President Kagame has via his Twitter handle sent best wishes to women in Rwanda and beyond as they celebrated the IWD 2022 on 8th March.
“Today, we celebrate the resilience of Rwandan women who have been at the center of Rwanda’s transformation journey,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
From the beginning, the Head of State said, RPF has walked the talk by creating an environment that enabled women to take their rightful place.
“Gender equality has always been central to the politics of RPF. The progress we see in Rwanda today is the result of this commitment to inclusivity,” he noted.
Equality is a right not a favour. We must challenge ourselves to do even more and better to ensure that the next generations of our daughters and granddaughters inherit a nation where their aspirations have no limits,” Kagame added.
Rwanda has earned international reputation for its efforts to empower women and promote gender equality.
The success was a result of the country’s commitment to inclusivity, which among other things, saw the country giving women the floor in decision making positions.
For instance, women have 61 % and 50% representation respectively in Rwanda’s parliament and cabinet.
MTN Rwanda delivered a solid financial performance with overall service revenue growing by 24.1% to Rwf184.9 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of Rwf89.7 billion; a 20.4% increase. The company’s key revenue stream, voice services, grew by 12.1%, while data and enterprise revenues registered growth of 18.9% and 13.1% respectively.
Mark Nkurunziza, MTN Rwanda Chief Finance Officer, commented on the results saying: “The financial performance for the year 2021 was quite strong. The year-on-year growth can be attributed to an increase in customer base, ongoing network improvement efforts and our acceleration of strategic business streams such as Mobile Money. Moreover, profit after tax increased by 10.9% and we delivered a healthy free cash flow of Rwf57.0 billion (up 7.9%) with increased capital expenditure as we continued to invest in the network to expand our coverage and capacity. Overall, MTN Rwanda’s financial performance was pleasing.”
This audited financial performance represents a consolidated view of MTN Rwanda and its subsidiary company, Mobile Money Rwanda Ltd (MMRL). Following the incorporation and licensing of the wholly owned subsidiary, MMRL, the structural and operational separation of the fintech business is progressing well. The wholly owned subsidiary delivered solid year on year revenue growth of 65.2% from their leading service, Mobile Money.
Looking ahead to 2022, the focus will remain on continued investment in the network to push toward our objective of reaching population coverage of 100%, provide digital and fintech services to our customers and achieve target of low-to-mid teen percentage service revenue growth in the mid-term.
Commenting on the annual results Mitwa Ng’ambi, MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer said: “We are encouraged by these results, driven by the resilience of the business, the hard work of our people across the country as well as the continued support from our board of directors and stakeholders. We thank our customers for their support and trust in us and remain committed to living up to our belief that everybody deserves the benefits of a modern connected life”.
In creating shared value, on 7th March 2022 MTN Rwanda’s Board of Directors approved, for recommendation to the Shareholders at this year’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, a total dividend at Rwf4.98/share, totalling approximately Rwf 6.7 billion, which represents 30% of the Profit After Tax (PAT) for 2021. This was done in line with the Dividend policy disclosure provided last year, where shareholders were informed that the Company would consider a dividend payout of 30% of PAT in 2022, due to the license fee payments that the company would need to conclude this year. The Company continues to target minimum of 50.0% of PAT in subsequent years, over the medium term.
Subject to the approval of Shareholders, the dividend payment will be made by 30 June 2022 to all shareholders on the share register by 9 June 2022.
In terms of ESG, MTN Rwanda kicked off its first ever initiative focusing on people with disabilities. The Company committed to actively participate in building sustainable and inclusive societies with the launch of “Twese” (“All of us”) initiative in which a series of interventions were made to make its products and services more inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities. Furthermore, MTN Rwanda launched MTN Project Zero, a commitment to achieve zero carbon emissions by end of 2040, with the exchange of 15% of its fleet with hybrid electric cars, as a start.
Ng’ambi concluded by saying: “We have taken a step-change in our approach to ESG, which is a strategic priority highlighting our commitment to being a key partner to the communities we serve. In 2021 we were able to lay the foundational work for two of our proudest initiatives. Through these interventions, we are determined to ensure that no-one is left behind with our Twese initiative.
We are also committed to playing our part towards a more sustainable earth through MTN Project Zero. We have witnessed the impact that climate change is having here in Rwanda and by mitigating our carbon emissions, among other initiatives to come, not only are we contributing to the country’s agenda to ease these effects, but we are also joining the rest of the world in creating a more sustainable future.”
{{About MTN Rwandacell Plc}}
MTN Rwandacell Plc (MTN Rwanda) is the market leader in mobile telecommunications in Rwanda. Since 1998, we have continuously invested in expanding and modernising our network and are the country’s No 1 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.
This year’s Women Day is celebrated under the theme centered around ‘breaking the bias’ calling upon the general public to be consciously aware of gender inequality and concert efforts to call it out.
It is against this background that a Strategic Leadership and Business Consulting Firm operating in Rwanda, Gate Consultancy Group, has organized a training session for female university students to address different biases centered on gender stereotypes.
Recently, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) revealed that the the private sector has not been playing active role in women empowerment conveniently.
It is therefore of crucial significance to see the commitment of a private company such as Gate Consultancy Group whose vision is to equip people with leadership skills and practical tools to help them grow and impact their workspaces and communities.
Salma-Habib Nkusi, the Chief Executive Officer of Gate Consultancy has said that the main objective of the training is to remind these young university women that they are capable, need confidence to benefit from available opportunities and receive support from different initiatives.
“These young students should know that they are not alone, that they have chance to learn from successful women who went through similar living conditions,” she said.
Nkusi revealed that university is among advanced stages of education where students need to be familiar with different realities and learn from others’ experiences, complementing what they acquired in class.
“There are things that are not acquired from school like personal development. We targeted university students so as to connect them to successful people who can assist them.”
The event also featured panel discussions with different speakers including Denise Munyana, the co-founder of Right Seat, a Human resource consulting firm. She urged them to break the bias and change their mindsets.
“Girls are capable. That is why you must seek and fight for what you want to achieve. Challenges will always be there, but it is up to you to confront them from a different perspective to achieve envisaged goals,” she said.
The Country Head of the Mastercard Foundation in Rwanda, Rica Rwigamba who was also among panelists, took the opportunity to tell the girls that the journey had many challenges and advised them to shun fear and learn from experience.
“People always make mistakes, you cannot be 100% perfect. What is most important is to learn from them and remain committed to reach your destination,” she said.
Some of the students attending the training thanked the organizers of the event noting that they learnt a lot from the speakers.
Ange Umuhire, a student in Accounting at the University of Rwanda-College of Business and Economics (CBE), said that the training is greatly important for university students to learn new realities.
“As people who are still pursuing University studies, we learn a lot but there are still things out there we need to learn . This kind of training encourages us to be fearless and learn,” she said
Umuhire continued to say that the greatest lesson from the training is about how to develop self-confidence to meet one’s goals.
Ntua Endia, a Cameroonian student in International Business and Trade at the African Leadership University who attended the training session disclosed that gender equality is apparent in both Rwanda and her country.
“Many women have stepped up and gone out there to make an impact in our society, some are even in decision making seats. The training reminded me that as women, there are many things we can achieve and we can go to even greater heights than we think,” she said.
She went on to say there are still some things the government of Rwanda must do but that women themselves have to play a greater role.
Endia also advised women in Rwanda to take advantage of opportunities made available for them.
“The Government is playing a big role in women empowerment but all these efforts would be in vain if women do not seize the opportunity,” she noted.
Umaro arrived in Rwanda in the morning of Monday 7th March for three-day working visit. Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport, he was welcomed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Vincent Biruta before his reception at Urugwiro Village.
After hosting Umaru, the two Heads of State sat down for a tête-â-tête before holding bilateral talks with officials from both delegations. They also witnessed the signing of agreements focused on strengthening key areas of cooperation between the two countries.
The memoranda of understanding were signed in the fields of economic and trade cooperation, education, tourism, business events and conservation.
As he toured the Kigali Special Economic Zone on Tuesday 8th March 2022, Umaro visited Carnegie Mellon University, African Improved Foods and Volkswagen, a Germany firm assembling cars in Rwanda.
Stephanie Nyombayire, the Press Secretary at the Office of the President has said that the zone was set up to facilitate commerce and trading between Rwanda and other countries where Guinea Bissau ‘could be one of them’.
“All of these are companies that were able to set up in Rwanda are looking to have partnerships with (Guinea) whether it is in exporting the cars that are locally manufactured, whether it is in bringing students from Guinea Bissau to study on the campus here, or in exporting some of the foods that Africa Improved Foods produces here,” Nyombayire told the media.
She explained that there are ongoing talks that might lead to the signing of a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Rwanda and Guinea Bissau.
The child is none else than Sandra Umuhoza Isimbi. Unlike other passengers, the 15-year old primary school pupil was recently going to school when she saw a baby abandoned in a bush. With her deep affection for humans, Umuhoza did not wait for others’ intervention but made possible efforts on her own to save the baby. She picked the baby, wrapped him in her pullover and took him to school. Unfortunately, the baby died few days later.
Umuhoza studies at Groupe Scolaire Karembure in Gahanga sector of Kicukiro district. She was raised by one biological parent (her mother) but did not discourage her from virtues of generosity.
As Umuhoza headed to school, three days before the celebration of International women’s Day, she met with a colleague who informed her that ‘there is a small animal that might be alive or dead in the surroundings’.
Umuhoza rushed to the place and saw what seemed to be baby’s legs. She removed the sack covering the upper part of the body and found an abandoned baby who weeped soon as Umuhoza touched him.
She wrapped him in her pullover and took the baby to school where he alerted the management.
That is when her picture was taken and attracted public attention particularly among social media users. Umuhoza was deservingly commended for her bravery to save the baby’s life.
Following the revelations, Claudette Irere, the Minister of State in charge of ICT and Technical Vocational Education and Training used her Twitter handle to praise Umuhoza as ‘a hero’.
The picture also touched many more social media users who described Umuhoza as a human with ‘fresh soul’, wished her blessing from God and blamed women that abandon babies.
IGIHE has visited Isimbi at her school. As a first year pupil, Umuhoza has a great zeal for outstanding performance.
She explained that taking the baby to school was her first option for emergency assistance.
As Umuhoza narrates, she was disappointed to see a woman passing by the abandoned baby without halting.
“Before locating the baby, a woman passed by saying that a child was dumped nearby. She however, continued her journey,” she said.
Arriving at school, she provided information to the school’s management which also alerted Police.
“The Sister who also serves as the head teacher gave me a seat awaiting Police and emergency assistance. The baby was taken to Masaka Hospital but I kept following up on his situation. I was initially told that the baby is healthy except shortness of breath. Unfortunately, I later heard that the baby was no longer alive,” she revealed.
Umuhoza says that she was shocked by the demise of the baby she had tried to save.
Umuhoza’s parents are alive but live separately. The young daughter is not fully aware of reasons for estranged relations but suspects that the father might have given up on parenting duties.
She lives with her cousin to reduce long walks it would take her to reach the school. Umuhoza requested support from kind people to help her mother (who is in the first Ubudehe social-economic category) find a shelter.
She also demanded support to pursue education up to the university because her family is hard up.
Umuhoza has urged mothers against abandoning babies reminding them to always think of the value of human being before committing such a crime.
She advised age mates to uphold the virtue of kindness and stay strong as they confront challenging situations.
Hassine Ingabire, the foster mother has said that Umuhoza is a courageous child with great ambitions who never gives up without making possible efforts.
Sister Edith Uwimbabazi, the head teacher of Groupe Scolaire Karembure has told IGIHE that the baby was male and thanked Umuhoza for daring to pick a bleeding baby.
“After 28 years of service in my glorious military, the greatest military in the world, I am happy to announce my retirement,” he has posted on Twitter.
“Me and my soldiers have achieved so much! I have only love and respect for all those great men and women that achieve greatness for Uganda every day,” he added.
Lt Gen Muhoozi announces the decision few days after his implication in political affairs rising suspicion that he might be preparing to replace his father.
His recent activities include talks with President Paul Kagame aimed at mending bilateral ties, talks with the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa and the ambassador of France to Uganda.
Lt Gen Muhoozi, 47, is a father of three. He was born on 24th April 1974 in Tanzania where his father lived.
He is the first born and only son of President Museveni.
Ltd Gen Muhoozi attended primary and secondary school in countries including Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden and joined UPDF in 1999.
{{Who is Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba?}}
Born in 1974 to President Yoweri Museveni and Janet Museveni, Muhoozi is the first born. He attended schools in Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden.
After his father became President of Uganda in 1986, he attended Kampala Parents School, King’s College Budo and St Mary’s College Kisubi.
Muhoozi joined UPDF in the early 1990s, attracting outrage in the media after he was reportedly engaged in military operations without enlisting as a service man.
His father, President Yoweri Museveni, later explained that Muhoozi was only a member of the vigilante force locally known as the Local Defence Unit.
He later attended the University of Nottingham from 1996 until 1998.
Muhoozi formally joined the UPDF 1999 before being admitted at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he graduated in 2000, after which he was commissioned Second Lieutenant.
He also attended Egyptian Military Academy where he took both the company and battalion commanders’ courses as well as Kalama Armoured Warfare Training School.
He later took a one-year course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, graduating in June 2008.
Muhoozi has seen a meteoric rise through the ranks of the army to Lieutenant-General.
Kibeho Primary Court has said that there are enough evidences pinning the suspect on suspected crimes including sexual favours and nepotism.
Nsengiyumva, 44, was arrested on 18th February 2022. It is said that he engaged in relations with a woman aged 30 who had submitted a divorce request at Kibeho Primary Court on 19th September 2021 to terminate marriage contract with her husband aged 28.
It is alleged that the Court’s President helped the woman seeking divorce and engaged in relationships until the woman visited him and spent some days together at his home.
It is said that these interactions affected the court’s ruling that was in favour of the woman.
The crime of offering or soliciting sexual favours attract a sentence between seven and ten years with a fine between Rwf2million and Rwf3 million.
Any person in charge of providing service to people who makes a decision based on favoritism, friendship, hatred, acquaintances or nepotism to any person who seeks a service, commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to a sentence between five and seven years and a fine between Rwf1 million and Rwf2 million.
He will represent Rwanda’s interests in Chad with residence in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
The ceremony took place at the presidential palace in N’Djamena on Monday 7th March 2022. Amb. Kamanzi and Gen Mahamat held talks revolving around strengthening bilateral ties and cooperation between both countries.
Rwanda’s envoy also extended greetings from President Paul Kagame to his counterpart of Chad.
Rwanda and Chad enjoy existing diplomatic cooperation. Rwanda’s interests in Chad were previously assumed by its embassy in Congo Brazaville.
The Office of the Spokesperson of the Government of Rwanda has told IGIHE that the majority of 85 Rwandans that lived in Ukraine were students and others employed partially to pursue studies.
These include 19 students pursuing Medicine courses, 16 studied Aerospace Engineering while others pursued studies in technology and economics among others.
The war continues to escalate in Sámi, Kharkiv, Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine.
At the onset of the war, Rwanda is among countries that rushed to support 85 nationals stuck in Ukraine through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rwanda’s embassies in Berlin, Moscow and Warsaw.
Rwanda’s ambassador to Poland, Prof. Anastase Shyaka has revealed that some embassy’s officials spent a week waiting for Rwandans crossing from Ukraine to support them.
Prof. Shyaka went on to explain that there has been collaboration between different authorities and Rwandans living in Ukraine and others living in those countries including Poland.
“We made possible efforts to work together to support students living here and Rwandans in Ukraine, get updates on their situation and speak to parents in Rwanda. We kept in touch with them for successful collaboration. Rwandans in Ukraine also helped each other and exchanged information,” he told One Nation Radio.
The President of Rwandan Diaspora in Ukraine, Fred Mupenzi , (who fled to Belgium), said that they were mainly helped to cross the border.
“The other support was the discount on RwandAir tickets. We are thankful that they helped us a lot even though our desires cannot be satisfied at once,” he noted.
Prof. Shyaka also commended Rwandans for their perseverance amidst experienced hurdles while trying to cross Ukraine’s border.
“They told us how they survived bullets as they left Kharkiv, how they boarded trains and how they kept soldiering on despite experienced struggles […] no one walked alone,” he said.
“The way they endured difficult situations is commendable. They used to foot tens of kilometers, but remained strong despite the fact that they were not accustomed to doing it. They teamed up and helped each other along the way,” Prof. Shyaka added.
He revealed that more than 70 Rwandans have fled Ukraine to countries including Poland and Hungary.
“Current figures show that more than 70 Rwandans managed to cross the border. But it is apparent that the children were hit hard despite some individuals who seem to be strong,” he said.
“One of them is sick and admitted at a hospital. I saw the person who is still strong. Doctors told me that they will continue to take care of the patient but he will not be discharged before a number of weeks or months,” he said.
Prof. Shyaka said that there are Rwandans and other foreigners living in Sámi, in the north-east of Ukraine near the border with Russia where the fighting is intense. He explained that the area is far distant in 1000 kilometers away from the European Union border.
“Discussions are ongoing to seek how they can be evacuated from the war zone. We would like to assure parents that we are here for them. We are also parents concerned about their children’s situation. We continue to seek how to evacuate them,” he noted.
The Government of Poland recently announced that it will host refugees from Ukraine temporary for two weeks before moving to their motherlands or third countries.
Prof. Shyaka said that it is a challenging situation because people will no longer have rights to stay in Poland after 15 days.
Speaking to IGIHE recently, the Deputy Spokesperson of the Government of Rwanda, Alain Mukuralinda said that collaboration with parents is ongoing so that the children can be helped to return home or move to third countries after 15 days.
“Parents and relatives should be aware that people reaching Poland will not stay there. They need to start thinking how they will leave the country and seek assistance in case they fail,” he said.
[{{Related story: Rwanda sheds light on support extended to nationals stuck in Ukraine}}->https://en.igihe.com/news/article/rwanda-sheds-light-on-support-extended-to-rwandans-stuck-in-ukraine]
Ngendambazi was arrested Sunday, March 6, at about 2pm in Majanja Village, Kabukuba Cell, Juru Sector with assorted electricity equipment, including a prop and a fombox used to support pylons.
The Eastern region Police spokesperson, Superintendent of Police (SP) Hamduni Twizeyimana, said that Ngendambazi is allegedly part of the group that vandalize power lines in the area.
He added that he was reported by the company connecting electricity and other power infrastructure in the area.
“An employee of Kala Telecom Company Limited, which is distributing electricity in the zone saw two people, who were carrying parts of pylons stolen from one of the vandalized power lines, and called the Police. Ngendambazi was arrested red-handed but his accomplice managed to flee,” SP Twizeyimana said.
SP Twizeyimana warned individuals, who vandalize public infrastructure, affect public service, leads the government into losses to rehabilitate the destroyed infrastructure.
Ngendambazi was handed over to RIB at Rilima station for further investigation while the search for his accomplice is still underway.
According to article 182 of the law relating to offences and penalties in general in Rwanda, “any person, who maliciously demolishes or damages in any way, in whole or in part of construction, building, bridge, dams, water pipes and their routes, railway rails or any other means of communication or electric power infrastructure, wells or any other constructions, which do not belong to him/her, commits an offence.”
Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three (3) years and not more than five (5) years with a fine of not less than Rwf3 million and not more than Rwf5 million
In article 166, any person convicted for theft is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than two years and a fine of not less than Rwf1 million and not more than Rwf2 million, community service in a period of six months or only one of these penalties.
However, in article 167, the penalty doubles if the crime was committed at night or by more than one person.
