To ensure these good behaviours and practices among the children, Rwanda National Police (RNP) has started fire safety education programme for pupils to improve their safety knowledge and skills.
On Tuesday, December 7, the RNP Fire and Rescue Brigade (FRB) extended fire safety education to about 150 pupils of Path to Success International School (PTS) located in Kigarama Sector, Kicukiro District.
The outreach is part of the RNP programme to equip different institutions and groups of people in Rwanda with basic knowledge and skills against fire emergencies.
The Commanding officer for Fire and Rescue Brigade, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Paul Gatambira said that young children were trained on the causes of fire and the prevention mechanisms.
“Children are often curious and are inspired to manipulate separate materials and devices including those which can cause fire outbreak. It is, therefore, important to educate them on how to safely use these electric appliances such as cables, power plugs and sockets, wall switch and liquidified cooking gas,” ACP Gatambira said.
At the RNP General Headquarters in Kacyiru, the pupils were showed different firefighting equipment that RNP uses in emergency circumstances including the crane, fire trucks to rescue people trapped in buildings, underground and to extinguish the fire.
“Training children at such a young age is planning for the future of the country in all aspects of security. Such children will keep in mind what they learnt and will practice them but also teach their generation,” said ACP Gatambira.
This agreement will play an instrumental role in promoting bilateral trade and investment between both countries, by removing the burden of double taxation on investors from both countries
“This agreement marks an important milestone in our quest to position Rwanda as a financial hub. Rwanda is in process on increasing its DTAA network to attract investment to Rwanda and from Rwanda to the region and beyond,” Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning said.
“The signing of the agreement and its affiliated protocol will effectively reduce the tax burden of taxpayers investing in any either country and further facilitate bilateral economic and trade cooperation and personnel exchange. It will also make a good beginning of the countries’ future cooperation in different fields including improving the capability of tax administration, strengthening the prevention system of tax evasion and avoidance, safeguarding bilateral tax interests and the international tax order,” Rao Hongwei, the Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda said.
“Rwanda and China have a half a century long-standing relationship that extends across multiple disciplines. The DTAA signing today marks another important step towards further strengthening this relationship to better support the expansion of Chinese businesses through Kigali International Financial Centre (KIFC),” Nick Barigye, CEO of Rwanda Finance Limited said.
Key factors that led Rwanda to conclude the DTAA with the Peoples Republic of China include but not limited to, large numbers of investors coming from China, the robust cross border trade, growing appetite for Rwandans to invest in China, sound tax system and good economic relationship between the two countries.
Currently, more than twelve (12) DTAAs have been signed and several others are under negotiation. The Government’s target is to conclude more DTAAs in FY2021/22 in a bid to widen the DTAA network and improve the ease of doing business in Rwanda.
The existing DTAAs already in place have shown a big impact in terms of boosting the inflow of investment and trade from treaty partners. There is a pattern in terms of investors origins and countries that Rwanda has already secured a DTAA with. For instance, there has been a rise in numbers of investors coming from Turkey, Qatar, UAE, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, and Singapore which already have DTTA agreement with Rwanda.
His suspension has been announced through a Communiqué released by Office of the Prime Minister on Tuesday 7th December 2021.
“Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana has been suspended from the position of Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Center owing to matters of accountability under investigation,” reads the statement in part.
Dr. Nsanzimana had been appointed to the position in July 2019 replacing Dr. Condo Jeannine.
Dr. Nsanzimana has extensive experience in HIV program design, strategic planning, implementation, and operational research with a focus on global care and treatment of people living with HIV.
He holds a Medical Degree (MD) and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the National University of Rwanda; a PhD in Epidemiology from Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute,University of Basel, Switzerland.
Dr. Nsanzimana also served as Assistant Professor of Global Health at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and taught Epidemiology and Research Methodology at the University of Rwanda among others.
Following the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, Rwanda turned to the semi-traditional justice system to help clear a backlog of Genocide related cases.
The Government launched Gacaca in 2002 expedite reconciliatory and restorative justice as well as establish the whole truth about the Genocide.
The courts were closed in 2012 after settling nearly 2 million cases including 1,266,632 related to properties looted during the Genocide.
The Ministry of Justice had planned to get these cases finalized in 2010 but over 52,000 were still pending in 2019.
Challenges that hindered timely finalization of the cases include financial constraints where some culprits failed to pay or reconcile with offended Genocide survivors.
Finalizing property-related court cases is normally exercised by professional court bailiffs from the Association of Independent Professional Court Bailiffs in Rwanda operating under the auspice of the Ministry of Justice or non-professional court bailiffs including cell, sector and district executive secretaries.
The President of the Association of Professional Court Bailiffs, Lawyer Valerien Munyaneza has said that the need to leave the execution of these judgments under the power of local leaders was discussed during recent discussions with the Ministry of Justice.
“We had suggested that local leaders be granted the power to exercise the duties because they do not demand the fees charged by court bailiffs,” Munyaneza revealed during an interactive session between members of the judiciary and press on Monday 6th December 2021.
A professional court bailiff receives fees not less than Rwf300,000 as per legal provisions yet some culprits defeated in Gacaca court cases cannot afford Rwf100,000.
{{Hindrances}}
Recently, the Government enacted a Ministerial Order stipulating that the enforcement orders and documents relating to their execution must be published in electronic system of execution of enforcement orders.
However, there is a cost behind the electronic system where the order stipulates that the document related to the execution of enforcement order must be announced through radio advertisement or have it published by online media house.
“Sometimes, the winner of a court case is required to cater for that cost to be refunded later. It has been observed that court cases with possibility of being finalized swiftly are the ones involving huge amount of money to be recovered where they can be handled by professional court bailiffs using the technology,” Munyaneza observed.
“Because it is not the primary job of local leaders, such issues are not handled with urgency while some of them might not be familiar with the electronic system. These are major challenges behind delayed completion of such court cases,” he added.
Munyaneza explained that the unique approach used to try suspects in Gacaca courts was also applied in related execution.
“We would bring citizens together under a unique approach where a culprit owing Rwf100,000 to the offended person, can till his/her land at least 20 times, provide a cow or goat for us to resolve that the case is closed,” he noted.
“However, there are no slots where these arrangements can be recorded in the electronic system to decide on finalization of a court case. We had suggested that such cases be executed in a unique way that does not require the technology,” Munyaneza added.
Upon arrival on Monday 6th December 2021, the deportees including 19 men, 6 women and 10 children narrated their ordeal where they endured torture in Uganda’s detention facilities accused of being spies. As they explained, some of their colleagues were killed.
It is said that espionage allegations are often raised against Rwandans after declining to join RNC terror group founded by Kayumba Nyamwasa.
On 29th November 2021, Uganda evicted more eight Rwandans after spending days in its detention facilities without consular access.
The recent deportation follows series of circumstances under which Uganda has been expelling Rwandans after enduring torture in its detention facilities accusing them of being spies yet they had traveled to the country to run businesses or visit relatives among other reasons.
In the past few months, Uganda handed over bodies of two Rwandans killed in the country.
The deceased include Theoneste Dusabimana, 52, hailing from Rubaya sector and Paul Bangirana, 47, from Kaniga sector. They were respectively killed on 30th August and 1st September 2021.
Rwanda, Uganda relations worsened since 2017. Rwanda has been expressing concerns over Rwandans who travel to Uganda for business purposes but are abducted, imprisoned and tortured accused of being spies.
Rwanda also accuses Uganda of hosting dissidents posing threat to national security.
In March 2019, the Government of Rwanda officially advised citizens not to travel 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 memorandum of understanding ‘Luanda Agreement’ in a bid to solve conflicts between both countries.
Despite efforts to sign the agreement between both heads of state witnessed by mediators including the President of Angola, Joao Lourenço and Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the situation is still worsening as Uganda continues with arbitrary detention of Rwandans who are subjected to torture in its facilities.
It is said that the duo had saved Rwf500,000 which they planned to increase to buy a plot of land and build own house.
As they got in heated arguments, Murebe left their home with all the money. During interrogation, Kanyamibare explained that taking away the money angered him and started plans to kill his wife.
He is detained at Nyarugunga RIB Post as investigation awaiting his dossier to be transferred to the Prosecution.
If convicted, he is liable to life imprisonment as stipulated in the article 107 of the Law No68/2018 of 30/08/2018 determining offences and penalties.
RIB has appealed on the general public to shun disputes or seek assistance from relevant authorities to prevent similar incidents.
Local leaders have been also urged to identify and report families with strained relations or engulfed in disputes to receive support on time.
During the ceremony, Herzog thanked Gatera for Rwanda’s support in enabling Israel to have observer status at the African Union.
He also expressed interest in visiting Rwanda and Africa in general because he is convinced that there is tremendous potential in Africa.
Gatera assured the President that Rwanda will always support Israel noting that his country wants to see more people-to-people relationships.
Rwanda’s ambassador who was appointed to represent the country in Israel in June 2021, presented credentials on Monday 6th December 2021 along with three more envoys from Switzerland, the European Union and Italy.
Israel opened embassy in Rwanda on 1st April 2019. In an exclusive interview with IGIHE at the time, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Amb. Yuval Rotem said that opening the embassy in Kigali highlights the thirst to scale up relations.
Dr. Ron Adams is the current envoy overseeing Israel’s interests in Rwanda.
Rwanda and Israel relations date back in 1962 when the country obtained Independence.
In 2014, Rwanda became the first African country to sign bilateral agreements and later in 2015 opened embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel.
In January 2019, both countries signed bilateral air service agreement to operate direct flights.
In the same year, RwandAir started flights to Tel Aviv.
Since 2012, Rwanda has been sending graduates from agricultural studies to Israel every year for hands-on training on different modern agricultural practices and paid internship.
Rwanda and Israel share common history as countries which experienced tragic history during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi and Holocaust targeting Jews in the 2nd World War. From these scars, emerged courage and strength to work hard during the resilience process.
The exercise which started in Afungi and Palma in Cabo Delgado Province is set to continue to all areas of RSF deployments including Mocimboa Da Praia, Mbau and Limala.
They have received the booster dose at a time when some African countries have confirmed a new severe variant of COVID-19 dubbed Omicron which spreads faster.
Rwandan troops were deployed to Cabo Delgado Province on the request of the Government of Mozambique which sought assistance to quell insurgents that had captured the northern part of the country.
So far, Rwandan troops in collaboration with Mozambicans and SADC forces have repulsed the insurgents that had occupied the area for more than four years.
Besides, the Government of Rwanda is administering the booster dose to members of the elderly and people with chronic diseases.
Manizabayo had failed the practical driving test when he decided to take the criminal move to influence the officers to overturn the results and include him on the list of those who passed the test.
Manizabayo, who was seeking Category A license for a motorcycle, failed to maneuver through cones.
“I have failed the test a number of times and my provisional license is about to expire. So, I decided to bribe them with Rwf100, 000 to influence them to overturn their decision but I was arrested while handing over the money to one of the Police officers,” Manizabayo said.
RNP spokesperson, Commissioner of Police (CP) John Bosco Kabera urged anyone inspiring to become a driver to follow due process and to avoid any criminal shortcuts.
“People should change the thinking that they will obtain a driver’s license through bribes, which is an act of corruption. Both parties; the person, who offers the bribe and one who receives it will face the law,” CP Kabera warned.
He thanked the officers for sticking to the RNP professional standards.
“It is the responsibility to every RNP officer to fight crimes including corruption in their day-to-day duties. If you fail, try again but do not take decisions that will make you regret,” CP Kabera said
Article 4 of law n° 54/2018 of 13/08/2018 on fighting against corruption states; any person who solicits, accepts or receives, by any means, an illegal benefit for himself/ herself or another person or accepts a promise in order to render or omit a service under his or her mandate or uses his or her position to render or omit a service, commits an offence.
Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of more than five years but not more than seven years with a fine of three to five times the value of the illegal benefit offered, solicited or received.
Penalties provided under this article also apply to a person, who offers or promises to offer a benefit, by any means, an illegal benefit for him/ herself or another person to have a service rendered or omitted.
Anthony Kagame, 40, was taken into custody on Saturday, December 4, after Police found a group of ten minors in the bar drinking at about 8:30 p.m.
Rwanda National Police (RNP) spokesperson, Commissioner of Police (CP) John Bosco Kabera said that Police responded to a call reporting noise pollution, which was coming from 360 Degrees Pizza Resto-bar.”
“During the operation, Police found a group of 14 people, who were drinking including 10, who were under-age. The manager claimed that they did not serve them alcohol but when Police officers tested them with a breathalyzer, they found that they had been drinking and the manager of the hospitality establishment was immediately taken into custody,” CP Kabera explained.
“It is prohibited and punishable by law to serve alcohol to anyone aged below 18 years. Owners, managers and employees of hospitality establishments should be conscious when serving alcoholic beverages to their customers to protect children from taking alcohol,” he added.
Health experts say young people’s brains appear to be more sensitive to damage from alcohol but less sensitive to some of the side-effects of alcohol.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) highlights four broad categories of risk-taking behaviour that are consistently documented to be associated with excessive alcohol consumption in young people; high-level intoxication that results in loss of consciousness and risk of death, accidents, risky sexual behaviour, including unprotected sexual intercourse resulting in sexually transmitted infections or unplanned pregnancies, and sexual intercourse that young people later regret.
Physical harm caused by alcoholism, includes liver injury, cancer, gastrointestinal damage, immunodeficiency, cardiovascular disease, abdominal obesity and neurological harm.
According to WHO, these are rarely diagnosed in young people but manifest in later adulthood when the body becomes less able to repair and regenerate in response to repeated high-level exposure to alcohol.
In article 27 of Law N°71/2018 of 31/08/2018 relating to the protection of the child; a person who sells alcoholic beverages or tobacco to a child, causes or encourages a child to drink alcoholic beverages, to smoke or to go to bars commits an offence.
Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three months but not exceeding six months and a fine between Rwf100, 000 and Rwf200, 000.
