Violators of the guidelines and orders are facing different punitive actions including fines, imprisonment, and a stern warning.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry [MINICOM], has carried out an inspection in the City of Kigali, Southern and Northern provinces to establish whether traders do comply with price ceilings and buy-rations set for especially food commodities.
The ministry has found that there has been an unprecedented rise in prices for all foodstuffs, hygiene products followed by the use of substandard weighing scales.
Inspectors from the Ministry have also established that there was much hoarding [storing of goods in anticipation of higher prices] of merchandise in different stores across the country. Other inconsistencies that have been identified include traders issuing invoices with a lower value in comparison to the actual cash received.
City of Kigali, Muhanga and Musanze traders that have breached commercial and standards guidelines have, between March 20 and March 25, been slapped with fines totaling to well over Rwf4 million.
During the six-day inspection,109 businesses were found culpable to flouting issued coronavirus-preventive guidelines. Coronavirus causes COVID-19.
Since Minicom began this audit, it has so far fined 153 businesses and traders and collected Rwf 8,745,000 in fines.
The App Store is an online store powered by Apple where users can download apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Apple TV and have them installed on your iOS device.
currently, Apple offers its services only to 155 regions or countries around the world.
Rwandan developers said the upgrade will allow them to develop applications both for Android and iOS devices since they did not have the required licenses before.
Most applications developed in Rwanda are only compatible with Android devices. People in Rwanda who use Apple devices had to acquire an Apple ID from another country bu changing locations to have access to some applications.
Although no precise date was mentioned, Apple advised developers to update their information by April 10th, 2020.
Habineza Moussa, CEO of KHENZ, a software developing company said Rwanda was isolated when it came to developing applications compatible to iOS devices but that once they sign license agreements, the issue will be solved.
Habineza added that iOS users in Rwanda will be able to use mobile payment and digital wallet services via Apple Pay.
Apple is an American multinational technology company headquartered in California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services.
Apart from Rwanda, 19 other countries will have access to the App Store including Afghanistan, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Georgia, Maldives, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cameroon, Iraq, Kosovo, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Tonga, Zambia, and Vanuatu.
The unfortunate incident took Tuesday evening in Nyamitovu village, Kabuga cell, when the deceased disobeyed police order of stopping at a checkpoint, and instead started a fight with the officers, during which skirmish the two, Jean Claude Nyiramana, 27 and Emmanuel Nyandwi, 25, were shot dead.
It has been reported that as local authorities and security personnel monitored compliance with the implementation of state guidelines for the prevention of COVID-19, the deceased duo ignored the checkpoint and instead parked at a nearby shop where one officer followed and asked them to present relevant documents that the rider, Nyiramana, failed to produce, started a fight, and tried to grab the officer’s gun.
As the scuffle ensued with the police officer pinned down on the ground, the second officer arrived, fired in the air to scare Nyiramana to let free the officer but he [Nyiramana] did not let go. It was at this point that Nyiramana was shot dead.
Realizing the last gasps of his dying friend, Nyandwi tried to grab the police officer with the intent of wrestling and disarming him. He was also shot dead.
In a statement issued via Twitter on Wednesday, Rwanda National Police says preliminary investigations indicate that the deceased were trying to fight police officers on duty.
“Preliminary investigations show that the dead first confronted a Police Officer who was on regular security duty. His colleague shot errant men in self-defense. An in-depth investigation is ongoing.”
The bodies of the deceased were taken to Nyanza District Hospital for autopsy.
But then, as life dulls into a lull, there are quite a number actions and lessons we get from this outbreak. First, we really are all in this together and our shared sacrifice should be to solve this common problem, consistent with Rwandan values; values that make Rwanda a great nation.
Remember, on the entire African continent [and the world, I can say] Rwanda is a country that represents and personifies hope.
The Government is making us feel safest by confronting reality and moving proactively. That is why lockdown and ‘stay at home’ actions came in effect when the cases had not got in the tens before it makes irreparable inroads… But because COVOID-19 is feared more for its contagiousness than for its lethal severity, it’s easy to be seduced by the desire to retreat into denial or try to avoid accountability altogether.
We need to remind ourselves that the pathogen first got out of control in China because of their government’s impulse to hide the truth. Denial is lethal.
Rwanda has proactively taken the lockdown and other measures basing on smart, science-based decision-making to drive government action against coronavirus, as denial would only make things worse; because the scourge is a serious life or death struggle. It is a challenge that requires responsibility from all citizens. Overcoming it will not be a quick fix — it will take time, innovation and sacrifice. But we will get through this, emerge stronger and wiser.
{{Let us do this}}
When we “STAY AT HOME”, we are actively supporting a “FLATTENING THE CURVE” anti-pandemic global policy/action, designed to minimize loss of life while maintaining proper functionality of the country and its health system plus normal continuity of the state and the economy after the pandemic.
Flattening the curve advocates for a technic similar to a “Scorched Earth” policy against the advancing virus so that it finds nothing to survive on wherever it reaches, can’t find anyone else to jump on to, and thereby quickly dies out. It is therefore apparent that we need to start flattening the curve early before we are overwhelmed like Italy.
We all need to understand what the effort is about so that we fight this together as a country.
The citizens’ part is simply to stay at home for the stipulated quarantine period. That’s all.
This is the time our country needs all of us marching together against this macabre global pandemic. This is the time for patriotism with a heart.
{{Do some more}}
Is all doom and gloom? Even as we await what lies ahead? I would say no. Sequestered at home with our families — away from the mad dash of social gatherings in the name of social distancing — we’re reminded that they are what really matters.
Playing catch in the backyard, reading a book, talking, cooking, laughing — these are the real joys of life. We should savor the simple things despite whatever fear we may feel.
A resident native of Bugeshi, Niyonzima Thomas, says they are adjusting to the effects of heavy rains that usually destroy their houses and gardens at the peak of the wet season.
“Here we are adjusting to the wind and rains favored by the surrounding forest. Otherwise, when we are in the rainy season, that’s what happens; houses fly and you see iron sheets in the air like airplanes,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of Bugeshi Sector, Jean Bosco Rwibasira, said the storm did not kill any civilians except for the houses that were severely damaged. He promised to advocate for the residents affected by the storm.
“It has been raining for days, but yesterday rainstorms destroyed 17 houses and household items. No casualties have been reported to the district administration,” he said, adding that as they await assistance, the 17 families affected are housed in neighborhoods.
“The army, during certain visits, found some older people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Monday, according to the BBC.
“We will be totally relentless and assertive over this,” she added, according to Turkish state-run news organization Anadolu Agency.
Robles said that staff members at some care homes had fled the premises after the virus was first detected.
“We have a clear message: The law will fall on all those who don’t comply with their obligations in these residences.”
Nearly 40,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Spain as the country tracks only behind Italy among the hardest-hit countries in Europe. The country’s death toll is now at almost 2,800, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The country’s deputy prime minister is currently hospitalized awaiting treatment for a respiratory infection and has been tested for the coronavirus, though the results of that test have not yet been returned, a government spokesperson told Business Insider.
“The Deputy Prime Minister went to a hospital yesterday afternoon and after medical tests were carried out doctors decided she had to remain there to receive treatment for a respiratory infection,” said the spokesperson.
The deceased, Jean Hakizimana, 35, met his demise at a section where River Nabarongo snakes through Rubumba Village where it is normally flooded.
Residents of the area where the incident took place say that various aqua-based animals, including crocodiles and hippopotamuses, are on a rampage in the area in recent days as another resident was recently killed by a crocodile.
Kamonyi District Mayor Kayitesi Alice has said Hakizimana Jean’s body is not yet found, adding that residents of the area are required to avoid places from where crocodiles breed.
“Citizens are required to refrain from leaving their homes and those fishing from the river should know the boundaries. The said victim had crossed boundaries where human navigation is prohibited.”
In the Eastern Province in Ngoma, Gatsibo and Kayonza districts, about 750 liters were seized and six people were arrested. In the Western Province in Rutsiro District in Mukura Sector, at the home of 51-year-old Habarurema Damien, 420 liters were seized while in the Southern Province in Nyanza, Huye and Nyaruguru districts, five people were arrested with 740 liters.
Eastern Province Police Spokesperson, CIP Hamdun Twizeyimana said all the arrests were based on information provided by local authorities and the public.
“As usual, the police, in collaboration with local authorities and other security forces, have stepped up their efforts to ensure that bar closure regulations are complied with to prevent spreading of coronavirus epidemic. Working on information from local authorities, we found that all these people were selling these illegal liquor.”
CIP Twizeyimana goes on to say that such alcohol is illegal in Rwanda, as well as other drugs. In addition to having a detrimental effect on the health of the user, it causes him or her to commit or participate in crimes such as theft, violence, rape, child molestation, domestic violence, and sexual violence.
He reminded residents that prevention is better than cure, and urged residents to follow the advice given by the authorities on drug and alcohol abuse prevention.
CIP Twizeyimana also called on Rwandans, in general, to keep in mind the current situation in the country and follow the instructions to stay in their homes to prevent the spread of coronavirus
The Duchess of Cornwall, 72, has also been tested but does not have the virus.
Clarence House said Charles and Camilla were now self-isolating at Balmoral, adding the prince “has been working at home throughout the last few days”.
An official statement read: “In accordance with government and medical advice, the prince and the duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland.
“The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire, where they met the criteria required for testing.
“It is not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks.”
On Tuesday, March 24th, 2020, a meeting which brought together catholic bishops in Rwanda concluded with a schedule of how Easter celebrations which will be held on April 12th, 2020, will be conducted this year.
An announcement signed by Mgr. Philippe Rukamba, Bishop of Butare Diocese and approved by the Pope shows a complete schedule of Easter rituals and how they will be conducted.
Each year, Christians around the world celebrate Easter or the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The holiday is preceded by a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance called ‘Lent’. Easter season concludes with Pentecost, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon disciples of Jesus.
Easter will be celebrated as usual but in line with the established guidelines against coronavirus. Some rituals which require physical contact were postponed to early July 2020.
The Easter Triduum will be celebrated in all cathedrals and parishes of Rwanda but Christians will follow up on it on radio and television channels.
Priests will inform Christians in their parishes on Mass schedules. Radio Maria and all Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) channels will broadcast the celebrations.
Holy Thursday rituals such as foot-washing will not be conducted.
On Easter, no baptism rituals will be held and all canceled rituals during the Holy Week will be postponed between the 14th and 15th September 2020.
