congratulates President Paul Kagame upon his brilliant re-election as Head of state following the announcement of the official presidential and legislative election results by the Rwandan National Elections Commission on 22 July 2024,” a statement issued by AUC on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, reads in part.
“The Chairperson also commended the Government and the National Elections Commission for the successful organization and conduct of the elections judged to be peaceful, transparent, free and fair by both national and international observers, including the joint African Union/COMESA Election Observation Mission.”
According to Faki, the Rwandan authorities’ self-financing of the entire electoral process illustrates strong national ownership and commitment to the country’s democratic and governance credentials.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Togolese counterpart Faure Gnassingbé also joined other world leaders on Tuesday in congratulating Kagame for his landslide victory.
In his message to President Kagame, Jinping highlighted that Rwanda has traditionally been a friendly nation to China. He noted that in recent years, relations between China and Rwanda have developed rapidly, yielding fruitful results in various sectors and deepening their traditional friendship.
He committed to working with President Kagame to further enhance mutual political trust and to expand and deepen practical cooperation in various fields.
President Gnassingbe, on his part, said Kagame’s re-election reflects the renewed confidence of the Rwandan people in the RPF Inkotanyi leader’s leadership and vision for the country.
“I hope that this new term will strengthen the ongoing cooperation between our countries and the fraternity between our peoples,” he added.
Kagame secured a landslide victory in last week’s general election, garnering 99.18% of the votes. His opponents, Dr. Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana, received 0.50% and 0.32% of the votes, respectively.
In a new wave of protests, the angry citizens took to the streets alleging that the Kenyan government planned to sell the country’s main airport to foreign investors.
Despite a police warning issued on Monday evening, the youth made an effort to enter the national airport on Tuesday morning to protest using the slogan ‘OccupyJKIA’.
The youths erected barricades along the road leading to the airport in Embakasi, paralyzing transport.
Police were forced to lob tear gas canisters into the air to disperse the demonstrators and clear the road leading to the busy international airport.
Due to the anticipated protests, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and national carrier Kenya Airways had advised passengers to arrive at JKIA at least four hours before their flights because of enhanced security checks.
The protests come a day after Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi denied plans to sell JKIA.
Mudavadi told the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee that the sale of such a high-value asset can only be done after public memoranda and approval by parliament.
“The airport is not on sale. This is a public asset, a strategic asset. If it was going to be sold, you can only do it after a full public process that parliament endorses,” Mudavadi told MPs on Monday.
Mudavadi, however, noted that there are plans to expand the airport and build a new terminal.
“The Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) must look at its investment programme very carefully, make sure that everything is transparent. So that during the expansion process of the second terminal, let it be done through the legal process so that everybody knows what is going on,” he added.
The anti-government protests began last month with calls for President William Ruto to withdraw a bill that sought to introduce additional taxes on Kenyans. However, despite the withdrawal of the bill and even the dissolution of his Cabinet, the protesters changed course and are now demanding the President’s resignation.
Over the weekend, the Kenyan Head of State vowed to crack down on the youthful protesters, saying “enough is enough”.
President Ruto said on Sunday that going forward he will ”protect the nation” saying he had already given everybody a chance to air their views.
“I dropped the Finance Bill, I called them to come to the table and talk to me, they refused and asked me to go to X, I went there but they ran away,” Ruto said.
“I have called them for talks but they have refused saying they are faceless and formless.”
According to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC), the protests have so far claimed 50 lives. At least 20 of the victims were shot dead when angry protesters stormed Parliament buildings in Nairobi shortly after the passing of the Finance Bill on June 25 2024.
Unique to the Rwandan audience, a group of Mount Kigali University (MKU) students has taken innovation to a whole new level. They have developed a system to automate key features and appliances in modern houses, aiming to add their mark to the history books of technology.
The idea to build the system, dubbed ‘Smart Homes,’ was conceptualised in December 2023, by six students who are pursuing a degree program in Business and Communication Technology.
They are Mugisha Emmanuel Junior and Eric Ruzima Nzigiye (civil and electronics engineers, respectively); Felix Prince Mubera and Jessica Kavira (back-end developers); and Urbain Ukwishaka and Pascal Herve Gumiriza (both front-end developers responsible for designing the user interface of the mobile application).
All the students are in their final year, except for Mugisha, who is in his third year.
This technology involves the use of a specially designed mobile application that interprets voice commands to open or close windows and doors, turn lights on or off, control the Air conditioners and many other home appliances.
Since the system heavily relies on Internet of Things (IoT) technology, the students decided to merge knowledge in electrical, civil and software engineering. Mugisha says that after completing his first bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, he enrolled in an IT program at MKU, where he later teamed up with his colleagues.
Once the full team was established, the actual development of the project began in January 2024.
During a recent visit to MKU Main Campus in Kicukiro district, Mugisha revealed that the plan is to extend the project further to include control of all possible home appliances, such as fridges and other electronics.
This, Mugisha said, helps to conserve energy when the items are not in use and this is unique compared to similar systems developed in other parts of the world.
“We had seen many developed countries living in a world where houses can be controlled from anywhere. We thought, why don’t we do this for our country, Rwanda,” he said.
Rwanda is a rapidly developing country and having automated houses is a good step in the right direction of contributing to an even smarter Rwanda.
“Our goal is conserving energy. You will be using only the appliances that are needed, and when they are not in use, they will be turned off to save energy,” Mugisha explained.
Since security is key in any technology development today, the system has been designed to uniquely identify voice commands and prevent unauthorized access to homes by intruders.
The students are open to partnering with other like-minded innovators and investors to incorporate more features and take the project to a whole new level.
“This is a big project, and we really need funds from anyone who would want to partner with us. We would be pleased and happy to have them on our team and be part of our initiative to make Rwanda smart,” Mugisha concluded.
Eric Nyasani, an IoT and Electronics lecturer at MKU, said he is very proud of the students and encouraged them to incorporate more features.
The lecturer emphasized the need to support such brilliant students in bringing their ideas to life.
“Our learners have brilliant ideas, but partly because they lack funding and some of these things require a lot of resources, they strain a lot to source for funds to make these things work. Therefore, if we can have some element of funding to support such innovative ideas, we can push the country to the next level,” Nyasani stated.
The final results show that Kagame won with 99.18% of the vote, receiving 8,822,794 votes from Rwandans. Dr. Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda came in second with 44,479 votes (0.50%), while Philippe Mpayimana finished third with 28,466 votes (0.32%).
The election, held on July 14 and 15, 2024, was characterized by peace and transparency, as confirmed by various observers, including those from the African Union in partnership with Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF), and the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF).
Kagame will be the first to lead Rwanda for a five-year term following the 2015 constitutional amendment that reduced the presidential term from seven years to five.
On Sunday, while receiving some of the people who played a role in the successful campaign, Paul Kagame stated that the focus now is on fulfilling the promises made to the citizens during the campaign.
Following the announcement of the final election results, the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect must take place within 30 days.
Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony for the King Faisal Hospital (KFH) expansion on Monday, July 22, President Kagame noted that the expansion of health facilities will contribute to ongoing efforts to build more healthcare capacity in the country, ensuring that Rwandans won’t need to travel abroad to seek treatment.
The Head of State emphasized that the government will continue to partner with relevant institutions to improve its capacity in this key sector to even benefit healthcare demands in the region.
In the latest partnership between the Ministry of Health, the King Faisal Hospital Rwanda Foundation, and Shelter Group Africa, KFH says it will expand its bed capacity from 157 to 400, thereby increasing access to its services.
The expansion of KFH will add approximately 88,000 square meters to the existing infrastructure, accommodating advanced treatments for complex ailments, including heart surgery, joint replacements, and cancer therapy.
President Kagame lauded the institutions behind the expansion works, expressing his confidence that they will deliver. He revealed that he had broken his own vow of only presiding over completed projects to attend the ground-breaking ceremony because he trusts the partners involved.
“I had reduced my attendance at ground-breaking ceremonies to almost zero and preferred to attend ceremonies where something was already completed. However, due to the importance of this project and the great trust I have in those who invited me, I had to come. I broke my own rules because of that trust,” he stated.
At the same time, the President emphasized that training medical officers remains a priority in the healthcare transformation agenda, despite the frustrations that are often encountered. He urged that beneficiaries of international programs should apply the knowledge gained to advance local systems to higher levels.
“You send people to train abroad, they come back, but you continue sending patients for treatment outside. It doesn’t add up. We want this to translate into growth in capacity here in our country, in as many fields as we can, so that our people and others from the region can get the services they need from us, right here,” he added.
Odinga re-affirmed his position on the sustained pressure demanding for Ruto’s resignation during a meeting with Members of Parliament from his ODM Party on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
The former Prime Minister said that hounding President Ruto out of office would be useless as it would mean Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua assuming power and continue with the same policies.
Odinga reasoned that forcing Ruto out would even possibly worsen the situation, plunging the country into turmoil if the military was for example allowed to take over, a replica of what befell Egypt a few years ago.
“It’s at times of crisis like this that a country needs to talk. We are not doing it to save Ruto. We are doing it to save Kenya. Generals don’t have teargas. They don’t have water cannons. They have bullets,” he pointed out.
Odinga’s firm stance on the ongoing protests demanding Ruto’s resignation comes amid reports of growing rift among high-ranking officials in his coalition including former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and former Justice Minister Martha Karua.
Musyoka and Karua appear to harbour a hard-line position on increasing calls for President Ruto to exit office, insisting that the Head of State had failed to address the plight of Kenyans including the high cost of living that has pushed the prices of basic commodities through the roof.
The rift in the opposition coalition became apparent when rowdy youths forced Musyoka to cut short his speech during the ODM Parliamentary group meeting on Wednesday.
Musyoka’s address was disrupted shortly after he began reading a statement deemed to contradict Odinga’s position on the ongoing protests. Odinga had excused himself to attend to other engagements.
Later senior members of Odinga’s ODM party accused Musyoka of trying to paint Odinga as a traitor while simultaneously collaborating with Ruto’s deputy to undermine the Head of State.
“We must identify what works for us as ODM. We are the bigger party in Azimio and we cannot be bullied,” Hassan Joho, a former governor and high-ranking official in the ODM party stated.
John Mbadi, the national chairperson of the Odinga party, also fired at Kalonzo, saying some of the opposition coalition partners were being dishonest.
“This country must talk. Our partners in Azimio are dishonest. We have children and we have a country to save for them,” Mbadi said.
Odinga, who commands a huge following in Kenyan politics, is gunning for the position of chairperson of the African Union Commission after five unsuccessful attempts at the presidency.
His calls for dialogue to resolve the standoff between the young people and the government are seen by critics as self-centred, given his hard stance against Ruto’s administration in the past.
The Kenyan government has already endorsed Odinga’s attempt for the continental job at AU and is expected to lobby support for him ahead of elections scheduled for February 2025.
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There are growing concerns over the youth-led protests in Kenya, which turned violent in recent weeks, with the government insisting that what were otherwise peaceful demonstrations were infiltrated by goons keen to cause mayhem.
According to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC), the protests have so far claimed 50 lives. At least 20 of the victims were shot dead when angry protesters stormed Parliament buildings in Nairobi shortly after the passing of the Finance Bill on June 25 2024.
The protests forced President Ruto to make several changes in his modus operandi including the withdrawal of the controversial bill and recently firing his entire Cabinet.
President Ruto also scrapped the operational budgets for the Office of the First Lady and that of the Deputy President’s wife.
However, despite these changes, Kenyans returned to the streets on Tuesday, demanding for the President’s resignation.
His closest rival, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, managed only 0.50 per cent of the vote, and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana trailed with 0.32 per cent.
While releasing the results on Thursday, July 18, NEC Chairperson Oda Gasinzigwa said that RPF and its coalition allies secured majority votes (68.83 per cent) in the July 15 parliamentary general elections.
The Liberal Party (PL) secured 8.66 per cent of the votes, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) got 8.62 per cent while the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda got 4.56 per cent of the total votes.
The Ideal Democratic Party (PDI) and PS-Imberakuri secured 4.61 per cent 4.51 per cent respectively.
Janvier Nsengimana, the only contestant who ran as an independent got only 0.21 per cent of the total votes.
The national constitution specifies that a candidate or political party which fails to get at least 5 per cent of the vote is not eligible to get a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.
