Post-expansion, the hospital will renovate its existing structures to specialize in pediatric and women’s health, while maintaining its existing services. This significant upgrade is supported by funds from the Rwandan Government and international partners.
Frederic Ngirabacu, the Deputy CEO of KFH, highlighted the project’s focus on enhancing treatment for non-communicable diseases and expanding the hospital’s capacity to meet patient demands projected over the next three decades.
The plans also include broadening organ transplant services beyond the current kidney transplants to potentially include liver and pancreas transplants after thorough planning and preparation.
Ngirabacu emphasized the ongoing training of Rwandan doctors in kidney transplants as a foundation for future expansions in organ transplant capabilities. The new hospital layout will feature 600 additional beds, divided equally between single-patient rooms and double occupancy, reducing infection risks—a direct response to lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The expansion strategy aligns with a long-term vision to address both current and future health challenges. Specialized departments for heart disease and advanced cancer treatment facilities, including imaging and radiation therapy machines, will be key features of the expanded hospital.
With a current staff of over 800, including 600 medical practitioners and 80 specialists, the hospital expects these numbers to rise as it scales up to meet the growing healthcare needs of Rwanda.
However, statistics show that Rwanda still has a long way to go, as a child may spend an average of 6.9 years in school but only show the equivalent of 3.9 years of learning.
{{World Bank Human Capital Index}}
A World Bank report on human capital—knowledge and skills relevant to the labor market—highlights the measures countries take to prepare their citizens through education and health, aiming for them to enter the job market successfully.
The report underscores the need for substantial investment to ensure a child born today grows up with adequate resources to be productive.
It reveals that a child born in 2020 globally has a 56% chance of becoming productive in adulthood if given quality education and health. In Rwanda, a child provided with high-level education and health is predicted to have a 38% chance of productivity.
{{Education Progress and Challenges in Rwanda}}
Statistics show that in 2018, a child starting school at four in Rwanda was expected to spend 6.6 years in education, rising to 6.9 years by 2020, completing their studies before turning 18.
This situation is influenced by high enrollment rates in primary education, reaching 135%, while only 46% transition to secondary education, with numbers declining as students progress through the system.
Enrollment rates for primary school stand at 94%, with 76% completing the level. However, the dropout rate, especially among boys, is significant at 62.6%.
World Bank metrics from 2018 indicate that a student would have effectively received 3.8 years of education out of 6.6 years spent in school. By 2020, this had slightly improved to 3.9 years out of 6.9.
These figures suggest that despite attendance and teaching efforts, the actual educational process is not being executed as it should be.
{{Observations and Reforms}}
This gap is attributed to the recent introduction of nursery schools and the recruitment of many non-professional educators who have not been adequately trained. This lack of quality training means it takes longer for a new teacher to reach the desired level of teaching proficiency.
Emma Rubagumya Furaha, President of the Commission for Education, Technology, Youth, and Culture, has pointed out that educational outcomes are unsatisfactorily low despite reforms that should have improved them.
He noted, “Metrics related to school dropouts, repetitions, and the basic skills in reading, arithmetic, or English are concerning. When you reduce classroom overcrowding and the student-to-teacher ratio, educational outcomes should improve significantly.”
{{Improvements and Future Prospects}}
Between the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 school years, dropout rates decreased from 10.3% to 9.2%, and repetition rates increased from 8.3% to 14.3%.
On April 18, 2024, Prime Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente told the Legislative Assembly that the educational reforms are aimed at addressing these issues and should show positive changes within a few years.
He confirmed, “The first group of students who have gone through these new reforms are just now finishing their fifth year of secondary school. They have not yet entered the workforce or university to assess the full impact of these reforms.”
Currently, 132 teachers from Zimbabwe are assisting in Rwanda’s 16 teacher training schools, as part of these educational reforms.
{{Stunting}}
Stunting remains a significant issue, with 33% of children under five in Rwanda affected, severely impacting their learning capabilities. The national school feeding program, launched in 2020 from preschool through secondary education, aims to combat stunting and has shown success in bringing children back to school and enhancing their learning.
He expressed, “With Mega Global Link, traveling, visiting friends, studying, and working across various continents is now easier.”
Dr. Habumugisha pointed out that the company has been instrumental in providing legal and appropriate channels for international travel.
He explained, “Mega Global Link was founded as a solution after observing that many people were traveling through improper channels. This included forging documents that jeopardized their safety, traveling through dangerous water routes and other illegal ways that often led to imprisonment, death, or deportation.”
He also highlighted that their efforts have enabled many individuals to travel safely and legally to various destinations worldwide.
Additionally, Dr. Habumugisha announced a two-month promotional period from March 15, 2024, to May 15, 2024, offering discounts.
The promotion is limited to the first 30 customers or families for each of the four services, capping at 120 individuals in total. Subsequent customers will be subject to the standard fees.
He assured that all services from Mega Global Link are underpinned by legal contracts, guaranteeing client protection including full refunds in case of service failure.
Mega Global Link’s offerings include linking students with schools in America, Europe, and Canada, facilitating family visits, job searches, medical treatments abroad, and visa application assistance.
Through a collaboration with ApplyAbroad, starting this year, it is anticipated that at least 10,000 Africans will have facilitated access to study opportunities abroad annually.
For additional details about the discount and services, interested parties can visit www.megagloballink.com
Lawrence Kanyuka, the political spokesperson for the M23 rebel group, condemned this plan on April 19, 2024. He accused both the Burundian and DRC governments of long-term collaboration in this sinister agenda.
Kanyuka revealed, “The Burundian government has been supporting a genocide initiative, deploying Imbonerakure militias to southern Masisi to coordinate and perpetrate these atrocious acts.”
Reports indicate that the DRC government recently established a training center in southern Masisi. This facility is purportedly used by Burundian forces and the Imbonerakure to instruct members of the Wazalendo coalition in using traditional weaponry, including machetes.
The Imbonerakure, a youth wing of the CNDD-FDD party ruling in Burundi, has a controversial history of engaging in human rights abuses, often targeting Burundian opposition members. Their actions include alleged murders and forced disappearances, in collusion with pro-CNDD-FDD security forces.
On April 15, 2024, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Burundi (CECAB) also voiced grave concerns over these developments, lamenting the wrongful killings and disappearances plaguing the country, often under politically motivated or vested interests.
Involvement of the terrorist group FDLR, known for its role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has been noted. The FDLR has strengthened ties with Wazalendo and the Imbonerakure since 2023, following cooperative military efforts between Burundian and DRC forces against M23.
M23’s president, Bertrand Bisimwa, on April 21 disclosed that in late January 2024, the national coordinator of Wazalendo, Lieutenant General Padiri Bulenda, had traveled to Burundi. There, he met with Imbonerakure leaders to finalize the agreements bolstering their involvement in training Wazalendo forces.
According to Bisimwa, the anticipated locations of violence are currently under M23 control in North Kivu Province.
Passage of the Bill has been delayed for weeks as the Lords insist on key amendments, including exemption of Afghan service veterans from the scheme to remove migrants to Rwanda.
Conservative MPs and opposition parties are now urging Sunak to reconsider plans to relocate Afghans who served alongside British soldiers, including interpreters, to the East African country as part of the government’s strategy to deter people from arriving in the UK via small boats across the English Channel.
Labour peer Des Browne, who was defence secretary from 2006 to 2008, told The Guardian that some of the MPs in government were uncomfortable with Sunak’s tough stance on the matter.
“I can barely walk five yards in the corridor without some Conservatives stopping me and saying they wish the government would budge on this issue,” Lord Browne stated.
“They can’t understand why the government couldn’t concede something on this. I don’t understand why they’re not more questioning about the implications of this for our security and for our own armed forces.”
Lord Browne insisted that some of the Afghan veterans had resorted to using “irregular” routes to enter the UK after being denied entry by the UK government.
Conservative MP for South Swindon, Robert Buckland, expressed his optimism that the Bill, which declares Rwanda a safe country, would pass today if ministers were willing to compromise.
“There is still a cohort of Afghans who are not in a safe place and who put themselves in the line of danger not just to secure their country, but in the interests of freedom,” he said.
“If the government were to offer some concession, as they did with modern-day slavery, it would unlock the bill.”
Sunak is keen on the MPs sitting through the night to pass the Bill after several setbacks. He expressed his confidence on Friday that the Bill would sail through.
“Repeatedly, everyone has tried to block us from getting this bill through, and yet again you saw this week Labour peers blocking us again, and that’s enormously frustrating,” he said on Friday after the Lords insisted on amendments to the Bill on Wednesday.
“Everyone’s patience with this has worn thin, mine certainly has. Our intention now is to get this done on Monday. No more prevarication, no more delay, we are going to get this done on Monday, and we will sit there and vote until it’s done,” he added.
Besides the Afghan exemptions, the Lords are demanding tighter checks on the safety of Rwanda for asylum seekers and “due regard” for domestic and international law.
The scheme was first announced in April 2022 by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government following a deal with Rwandan authorities.
The Bill was introduced to Parliament after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the government’s scheme was unlawful. The judges argued that genuine refugees being removed to Rwanda faced the risk of being returned to their home countries, where they could face harm.
The UK plans to offer failed asylum seekers up to £3,000 (Rwf4,866,727) to move to Rwanda under the new voluntary scheme.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Monday, April 22, 2024, that it had accepted Aharon Haliva’s resignation and thanked him for his service.
“In coordination with the Chief of the General Staff, the Head of the Intelligence Directorate, MG Aharon Haliva, has requested to end his position, following his leadership responsibility as the Head of the Intelligence Directorate for the events of October 7,” Israeli military said in a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter).
“The Chief of the General Staff thanked Major General Aharon Haliva for his 38 years of service in the IDF, during which he made significant contributions to the security of the State of Israel as both a combat soldier and commander.”
Haliva becomes the first senior Israeli figure to resign over Hamas’ attack.
The resignation comes months after Haliva regretted not stopping the attack, which exposed the vulnerabilities of Israel’s border security system, long believed to be one of the most advanced and indomitable in the world. More than 300 Israeli soldiers are reported to have died in the attack.
In the morning attack, Hamas militants were able to breach Israel’s complex border security systems and penetrate the fence into surrounding towns, where they killed civilians in neighboring communities.
Hamas said the attack was in response to the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, threats to the status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the plight of Palestinian refugees and prisoners.
Haliva’s resignation also comes hot on the heels of Iran’s attack on Israel territory, which the country attributed to an Israeli raid on the Iranian consulate in Syria three weeks ago.
Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones with Israel saying 99 percent of the projectiles were intercepted.
Israel responded to the Iran’s attack on Friday amid restraint calls from the international community. Media reports indicate that Israel had planned a much more extensive counterstrike but diplomatic pressure from foreign allies forced it to scale it down.
Thobani was among seven people feted by Unity Club –Intwararumuri on October 29, 2023, but he was unable to collect the award at the time.
The award was presented to him by Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda Col Joseph Rutabana, during the 30th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi held at Ggolo Memorial Site in Mpigi district in Uganda.
“The award was issued on October 29, 2023, during the 16th Unity Club’s Annual Forum but he could not travel to Kigali that time to receive it and I am honored to hand it to him today, in front of you all, but especially in front of the 100 Humura members who came from Rwanda,” Col Rutabana stated.
Hundreds of dignitaries drawn from the Rwandan community, friends of Rwanda and heads of diplomatic missions in the neighbouring country graced the event.
The award, given by the organization founded by Rwanda’s First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, is bestowed upon individuals who showed extraordinary courage and humanity during the genocide and even after.
The recipients of the award are considered as ‘Abarinzi b’Igihango cy’Abanyarwanda’ or Protectors of the Rwandan Unity Pact. The pact includes commitments to unity, reconciliation, peacebuilding, and national development.
As part of the honor, Thobani received a certificate and a pin, as well as a data storage device containing citations and videos from the 16th Unity Club Annual Forum.
The Ugandan with an Indian origin is widely recognized for having buried about 10,000 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
During 100 days of the 1994 cold-blood murders in Rwanda, thousands of bodies of Genocide victims were thrown into Akagera and Nyabarongo rivers, both tributaries of Lake Victoria, and ended up in Uganda and beyond.
The businessman collected the bodies from the river and gave the victims a decent send off.
He is also credited with building three memorial sites, including Kasensero in Rakai district where 2,875 bodies are buried, Ggolo in Mpigi district where 4,771 bodies are buried, and Lambu in Masaka district with 3,337 bodies.
“Mohamood Noordin Thobani hired a caretaker for the memorial, offering money to pay the maintenance and cleaning staff. He continues to be involved in organising the commemoration of the victims of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi,” a citation by Unity Club reads.
He has also engaged in charity activities to help survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi make a livelihood. In 2018, at the 24th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Thobani donated 50 bicycles to Genocide survivors living in Rukumberi, Ngoma district.
Through Ibuka, an umbrella organization of survivors, associations, concerned individuals, and other organizations that fight against the 1994 atrocities, the survivors took issue with Blinken’s statement posted on X platform on April 7, terming it as shocking, offending, and misleading.
According to Ibuka, Blinken’s post failed to highlight the specific target of the 1994 Genocide – members of the Tutsi community – who were marked for extermination, as established by the Trial Chamber of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Blinken had, in a blanket statement that drew condemnation, said the Genocide targeted the Tutsis, Hutus, and Twas in Rwanda.
“Honorable Secretary of State Blinken, in not explicitly stating that the genocide specifically targeted Tutsi, your statement obscures the primary, intended victims. While some Hutus and Twas also lost their lives, they were not the primary targets; the genocide overwhelmingly aimed at exterminating the Tutsi population. Indeed, it was extremist Hutu factions who orchestrated these atrocities,” the letter signed by senior officials of the organization reads in part.
The survivors lamented that the statement blatantly contradicted the definition of genocide as stipulated in Article II of the UN Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 8, 1948.
“Therein, genocide is defined as a ‘crime committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such,’” Ibuka noted.
The organization stated that it was impossible that the 1994 genocide targeted “Tutsis, Hutus, Twas, and others” indiscriminately as purported by Blinken.
“That would mean there were three separate genocides in Rwanda – one against each group. Alternatively, a single genocide against the Rwandan national group, which would mean that victims would have been targeted, not for their “ethnicity” but for their Rwandan nationality. And we know that both options are historically not true,” Ibuka added.
Blinken’s statement, Ibuka stated, had retraumatized many survivors and exacerbated their pain and undermined the effort to advance knowledge and understanding of the genocide and human rights.
The survivors now want Blinken to retract the statement and issue a fresh one that doesn’t distort facts about the Genocide against the Tutsi that left more than one million people dead.
“Thus, we are profoundly hurt and outraged by your misleading statement issued on a day of mourning and reflection for the loss of Tutsi lives. We urge you to rectify this misrepresentation by retracting your previous statement and issuing a new one that accurately reflects the historical truths of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi,” they demanded.
Recently, Trent Kelly, a member of the House of Representatives from Mississippi’s 1st congressional district also called on the US government to adopt the correct name for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
He said he had introduced a resolution calling for the government to adopt the official definition of the Genocide, a move he said would ensure lessons from Rwanda’s painful history are not forgotten.
The congressman spoke at Capitol Hill in Washington D.C, where members of the Diplomatic corps, congress, academia, media, Rwandan community and friends of Rwanda gathered to honour the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Addressing members of the press on Saturday, April 20, 2024, Deacon Jimmy John Simon, a representative of the church, said the 220-bed facility will be constructed alongside a university and research center, to help train healthcare professionals and aid in the local production of drugs.
The project, being undertaken at Kanombe in Kicukiro district, is estimated to cost $60 million (RWF 76.76 billion), with completion scheduled for the end of 2025.
Deacon Simon said the facility will be known as Believers Hospital and Research Center upon completion and will contribute to the advancement of healthcare in Africa.
“We are in the eighth month of construction, and hopefully, we should finish by the end of 2025. It should be ready by early 2026,” Deacon Simon told reporters.
“As per my research, only one to five percent of the medicines in Africa is produced locally. The rest are being imported. We want to change that so that all the medicines and technologies can be locally available,” he added.
The facility will be equipped with modern equipment and will offer a wide range of specialised services including cardiology and dermatology.
The initiative to build the hospital and research center in Rwanda, Deacon Simon revealed, followed discussions with a former ambassador of Rwanda to India and the country’s progress and leadership under President Paul Kagame.
“The former ambassador of Rwanda to India had come to our hospital and seen the facilities and services that we provide. He asked the leaders of our church, ‘Why not bring these facilities to Rwanda?’ We were curious, thinking that it’s in Africa. We had our fears,” he stated.
The envoy had visited India and was impressed by the success of a similar 1000-bed capacity hospital in the Asian country, which also trains and releases 200 doctors and nurses to the market every year.
Deacon Simon said that despite initial fears about investing in Rwanda, the perception changed upon their visit to Rwanda.
“When we researched and initially came to this country, the perception changed. Rwanda is not what we thought about. It’s so safe. It’s one of the safest countries in Africa and, I would say, in the world. It’s so clean. I am proud of our President, His Excellency Paul Kagame, for his exemplary governance and leadership. The best example any people can have. The way the country is now is excellent,” he stated.
“Looking at all these positive things about Rwanda we said it is the best place to bring this facility and serve the people of Africa,” he added.
Deacon Simon affirmed that the hospital will reduce the cost incurred by patients to travel to countries such as India to seek treatment.
“By bringing this hospital here with all the technology and medical professional you reduce the cost of travel and at the same get the best treatment possible within your own country,” he averred.
To increase access to healthcare for all Rwandans, the church aims to collaborate with the government to ensure everyone can use health insurance schemes like Mutuelle de santé at the hospital.
Deacon Simon insisted that the facility would be a mission hospital offering services at affordable rates.
“As a church we don’t see as a business. We see this as a mission hospital. We are here to serve not to create business or profit,” he said.
Gen. Ogolla was among 10 military officers killed in a helicopter crash at the Sindar area in Elgeyo Marakwet County on Thursday afternoon.
Speaking during a memorial service for the late military chief held at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Lang’ata, Nairobi on Saturday, the Head of State disclosed that his advisors had warned him against appointing Ogolla as CDF, citing claims that he was among senior officials in the National Security Committee who attempted to overturn his victory in the August 2022 presidential election.
The claims were first made by former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati in his presentation to the Supreme Court after the disputed presidential poll that pitted Ruto against the longstanding opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Chebukati, in a sworn affidavit, told the Apex Court that the National Security Advisory Committee, formed ahead of the presidential contest and comprising Ogolla, then a Vice Chief of Defence Forces, had asked him to alter the election results to force a run-off in the event he was unable to declare Raila Odinga the winner.
Revisiting the claims yesterday, President Ruto said when he was sworn in as president, he convened a closed-door “Come to Jesus” meeting with Ogolla to establish facts about the claims.
At the meeting, President Ruto said, Ogolla acknowledged the attempt to subvert the will of the people, and gave the Commander-in-Chief three options: send him to court martial, force him retire, or pardon him.
“I asked Ogolla for a meeting. And I had one-on-one, man-to-man, come-to-Jesus meeting with General Ogolla,” Ruto said.
“He said Mr President, I have no defence. I will not try and defend myself. It was wrong and you have three choices: send me to court martial, have me retire, or forgive me,” he added.
After the meeting, the President said he reflected on Ogolla’s words drawing parallels to his own experiences and legal battles at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, where he was charged with crimes against humanity over Kenya’s 2007-2008 Post-Election violence which claimed the lives of over 1,200 people and left more than 500,000 others displaced.
“That evening, I went home and reflected on what Ogolla had told me. In the reflection, I through of my own story and my own episode at the ICC at The Hague where circumstances conspired and I was there,” he stated.
“I also reflected on the brief that I had been given when I came into office as President where I was told to think carefully about who I would appoint as Interior minister, Director General of NIS, Inspector General of Police and CDF.”
After careful consideration, Ruto revealed that he settled on Ogolla as CDF due to his outstanding qualifications.
“I made a conscious decision to take a different trajectory, where professionalism and competency must come before ethnicity, and I made up my mind that Ogolla deserved to be CDF and it is an appointment I am proud of,” President Ruto averred.
Ogolla took over the CDF mantle from Gen. Robert Kibochi whose term ended after 44 years in the military.
The late General will be laid to rest today at his rural home in Mor Village, Siaya County, in line with his wish to be buried within 72 hours after his demise.
