In parallel to the football competition, forums aimed at contributing to sustainable development will also take place. All these events are scheduled between 10th and 20th May 2024.
From 12th to 14th October 2022, football veterans were in Kigali for ‘LEGENDS IN RWANDA NATIONAL KICKOFF”. The latter is a promotional tour that seeks to promote the 2024 Veteran Clubs World Championship to attract global participation.
Legends who met in Kigali were Rwandan Jimmy Gatete; Cameroonians Roger Milla and Patrick Mboma; Senegalese Khalilou Fadiga; Ghanaian Anthony Baffoe as well as French nationals Lilian Thuram and Laura Georges.
The promotional tour was later taken to Doha, Qatar during the 2022 World Cup.
VCWC’s Spokesperson, Regis Isheja has told IGIHE that preparations are well underway, one year ahead of the tournament
“Teams’ captains will be announced this week,” he said.
This coming May, football veterans will tour 12 cities different cities across the world to bring the tournament to limelight.
“We will be going through Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.”
Throughout this tour, legends and the organising committee will be engaging with the media, investors, development organisations and public institutions worldwide to make sure no one misses this international rendez-vous.
“Captains representing eight teams to participate in VCWC 2024 will be announced on Friday 17th March 2023,” Isheja added.
Eight regions of the world will have a captain and each team will be made up of 15 male legends and 2 female Legends.
VCWC is the largest sporting event ever bringing together veterans. The tournament will bring together 150 football legends facing off in 20 games.
The country also expects to benefit from the tournament through forums and numerous partner events that will bring in over 5000 international visitors.
The development emerged from a report released by RDB during the recent Invest Rwanda Forum indicating the country’s top 100 investment opportunities.
Construction, manufacturing and agriculture were identified among top investment opportunities.
It has been two years since a Ministerial Order was gazetted in June 2021, providing a framework for responsible and secure cultivation, processing, distribution and use of cannabis in the country.
Figures show that cannabis production is projected to increase and generate US$197.7 billion in 2028 from US$28.3 raked in 2021.
The report reads that ‘this represents a significant opportunity that can be further explored by Rwanda’.
Overall, investment worth Rwf19 billion is needed but might increase depending on demand at the local and global market.
Key products with potential medical cannabis include industrial hemp, edible products as well as cannabis oils.
RDB indicates that cannabis is among highly profitable crops where US$10 million can be generated from a hectare. The amount is way higher than the US$300,000 that can be raked from a hectare of flowers.
The United States, Canada and Europe are the biggest potential markets for cannabis to be produced in Rwanda.
{{Strict measures}}
In March 2022, the Government of Rwanda announced that it had designated 134 hectares for cultivation of cannabis.
It is expected that RDB will work with government institutions including Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (Rwanda FDA), Rwanda Inspectorate, Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (RICA) and Rwanda National Police to ensure compliance with safety guidelines during the production of cannabis.
The CEO of RDB, Clare Akamanzi recently told APA News that, there will be no way that cannabis can leak out of the farm to go to the domestic market or to the wrong users.
“The crops will be in a designated place, and there will be very strong measures, whether it is CCTV cameras, watch towers, street lights, and human security. So it is going to be extremely secure,” she said.
Apart from medicinal and research purposes, Cannabis is classified as a very severe narcotic drug in Rwanda.
Anyone convicted for dealing in severe narcotic drugs faces a sentence of between 20 years and life imprisonment, and a fine of between Rwf20 million and Rwf30 million, under article 263 of the law determining offences and penalties in general.
This initiative that commenced in 2019, has supported more than 1,000 women saving groups so far, both financially and through business acumen training.
In line with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion’s priority of gender equality and empowering women, Connecting Women in Business aims to empower women in their respective projects, growing them to cooperative level allowing them to further improve their quality of life.
Jackline Kamanzi, National Women’s Council Executive Secretary has said that women are the backbone of families whereby empowering them benefits the entire family and community at large.
“We are grateful to MTN Rwanda for continuing to drive this impactful initiative year in year out. These saving-groups are essential as they play a role in eradicating poverty, sustaining their families, and growing our nation,” she noted.
The MTN Foundation funded initiative selected saving groups from all over the country with five saving groups in the category of Agriculture, five in Art, and four under Fintech and women with disabilities respectively.
These seventeen savings groups were chosen out of a total of four hundred (400) groups based on the performance of their ongoing projects and vision.
This phase of identifying the savings groups was supported by AEE Rwanda, a local Christian NGO dedicated to working with families to eradicate poverty and NUDOR, the umbrella organization that exists to strengthen the voice of persons with disabilities in Rwanda.
Following their selection in their respective categories, the saving groups underwent the second phase of the competition, where judges from MTN Rwanda, National Women Council and NUDOR assessed them and selected the top three (3) winners from each category who then competed in the final round in Kigali where a winner for each of the four (4) categories was announced as well as an Overall Winner who won the grand prize of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Rwandan Francs (Rwf 2.5 million).
The grand prize amount has been increased for this edition of Connecting Women in Business in recognition of MTN Rwanda turning twenty-five (25) this year, giving the winning group an even greater opportunity to invest in projects to support their families and communities.
Zulfat Mukarubega, MTN Rwanda Foundation Chairperson highlighted that it is pleasing to hear the various projects from these women saving groups.
“These women are intelligent, hardworking, and resilient. We would like to thank the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion through the National Women Council for their support and our partners AEE Rwanda and NUDOR, who have been instrumental in selecting the savings groups and following up with their respective projects. Congratulations to the winners and we hope this will be an encouragement to other saving groups across the country to join future editions of Connecting Women in Business,” she said.
The top three winners in each category underwent a Master Class in the areas of Taxes, general Legal matters, Digital Marketing, Saving schemes, and Conflict Resolution, which will aid in growing their businesses with the aim of creating wealth.
Mapula Bodibe, MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer congratulated winners and encouraged to work hard to make a meaningful impact to the community.
“Congratulations to this year’s winners. Each saving group was selected from a critical category that represents much of our economy today: agriculture, arts, fintech and women with disability.
One of the areas of exposure provided to the saving groups is digital marketing, because we believe social networks, for example, can propel these saving groups’ projects further, resonating with year’s Women’s Day theme DigitAll: Innovation and technology for gender equality, which highlights the importance of leveraging digital tools to empower women and girls in all aspects of life. We encourage these women saving groups to not only keep using these tools but pass them down to others in their communities.”
The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Prof Bayisenge Jeannette who graced the event, commended MTN Rwanda for its contribution to the development of women and girls.
{{About MTN Rwandacell }}
MTN Rwandacell Plc (MTN Rwanda) is the market leader in mobile telecommunications in Rwanda. Since 1998, it has continuously invested in expanding and modernising its network. MTN Rwanda offers various services to subscribers, including innovative propositions such as personalised voice and data offers with MTN Irekure. The company is also the front runner in mobile financial services in Rwanda with Mobile Money, MoMoPay and MoKash Loans and Savings.
{{About MTN Foundation}}
MTN Foundation is the vehicle through which MTN implements its Corporate Social Responsibility Programs. MTN Foundation was established in February 2010 and MTN has committed 1% of Profit After Tax (PAT) annually to support the Foundation activities.
The Foundation’s focus areas include Education, Youth and Women Empowerment and Environment initiatives. It was created with a focus of giving back to society and “Impacting the quality of lives in our communities in a meaningful way.
The two leaders were conferred the award during CAF President’s Outstanding Achievements Award Ceremony on the sidelines of the 73rd Congress of the World’s Football Governing Body (FIFA) taking place in Kigali.
The event took place at Kigali Serena Hotel on Tuesday 14th March 2023.
It was attended by President Kagame, representative of King Mohammed VI and Minister of National Education and Sports Chakib Benmoussa, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Presidents from a number of Confederations, Football Presidents from the 54 CAF Member Associations and CAF Executive Committee members.
A number of top African legends were in attendance including Black Stars’ Asamoah Gyan, Cameroonian legend in women’s football Gaelle Enganamouit, South African record-breaking women footballer Portia Modise and compatriot Amanda Dlamini, Senegal’s Khalilou Fadiga, DR Congo’s Herita Ilunga, Indomitable Lion’s Pierre Webo, former South Africa captain Lucas Radebe, Ghana’s Kwadwo Asamoah, Nigeria’s Super Falcons legend Perpetua Nkwocha.
FIFA President, Gianni Infantino said that the awards are bestowed to the two leaders as outstanding personalities for their incredible contribution to the development of football.
The award for the King of Morocco was received by Minister Chakib Benmoussa
who revealed that his country will partner with Spain to host the World Cup in 2030.
President Kagame expressed deepest thanks for the award which is among things people receive unexpectedly.
The Head of State said that football was among things that played a significant role in the country’s history even during the Liberation Struggle.
“This country for which you are honourable guests has had its history. We have been able to draw a lot of lessons from that history. One of the things that helped us to go through those extremely challenging circumstances was football,” he noted.
Kagame explained that few months before the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, there was a lot of fighting and sectarianism where sports, particularly football was ‘one of the things that people clung to that kept bringing them together.
“I remember when we had ceased fire, and the fighting parties had ceased to do that, one of the things that were immediately thought about was football,” he noted.
The President observed that progress has been done for the development of football in Rwanda but insisted that there are still areas of improvements.
He however expressed optimism that Rwanda will do more on the support of FIFA and CAF.
“We are still not yet where we want to be but with your presence here, the efforts and promises made through CAF and FIFA an fall friends around, we should be very soon where we want to be and we are following in the footsteps of these other brothers and sisters of our Africa who already making it to that high level of global standing,” said Kagame.
The Head of State congratulated Morocco for its performance which reached semi-finals of the last FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar.
Morocco lost to Croatia 2-1 in the fight for third place in the World Cup.
“Africa has talent, there’s no doubt about that. But our best players should not always need to move abroad to unleash their full potential. We should work towards making sure that what takes them out there, can be achieved while here. That is why the work being done in Africa by CAF and FIFA is so important,” said Kagame.
“Morocco at the World Cup was a good example of what is possible. So, we should be able to emulate that and it should inspire us to do better, all of us who play and like football. Citizens of our countries are inevitably part of this and we want to make them feel happy and also benefit from that,” he added.
President Kagame receives the award at a time when the 73rd FIFA Congress is taking place in Kigali City. During the congress, FIFA President Gianni Infantino will be elected to extend presidency on 16th March 2023.
The motorcycle registration number RG 935Y, was impounded earlier after the suspect was found riding without a driver’s license.
The police spokesperson for the Eastern region, Superintendent of Police (SP) Hamdun Twizeyimana said that the suspect was arrested in Gashenyi cell, Rukomo sector after he tried to give a bribe of Rwf11,000.
“Police officers on duty stopped the rider and found him, among others, without a driver’s license, and his motorcycle was impounded,” SP Twizeyimana said.
Instead of going through the right channels, SP Twizeyimana added, the suspect tried to seduce the Police officers with a bribe of Rwf11,000 to release his motorcycle illegally and to prevent related fines.
He was immediately taken into custody over bribery and handed over to RIB at Gatunda station.
SP Twizeyimana warned against riding or driving without a driver’s license and violating other road safety standards.
“The thinking that you will give a bribe and get away with the offence is a misplaced idea that will only lead to imprisonment. You can imagine, this was a traffic offence which became criminal for something avoidable,” he warned.
Article 4 of the law N° 54/2018 of 13/08/2018 on fighting against corruption states that any person who offers, 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 (5) years but not more than even (7) years with a fine of three (3) to five (5) times the value of the illegal benefit offered, solicited or received.
The funding agreement signed on Tuesday 14th March 2023 through Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project: GGP/Kusanone is expected to benefit over 3000 farmers growing rice in the marshland.
The funding will reinforce interventions by the project run by Japan International Cooperation (JICA) to build three dams, and waterways to carry water to farmlands in sectors touching the marshland including Munyaga, Kigabiro, Rubona and Mwurire.
Japanese Ambassador to Rwanda, Isao Fukushima has said that the grant is aimed at supporting the country’s journey to modernize agriculture because irrigation helps to increase agricultural yields.
He also expressed optimism that farmers will benefit a lot from the funding.
Irrigation is practiced on 348 out of 400 hectares comprising Cyaruhogo Marshland.
Following interventions from JICA, it was observed that more small dams are needed to distribute water to more 134 hectares. The new funding is meant to cover this gap.
The Mayor of Rwamagana District, Radjab Mbonyumuvunyi said that existing support extended to farmers increased arable fields and agricultural yields.
He disclosed that increased yields are expected to go hand in hand with farmers’ improved livelihoods and food sufficiency.
Before JICA built dams, farmers used to harvest 4500 tonnes of rice Cyaruhogo but the produce has increased to 6500 tonnes per year.
It is expected that GGP/Kusanone will also provide funding to other non-government organizations, grass root leadership levels, support the education and health sectors among others.
The votes were held on Sunday following votes held in Manama, Bahrain at the 146th IPU General Assembly.
As proceedings of the assembly began, Congolese Parliamentarian, André Mbata Mangu made a request to include the call for Rwanda to stop backing M23, stop aggression, occupation and massive human rights violations in DRC emergency item in the Assembly agenda.
Before the voting process began, Senator Esperance Nyirasafari who led Rwanda’s delegation attending the IPU assembly was given floor for comments.
She explained that the concerns raised by Mbata are baseless claims aimed at covering the weakness of his country to solving its problems.
Nyirasafari further told parliamentarians that DR Congo is home to over 120 armed groups threatening security in the region.
She highlighted that DRC should take responsibility to solve internal problems that mired the country due to bad leadership instead of being stuck in blame games and putting them on the shoulders of Rwanda.
Nyirasafari urged DR Congo to stop spreading hate speeches and killings targeting Kinyarwanda-speaking communities in the country, particularly of Tutsi ethnicity.
She underscored that the country should consider political solution instead of military action.
The United Nations (UN) experts recently indicated that DRC work with armed groups including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) during the ongoing fighting against M23.
DRC formed the coalition despite being fully aware that the group was formed by individuals responsible for the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi which claims lives of over 1 million victims.
Nyirasafari disclosed that durable peace cannot be achieved in the region yet DRC is not willing to decimate FDLR which also poses threat to Rwanda’s security.
She further clarified that Rwanda supports regional mechanisms to achieve sustainable peace noting that the country cannot remain silent when its security concerns are overlooked.
The remarks were followed by votes where 705 voted against the request, 88 supported it while 700 abstained.
The results saw the request which required endorsement by three thirds of voters rejected.
The IPU Assembly runs from 11th to 15th March 2023.
The first batch comprised of six ‘BionTainers’ arrived at Kigali International Airport where they were received by government officials and diplomats accredited to Rwanda from Germany, France and the European Union.
The facility being set up in Rwanda will bank on mRNA technology to manufacture vaccines for COVID-19, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
In a message posted on his Twitter handle, President Kagame expressed delight for the progress made to manufacture vaccines locally.
“Historic milestone today as the first BioNTech Group BioNTainers arrived in Rwanda, exactly 3 years since the first case of Covid-19 was detected in our country. This system will allow end-to-end mRNA vaccine production in Africa for the first time,” he tweeted.
The Head of State thanked the team from Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech), particularly Uğur Şahin, Özlem Türeci, Sierk Pötting and other partners for their support that led to this milestone possible.
On Monday evening, Kagame received BioNTech Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Sierk Pötting; Dr. Thomas Gersdorf, BioNTech Chief of Staff and the Chairman of Kenup Foundation, Holm Keller.
The vaccine manufacturing facility is expected to begin operations towards the end of 2023.
Construction activities are overseen by BioNTech, a next generation immunotherapy company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases.
It is mostly renowned for the production of COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer.
Rwanda is the first African country to host such facility using mRNA technology.
Upon arrival of the shipment, Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana said that reaching the milestone is a fruit of good leadership and developed partnership between Rwanda and other countries.
He explained that the project is relevant for the country to bring solutions expected to tackle emerging diseases.
The Secretary-General was joined by Commonwealth leaders, Ministers and youth representatives to raise the specially-designed flag, created as part of efforts to promote 2023 as the Commonwealth Year of Peace across the family of nations.
Speaking at the ceremony, at Marlborough House, London – the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Secretary-General said: “We join every city across the United Kingdom, and young people in capitals across the Commonwealth, in proudly raising this Flag for Peace towards the heavens.”
“As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of our Charter, in this Commonwealth Year of Youth and Peace, we raise the Peace Flag as a fitting emblem to our commitment to each other, and to the world. Peace is precious. It is not guaranteed. It takes work, patience and courage.
And in the task of building and protecting peace everywhere, for everyone, our Commonwealth values are our guide. Thank you all for sharing in this moment, and for renewing our shared commitment to our values and to each other,” she added.
To enable them to observe and contribute towards Commonwealth Day, the Peace Flags were given to young people across Commonwealth countries to help represent the 1.5 billion under-30s living in the 56 countries.
They helped raise the flags, helping to reaffirm the Commonwealth’s commitment to the Commonwealth Charter – which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year – and prioritise and include young people in the building of a peaceful and sustainable future.
This year also marks the Year of Youth, as mandated by the Commonwealth Heads of Government.
The Commonwealth Flag for Peace initiative is supported by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, the Royal Commonwealth Society and Bruno Peek, Pageantmaster, in tribute to late Queen Elizabeth II. This is the first Commonwealth Day since her passing.
The flag features a white dove of peace in the bottom right-hand corner of the Commonwealth flag, symbolising the shared values and principles of the Commonwealth, including co-operation on economic and social development, diversity, respect, friendship and the promotion of peace around the world.
Dr. Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, gave a speech as outgoing Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth.
Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Prime Minister of Samoa, also gave a speech as the future Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth. The next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held in Apia, Samoa in 2024.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal sovereign states.
Its combined population is 2.5 billion, of which more than 60 per cent is aged 29 or under.
The Commonwealth Secretariat supports member countries to build democratic and inclusive institutions, strengthen governance and promote justice and human rights.
Its work helps to grow economies and boost trade, deliver national resilience, empower young people, and address threats such as climate change, debt, and inequality.
The interesting part of this platform, it is the quest to bring together young innovators with ideas that can generate profits and meet with investors who are looking for opportunities.
IGIHE has caught up with Shyaka Michael Nyarwaya, one of the brains behind Afri Global Cooperation programme. He revealed the idea behind this initiative and how they aim to change the narrative about investing in African great minds.
{{Tell us more about Afri Global, what is it?}}
{{Shyaka:}} Afri Global we are a bridge, a vehicle between investors and entrepreneurs. We are bringing a solution to connect investors and start-ups.
We want to bring those parties, investors and bring them on the board. People are struggling to access information.
We have capital ventures, people who can buy shares in your companies, people who can buy your company […] but people don’t have information and connection.
So, at Afri Global, we are really committed to connect these people, the investors and start-ups, so that everyone can gain.
People have ideas and don’t have money, people have money and don’t have ideas. How can you bring those two parties on the board?
{{But we still have other institutions which do the same…}}
{{Shyaka:}} We are beyond that. We do capacity building, because We want to train people to know how to pay taxes . You need to have a lawyer as company, an office, staff etc.
We are bringing something special, because some of the companies are not interested in the capacity building, they just bring a staff from there, they train them one or two days and start working without knowing what you are doing.
We mentor them so that they can do business in a professional way.
{{How will you reach people?}}
{{Shyaka: }} There are incubators and hubs that we want to build so that we will be bringing investors to find these people on the village, not just coming to Kigali, because not all people have access to come in Kigali.
We have to meet these people on the district level and sector. We are targeting 50,000 start-ups in five years. We want to do this in other African countries, because Afri Global is Africa on the global market.
{{How do you benefit from this?}}
{{Shyaka:}} When someone pitch and get interest, at least we will have a contract with that person in the future , and we will tell them that ‘someone invested money in your company, you got information from Afri Global. We are giving it to you for two years freely, in the next three years at least you need to give something to Afri global’. But we will do it for free in the beginning.
People are struggling to get money at the beginning. What you need to do is to impact people. When you impact people, the return will come.
