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In the hearing on Monday,a panel of judges announced the appeal case was withdrawn pursuant to the defendants’ request dated August 26.

The singer was asked if he still wished to withdraw his appeal as he requested in his letter not read immediately. He confirmed his willingness to withdraw his appeal and the Court took note of it.

Kizito Mihigo’s lawyer, Antoinette Mukamusoni told IGIHE that she was surprised of Kizito’s letter requesting that his appeal be withdrawn without pointing out the reasons behind the move.
“After seeing his letter, I wondered why he had let us request for an appeal in the first place just to withdraw it in the end. Later, I went to him, asked him what pushed him to make the request,” Mukamusoni explained.

According to Mukamusoni, Kizito was polite and nice, while answering her questions. He said “I pled guilty and the court sentenced me according to law. Clearly, I would not be bringing anything new at the court. What would I be pleading? What would I be challenging against the High court?”

Kizito added that he took the decision to withdraw his appeal since he was not having any new facts.

Parole behind the appeal’s withdrawal

Jean Felix Rudakemwa- a lawyer, who represented popular convict Dr. Leon Mugesera, was convinced that there was a motive behind Kizito Mihigo’s decision to withdraw his appeal.

Parole, more commonly known as conditional release might be a motive.

Conditional release is possible if you served at least one quarter of your sentence before it is considered. If you are serving more than 5 years, parole will be considered once two thirds of the sentence has been served.

Kizito has so far served 4 years and five months. This means that in the next two years, he will have served the required two thirds, and be eligible for a conditional release.

Asked on this, Kizito Mihigo’s lawyer said that she did not know whether it was part of his plans.

“I have no idea whatsoever of his plans, unless he decides to let me know. I only know that his reasons to withdraw the appeal were that he had no tangible facts,” Mukamusoni said.

He says, even without an official position, he will keep contributing ideas alongside the elected officials to prove his commitment to serve the country.

Mpayimana and three other independent candidates failed to win 5% votes in the legislative elections held on September 3.

They all scored below 1% while the Constitution requires 5% votes for a party or independent candidate to secure a seat in the parliament.

Mpayimana has told IGIHE that he is not discouraged by the two failures.

He urges the National Electoral Commission to revise the votes required for an independent candidate to win a seat, saying that it is discriminatory for an independent candidate to be required the same 5% votes as a political party which receives two seats upon winning 5%.

The requirement is embedded in the constitution adopted in 2003 and amended in the November 2015 Referendum.

“Laws are made by people and can always change them,” says Mpayimana.

He says he will share with the legislators pledges he made during the campaign, adding that he has no plan to join any political party.

Mpayimana came to Rwanda in 2017 from France where he was serving in a spices factory.

He says he currently has no job and has no plans to go back to France soon.

He plans to do marketing work for some companies and preparing projects for people as a means of earning a living in Rwanda while contributing to politics as well.

In the recent elections, the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) and allied six parties won 74% equivalent to 40 seats out of 53 contested for in the general elections.

Liberal Party (PL) and Social Democratic Party (PSD) respectively won 9% and 7% equivalent to five and four seats.

Two opposition parties, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) and PS-Imberakuri, secured each two seats in the Lower House after winning 5% ballots.

Other 27 seats in the 80-member Lower House are shared by representatives of women, youth and people with disabilities.

The five are Maximilien Turinabo, Anselme Nzabonimpa, Jean de Dieu Ndagijimana, Marie Rose Fatuma and Dick Prudence Munyeshuli.

They were arrested last week following the arrest warrants issued by the Judge of the International Residual Mechanism of the Criminal Tribunal (IRMCT) on September 3.

They were transferred yesterday to the UN detention facilities in Arusha, Tanzania.
“Today, on 10th September 2018, the National Public Prosecuiton Authority of Rwanda has handed over the above five Rwandan citizens to the judicial authorities of IRMCT,” reads part of the prosecution’s statement.

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The IRMCT statement released last Wednesday allege that the aim of the suspects’ efforts was to secure the reversal of Augustin Ngirabatware’s conviction by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Ngirabatware was convicted by the ICTR’s Appeals Chamber for direct and public incitement to commit genocide, instigating genocide and aiding and abetting genocide and gave him a sentence of 30 years of imprisonment.

The indictment in the Turinabo et al. case alleges that the five accused are responsible for contempt of court, incitement to commit contempt and knowing violation of court orders, and interfering with the administration of justice at the Mechanism and ICTR.

The Office of the Prosecutor alleges that Maximilien Turinabo, Anselme Nzabonimpa, Jean de Dieu Ndagijimana and Marie Rose Fatuma, directly and through others, offered bribes and exerted pressure to influence the evidence of protected witnesses in the Ngirabatware case.

It also alleges that Dick Prudence Munyeshuli and Maximilien Turinabo disclosed protected information regarding protected witnesses in knowing violation of protective measures ordered by the ICTR and Mechanism.

The Mechanism Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said in a statement that his office is determined to fight all efforts to interfere with witnesses and the proper administration of justice, in accordance with the office’s mandate from the United Nations Security Council.

IRMCT instruments state that anyone who is convicted with interfering with its justice shall face seven years of imprisonment maximum or a fine of €50,000.

ICTR sentenced Ngirabatware to 35 years in jail in 2012 but the sentence was reduced to 30 years in 2014 in the appeal trial by IRMCT.

{{IRMCT succeeded ICTR.
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In June 2017, IRMCT accepted Ngirabatware’s request for the appeal review which was set for February 2018.

However, his counsel Peter Robinson withdrew earlier, putting off the review hearing until September 24.

Ngirabatware has got Diana Ellis and Sam Blom-Cooper as counsel and co-counsel to represent him in the review proceedings before the Mechanism.

The 61-year old was arrested in Germany in September 2007 and transferred to ICTR in October 2008.

He was appointed the Minister of Planning in the genocidal regime in July 1990, a position he retained as part of the Interim Rwandan Government in April 1994.

Ngirabatware was also a member of the Préfecture Committee of then ruling National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) political party in Gisenyi Préfecture, the National Committee of the MRND, and the technical committee of Nyamyumba Commune.

The campaign dubbed Free To Shine was recently initiated by the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS aiming at ending mother to child transmission of HIV by 2030.

Launching the drive in Kigali Monday, First Lady Jeannette Kagame urged parents and health workers to embrace the fight to ensure that no single child acquires HIV at birth.

She especially encouraged all pregnant women to routinely go for antenatal care in health facilities and make sure they give birth from there.

Acknowledging the contribution of partners over the years, Mrs Kagame said, Rwanda is on track to zero new infections by 2020 and to the eradication of HIV by 2030.

“Indeed, the interventions and resources poured into initiatives geared towards reducing new infections have helped reduce the national prevalence rate from a double digit number, to a 3% national average. It is imperative that we keep the momentum,” she said.

The gathering of about 2500 at Petit Stade in Remera also received messages on HIV transmission, ending pediatric HIV/AIDS, family planning methods, condoms distribution and HIV testing services.

Minister of Health Dr. Diane Gashumba efforts invested have led to a drop in mother-to-child infections from 4.3% in 2011 to 1.5% currently.

Free To Shine campaign is supported by the African Union in its goals for equitable development.

In the hearing on Monday, the judges’ jury announced the appeal case was withdrawn pursuant to the defendants’ request dated August 26, without clarifying on the request letter’s content.

The defendants didn’t explain anything about their request either.
Kizito was arrested in April 2014 with three accomplices. He was charged with complicity in acts against the state security.

In February 2015, the High Court in Kigali sentenced Kizito to 10 years in jail after convicting him with conspiracy to murder and formation of a criminal gang.

The co-accused, former Amazing Grace Radio reporter Cassien Ntamuhanga was sentenced to 25 years in prison after finding him guilty of formation of a criminal gang, conspiracy against the established government and complicity in a terrorist act.

Ntamuhanga broke the prison last year and was later heard on Voice of America radio speaking reportedly from abroad without revealing his hideout.

Former combatant Jean Paul Dukuzumuremyi was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but, the court acquitted Agnès Niyibizi after they found her not guilty of any charge.

“A Ministerial Order (of Llabour) determines minimum wage,” reads article 68 of the new labour law.

The current minimum wage was fixed 44 years ago at Rwf100 but workers and trade unions have in the recent years complained about it as not matching with the market rates.

Gaspard Musonera, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, has told IGIHE that the Minister’s Order determining minimum wages is the final stages for publication.

He said the draft bill with soon be tabled before the cabinet, adding that they had to do massive consultations with the concerned organs for the draft as the previous law provided for minimum wage for registered jobs or formal sector only.

The survey by the trade unions published in December 2017 indicated that current market rates call for a minimum wage of Rwf87,285 and Rwf126,260 for rural and urban workers respectively.

Contrary to the previous labour law of 2009 which protected salary for workers in formal sector only, the new law protects salary for all categories of workers including informal sector employees.

It also provides for informal sector employees’ minimum wage and right to a leave, among other rights that were in the previous law like the right to social security, occupational safety, and the right to form trade unions and employers’ associations.

The new law also protects salaries for employees executing public or private tenders by giving powers to the procuring entity to retain the amount equivalent to employees’ salaries, until the successful bidder proves that he/she has paid the employees.

“However, if the payment is not effected by the successful bidder in a period of forty-five (45) days, the procuring entity pays the concerned employees the salaries equivalent to the amount retained,” reads part of article 122.

Contrary to the previous law which prohibited to employ a child even as apprentice before the age of 16, another change is that now a child aged between 13 and 15 years is allowed to perform light works in the context of apprenticeship while the minimum age for admission to employment remains at 16 years.

She made the remarks Saturday in Kigali at the breakfast meeting on women in agri-business that was organised on the sidelines of the 8th African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2018.

Mrs. Kagame said African agriculture cannot develop while leaving women behind.

“I would like us to first envision an entire year without food production. A year, during which those women in Africa decided to lay down their tools. The consequences of their refusal to work anymore will be many,” she said.

“We would lose out on the fight against hunger, we would lose out on holistic diets for our infants, with the risk of nutritional stunting in African children in years to come. We would lose out on overall health; we would lose out on the economic gains made thus far from agriculture; we would also lose out on the much-needed foreign exchange as a result of greater food importation.”

The First Lady said the AGRF 2018 binds everyone to consider the role women farmers play in African development in addition to the heavy burden they often carry as sole breadwinners in female-headed households.

“We are doing a disservice to women by not acknowledging their hard labor in agriculture, by taking for granted the fact that they feed our continent and by under-valuing their contribution to socio-economic growth,” she remarked.

“As leaders, and experts concerned with the advancement of agriculture and on increasing its productivity in Africa, I am certain that you can identify, even more consequences of not investing more heavily in women in agriculture.”

She added that all the concerned people should chart lasting solutions to ensure better livelihoods for the most vulnerable and turning subsistence agriculture into viable agri-business.

Major challenges that women farmers face include having no rights on their family’s land and lack of access to finances.

Mrs. Kagame said that, as an advocate for gender equality and a firm believer in women capacity to create sustainable wealth for themselves and the future generations, she believes that real agriculture transformation must include more robust investment in women.

World Bank reports that agriculture accounts for 32% of African GDP and employs around 70% of the population.

Women represent over 60% of the farmers on the continent.

He said Africa exports unprocessed agricultural produce and imports processed products at a much higher price.

Kagame made the remarks Saturday in Kigali at the 8th African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2018.

“We transport our coffee and tea to Europe. You give it some blessing, then send it back to us and we pay ten times more,” he says, seemingly pointing at the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in attendance.

“We have been shipping value for free and we pay heavily. It just doesn’t make sense and we all know it. How can we blame anybody else for some of these shortcomings, how can we blame anybody else for Rwanda importing coffee from Europe when we produce coffee but we don’t process it?”

In attendance was also Ghanaian President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Kenyan Vice President William Ruto and Gabonese Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, among other dignitaries.

One example cited is that chocolate sales stood at $100 billion in 2016 but major African cocoa producers, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, together recorded 5% of the earnings yet they exported 65% of all the cocoa used to produce chocolate worldwide.

Kagame said that the knowledge, experience and goodwill in evidence at AGRF show that Africa has everything it needs to succeed.

“It is up to us working together to drive the necessary change in our respective communities and organisations… Between Kenya, Ghana, Gabon, our minds on this panel are very well aligned. The main task for us is to make sure that what we are aligned on, is actually put into practice.”

Remarking that the majority of Africans still earn their livelihood directly or indirectly from the land, Kagame said that agriculture deserves the concentrated attention of Africa’s policy-makers, scientists and entrepreneurs.

William Ruto said that African countries must come together and ensure they stop exporting unprocessed goods.

He said Africa should only import tractors and other equipments but export the processed agricultural produces.

President Akufo-Addo said Africa has to address its problems without expecting anyone from outside to do it.

The officials observed that trade among African countries is harder that importing food items from Europe.

They reiterated the importance of the recently signed Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in addressing the challenges.

AfCFTA was signed by 44 countries in Kigali in March 2018 at the 10th Extra-Ordinary African Union Summit of Heads of State and Governments.

The number of signatories has so far reached 50 countries in the process to set the trade area operational.

AfCFTA is expected to create a common African market for over 1.2 billion African population and improve trade among the continent’s countries.

African countries trade among themselves at the rate of 16% while the rate stands at 60% between Africa and Europe.

Akufo-Addo was received by Prime Minister Dr Edouard Ngirente at the Kigali International Airport.

AGRF has attracted over 2,000 participants and 300 speakers from governments and business community.

The forum is discussing the required improvements in African agriculture in line with Africa Agenda 2063.

The 74-year man is Ghanaian President from January 2017. Prior to presidency docket, Akufo-Addo served as Prosecutor General from 2001 to 2003 and Foreign Minister from 2003 to 2007.

He was again in Rwanda in March 2018 for the 10th Extra-Ordinary African Union Summit of Heads of State and Governments on Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Opening the 8th AGRF in Kigali Wednesday, Dr Ngirente said the development of agriculture in Africa is only possible if politicians get to understand the agriculture relevance and challenges in the sector.

He said there are untapped potentials for the development of agriculture in Africa.
Agriculture accounts for 32% of African GDP and employs around 70% of the population.

AGRF was established in 2010 but the forum was before taking place in Oslo, Norway, between 2006-2008.

In Africa, the annual forum was respectively held in Tanzania Mozambique, Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire from 2012 to 2017.

The forum consolidated $6.5 billion last year for investment in agro-processing of edible oil, peas, sweet potatoes and rice.

The forum reports that Africa spends $35 billion annually in importing food stuffs and the amount is expected to increase threefold by 2025 unless mitigation measures are implemented.