According to the Police spokesperson for the Eastern Province, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Theobald Kanamugire, the motorcycles were impounded in operations conducted over the weekend.
“We also arrested seven suspects, six of them motorcyclists who were riding the motorcycles that were transporting assorted gins. We handed them over to Rwanda Investigations Bureau (RIB),” the spokesperson said.
“The suspects include Emmanuel Faida, who was riding on a motorcycle RD386V carrying 16 cartons of Zebra waragi; Xavier Mwesigye was riding an RB 455W with 14 cartons of Zebra waragi; Paul Mukandabantu was also found aiding the trafficker using his motorcycle with plate number RC 020 S. These three were arrested in Rukomo Sector and currently held at Gatunda Police station,” CIP Kanamugire said.
Another suspect identified as Aloise Ndayisaba, who was smuggling 30 liters of diesel and eight cartons of body lotion, the spokesperson said, also attempted to bribe a police officer with Rwf160, 000 so as to buy his way out.
“Other two motorcycles were also transporting zebra waragi,” he explained.
He warned motorcyclists against aiding drug dealers or hiding behind the motorcycle transport business to commit other crimes.
The accomplices on the same charges are Thabita Gwiza Mugenzi, Xaverine Mukangarambe, Edmond Bushayija also known as Sacyanwa and Jean Paul Turayishimiye all living outside Rwanda.
According to the Rwigaras lawyers, prosecution did not interrogate those accomplices before submitting the case file to court.
Lawyer Gatera Gashabana representing Adeline Rwigara said that prosecution should summon accomplices before the hearing resumes.
Prosecution said that they don’t have known addresses for them to send summons.
The presiding judge asked prosecution whether accomplices were interrogated and prosecution replied that when a suspect goes missing they can be prosecuted in absentia.
Prosecution said the law allows them to submit a case file for suspect at large and the court orders that person to report, regardless to whether they were interrogated or not. According to prosecution despite having not been interrogated, the accomplices should be prosecuted.
According to Lawyer Pierre Celestin Buhuru, Rwigaras’ accomplices were not pursued. He said that court should go through the process and inform them that they have a case in court.
Buhuru said that hearing would continue two months after realizing whether they will report to court or not.
Gashabana said thatprosecution had earlier said that one of co-accused lives in Boston, USA, and presented their phone number. He questioned whether the prosecution does not know where a person who they have phone number lives.
At the prosecution side, Faustin Nzakamwita said that having submitted the suspect’s phone number in the case file doesn’t mean that they got it from the owner.
For Buhuru, prosecution submitted a case file with six suspects but he and Gashabana are representing only two of them.
After two hours for deliberation, the presiding judge decided that the Rwigara co-accused should be summoned or the case file gets separated.
According to the presiding judge, though prosecution says that Gwiza lives in Toronto, Canada; Mukangarambe in USA; Bushayija in Belgium and Turayishimiye in USA, these are not complete addresses. As the law permits two months to summon a person, the presiding judge set the next hearing on July 24th 2018.
The three-star hotel opened doors in Kigali earlier last week, dotted with eye-catching designs adapted to the Rwandan arts and culture, welcomed with positive appraisals for its unique features and essence of character with quality.
As the Rwandan government places the promotion of Made-In-Rwanda at the center of the country’s development, Samantha Annandale, Regional Operational Director of South and East Africa at ONOMO says that the group found an opportunity that would serve all parties: boost local products while providing guests with an enriching experience of the country.
“We’d like to be part of the community, not just to be a hotel that just caters,” she says. “Our first priority is to satisfy our clients but also empower the local market. We are coming up with different ways of supporting local businesses, like the local potters we recently partnered with to produce pottery products for the hotel.”
Ms. Annandale said the hotel’s dedication to Made-in-Rwanda is also cultural.
“We want to integrate the best of the creativity and talent of Rwandan craftsmen within the very walls of our hotels. We’ve started out with Arts Explosion, a local artistic brand that furnished our Interior and we are assured to work with other brands,” she added.
Speaking to IGIHE last week, Arts Explosion representative, Gilbert Musoni, hailed the opportunity of working with ONOMO Hotel Kigali.
“We are grateful for the opportunity of working with ONOMO. We learnt a lot and we are assured that the partnership will lead to greater things,” he said.
About the interior design, Musoni remarked that the deployment of the artwork pieces within the hotel enriches the guest’s experience by providing resonance with the person a sense of individualism and personality.
Much of the interior design includes an abundance of prints and various textures that were keenly chosen to represent Rwanda’s authentic style.
The newest three-star hotel in Nyarugenge, features 109 modern and comfortable rooms, including 10 suites with separate lounge areas and kitchenettes.
With an impressive portfolio around Africa, ONOMO Hotel has built a reputation as a rapidly expanding African hotel brand through an obsessive approach to detail. It constantly reshapes its hotels identities with their latest redesign being ONOMO Hotel Kigali, the tenth property on the continent.
Through the newly launched MTN Mobile Money Peer to Peer service, the transactions have been made easier and reduced and endorsed clients to transfer one Rwandan franc.
Previously, the clients were not eligible to transfer below Rwf100 and the charges for those who were transferring below Rwf5000 were high.
The new charges indicate that whoever will use Mobile Money in sending between Rwf1 to Rwf100 will be charged Rwf3 and those who will send between Rwf300 and Rwf1000 will be charged Rwf35 only.
Speaking at the launching event yesterday in Kigali, MTN General Manager of Business, Norman Munyampundu said that the move aims at easing Mobile Money services to all subscribers.
“We have reduced Mobile Money costs for clients to use it effectively. This service has so many subscribers; the more subscribers increase, the more they use it on daily basis,” he reiterated.
He said that Mobile Money services are highly used and they register a total of Rwf98 billion used in different related services monthly.
Currently, MTN Rwanda has 1,600,000 Mobile Money subscribers and is optimistic that the number will continue to grow.
Known as ‘ICAO’s President Safety Certificate’, the certificate will be presented in a the launch the four-day Aviation Safety Management Symposium that is taking place in Kigali starting from this Tuesday.
Speaking in a press conference yesterday, the State Minister for Transport in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye said that the certificate is presented to the country that exhibited progress in aviation safety compliance.
“In the evaluation that had been conducted by ICAO in 2012, Rwanda made 44 per cent in aviation safety compliance. But, in the 2017 evaluation Rwanda made 73.7 per cent which marks the progress of about 30 per cent. That is why the ICAO president will present the certificate to President Paul Kagame as a way to recognize Rwanda’s progress in aviation safety compliance,” he explained.
Rwanda is set to receive the certificate as the country continues to introduce new reforms and regulations regulating civil aviation sector.
The reforms are expected to facilitate Rwanda’s career, RwandAir being eligible to easily access Europe and America markets because the reforms include the requirements by civil aviation companies from these continents.
According to ICAO, the effective implementation of ICAO’s global Standards and Recommended Practices is considered a fundamental prerequisite today for establishing air transport’s rapid global connectivity, and in turn the many socio-economic benefits it helps to realize.
Kagame was speaking yesterday at the High-Level segment on Universal Health Coverage at the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
He said that the data show that catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditures are an increasing source of impoverishment in Africa though not yet to the extent seen in other regions.
He said that the insolvency may reflect the fact that many life-saving services are not yet widely available.
“As service coverage in Africa expands the financial risks for citizens will also increase unless adequate protection measures are in place for the most vulnerable,” he said.
Kagame noted that achieving Universal Health Coverage is feasible for countries at every income level.
“It is also the right thing to do. Strong political leadership will certainly be necessary at every stage,” he urged.
{{Rwanda’s experience}}
All around Africa and beyond Kagame said that whenever countries have put universal, community-based primary health systems in place, the results have been good.
In Rwanda he said that a combination of community-based health insurance, community health workers and good external partnerships led to the steepest reductions in child and maternal mortality ever recorded.
“The key was an approach that put individuals and communities at the centre. In choosing this path Rwanda learned from others who preceded us and we also benefited greatly from advice and support from the World Health Organisation,” he said.
“Integrating digital applications and new technologies into our health system has also made a difference and we are now using drone aircraft to quickly deliver blood and medical supplies to rural hospitals,” he said.
Kagame said that more than 90% of Rwandans are enrolled in health insurance today. He said that two-thirds of the costs are covered by contributions from beneficiaries with government subsidising the remaining one-third.
“At one point we realised that enrolment was falling because the reliability of services in some places had declined. The challenge was addressed and confidence restored by shifting to electronic payments for insurance premiums and segregating health funds from other accounts at the local level,” he noted.
The Head of State said that Rwanda continues to expand network of volunteer Community Health Workers who are present in every village and serve as an essential link between the population and health facilities.
Kagame said that when the means to succeed and the responsibility for doing so are put directly in the people’s hands, they save lives and become sustainable.
He reminded that Universal Health Coverage leads to future-mindedness and entrepreneurship as it frees people to plan for the future with confidence, and families invest the savings in businesses and in better-quality education for their children.
President Kagame made the remarks in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday while addressing the 71st World Health Assembly that took place at the High-Level segment on Universal Health Coverage.
Addressing the assembly, President Kagame commended WHO on the work they are doing in Africa and in Rwanda in particular and promised full support from the Government of Rwanda.
“The World Health Organization is aligned with Africa and with my country Rwanda. It is a trusted source of technical advice and helps keep our people safe from harm,” he said.
“We should return that trust by ensuring that the World Health Organization has the resources needed to carry out the missions that Member States have assigned to it.
This means diversifying funding sources so that costs are more equitably shared. It also means reducing earmarks in favor of untied contributions.”
President Kagame also maintained the crucial role of the organization in maintaining lives around the world.
“As it embarks on its eighth decade, the World Health Organization is as essential and central as ever. It has a unique role in developing important new norms and standards and sharing life-saving tools and technologies. It works at the country-level where for example we need the World Health organization’s support to increase Africa’s emergency preparedness by meeting the International Health Regulation core competencies,” He said
President Kagame praised the World Health organization for the quick and effective response to critical health emergencies in Africa over the past year and more recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We all owe a debt of gratitude to all the front-line health workers and advocates around the world whose heart and spirit of selfless service make our world safer and more just,” he said
The Minister of state in charge of transport Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye and Ghanaian minister of aviation Cecilia Abena Dapaah signed the agreement Monday, 21st May 2018.
Speaking during the event, Uwihanganye said that the new deal will allow the national carrier to freely pick passengers from Kotoka International Airport in Accra, connecting to different destinations.
“While Rwandair has been flying to Ghana’s capital Accra for the past five years, the air services agreement will act as a catalyst to future cooperation in trade and development between both countries.” Said Min. Uwihanganye
According to Ghanaian minister of aviation Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the deal presents an opportunity to foster Africa’s economic development through air transport.
Rwandair’s CEO, Yvonne Manzi Makolo remarked that Accra was one of the places with a flourishing and expanding market on the continent, as its Airports connects to both the West & South parts of the continent.
Rwandair spread wings to Accra in 2013, flying there five times a week.
The national carrier also recently launched flights to South Africa’s Cape Town and Nigeria’s Abuja, raising the number of its destinations to 26.
The assembly is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The President also graced the Opening Ceremony of the Assembly alongside President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset, President of the 71st World Health Assembly David Parirenyatwa, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva Michael Møller.
In his address, President Kagame shared Rwanda’s journey towards Universal Health Coverage. He noted that a combination of community-based health insurance, community health workers, and good external partnerships led to the steepest reductions in child and maternal mortality ever recorded across the country.
“The key was an approach that put individuals and communities at the centre. In choosing this path, Rwanda learned from others who preceded us, and we also benefited greatly from advice and support from the World Health Organization. Integrating digital applications and new technologies into our health system has also made a difference, and we are now using drone aircraft to quickly deliver blood and medical supplies to rural hospitals,” President Kagame said.
President Kagame further pointed out that today more than 90 percent of Rwandans are enrolled in health insurance with government subsidizing only one-third of the cost while two-thirds are covered by contributions from beneficiaries.
He added that Rwanda has kept on expanding the network of volunteer Community Health Workers, who are present in every village and serve as an essential link between the population and health facilities.
Attended by delegations from 194 WHO member states, the gathering discusses a number of issues including the organization’s five-year strategic plan to help countries meet the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The money was stolen from Jean Nepo Mazimpaka, who deals in minerals, on May 18 after thieves broke into his car as it was parked on the streets of Kayonza town.
Police spokesperson for the Eastern Province, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Theobald Kanamugire, said that the money was recovered from five people, who connived in the theft, and who are already in Police custody.
“After the victim noticed that he had been robbed he immediately called the Police. Officers first checked the handset of the victim’s friend Paul Nsengiyumva whom they had travelled together from Kigali that evening, and they found a message he had sent to someone telling him that there was in the car, indicating the car number plates and where it was parked,” CIP Kanamugire said.
“He was immediately taken into custody and his other four accomplices were also traced and arrested on Saturday, and all the stolen money recovered,” he added.
All the other four suspects who are Ernest Ntakirutimana, Modest Ndigijimana, Jenvier Manzi, and Shabani Zambia, are mechanics in Kayonza town,
Nsengiyumva was a friend to the victim and the latter had requested the former to accompany him from Kigali to Kayonza that day.
The thieves brought a truck, parked it next to the targeted car to block the owner from noticing the crime from where he was seated with his so called friend.
“The victim has been informed about the recovery of his money while suspects now in the hands of Rwanda Investigations Buruea are detained at Mukarange Police station,” CIP Kanamugire said.
Mazimpaka thanked the Police for recovering his money.
“At first I did not have any hope that my money would ever be recovered, however, I observed high sense of commitment by officers from onset, to help. I was so happy a day after, when I received a telephone call asking me to come and pick my money,” Mazimpaka said.
“However, it is so disappointing for the person you called a friend, who is also my neighbor in Kigali to be the brain behind everything, but I am grateful to the Police responsiveness,” he said.
CIP Kanamugire advised people against keeping large sums of money in the car or at home to prevent such temptations of theft.
