Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that the smugglers had 12 bales and 497 kilograms of second-hand clothes, 357 kilograms of used shoes and assorted liquors and energy drinks.
Others include eight sacks full of banned polythene bags as well as 321 pieces of varied types of banned skin bleaching lotions.
CIP Karekezi said that the suspected smugglers were intercepted at about 5:30 AM at a porous border shortly after crossing into Rwanda through in Murambi Village, Buhaza Cell of Rubavu Sector.
The goods were being sneaked into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), he said.
“The suspected smugglers were cut-off just after crossing into Rwanda, by members of security organs, who were patrolling the area and seized the 28 big sacks of goods,” CIP Karekezi added.
This came a day after the Rwanda National Police (RNP) Revenue Protection Unit (RPU) also seized other three sacks of skin bleaching lotions and one sack second-hand clothes, from smugglers, who had attempted to sneak them into the country through Lake Kivu.
CIP Karekezi said that most of the people intercepted in Rubavu smuggling goods are not the rightful owners but rather hired.
He warned against such acts of fraud, through which illegal goods such as non-biodegradable plastic bags and skin whitening lotions, oils and soaps are also brought on the Rwandan market.
“Police works with other security organs, fishing cooperatives, and the public to get information on the smugglers, which facilitates such successful operations,” the spokesperson said.
Under the East African Community Management Act, which is applicable in Rwanda, seized smuggled goods under article 199, are auctioned.
In article 12, a retailer of plastic carry bags and single-use plastic items is liable to an administrative fine of Rwf300, 000 and dispossession of those plastic carry bags and such items.
On the other hand, cream and oil brands with hydroquinone and mercury, are prohibited in Rwanda under the ministerial order determining the list of cosmetics, whose use is prohibited in Rwanda; the law on organization, functioning, and competence of the Council of Pharmacists; and the law relating to the regulation and inspection of food and pharmaceutical products.
There are 1,342 listed skin bleaching products banned in Rwanda.
The Eastern Province Police Spokesperson for the Eastern Province, CIP Twizeyimana Hamdun, told IGIHE that the accident happened around 5.30 pm when a Jeep Toyota Prado that was heading from Nyagatare to Kigali hit a cyclist identified as Alphonse Habimana in Rwamagana town.
The Prado collided with an Actros Mercedes Benz before killing a taxi moto rider and his passenger.
The driver of the Prado identified as Etienne Ruzindana was trying to escape from police after he made a hit and run on a cyclist who luckily cheated death.
The car later lost the balance and hit the tree on the roadside, leaving the driver in critical condition.
One of five persons he was carrying identified as Aloys Niyonzaba died in the accident while others were seriously injured.
Police Spokesperson said that the accident wouldn’t have been as fatal as it was had the driver not tried to escape.
“The police stopped the driver after hitting the cyclist but he opted to escape and I don’t think he was running against the clock to stick to curfew hours because he would have reached on time without considering going at the highest speed,” CIP Twizeyimana said.
The driver who caused the accident was immediately transferred to Kanombe Military Hospital for treatment.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to Rwamagana Hospital for autopsy tests; while those who were injured during the accident were hospitalized at Rwamagana Hospital.
Minister Shyaka said on Thursday that one of the reasons why the country was unable to control the COVID-19 pandemic was that among instructions given, was closing bars but some instead of closing relocated to others places.
He said last month local authorities working with the police found gaps in complying with the regulations.
“In that month alone, we caught 3,500 bars, found 13,000 people in them, that is in just four weeks. That number is very high. ”
“So you find what used to be a bar is called a restaurant, and then you find that the bars have increased. So the disobedience to the rules is causing escalation of spread of COVID 19.”
It is a long-term program, which will be based on the broader WIBENA Impact framework, which includes knowledge-based education, leadership education, women’s and youth development, gender equality, human rights, and justice for all and c climate change resilience.
It is a goal that the organization says it wants to share with all Africans, to help people of the continent better share the opportunities available that can promote it.
The organization says African education needs to be reformed, based on knowledge rather than just paper.
René Yves Uwayo, Regional Program Manager at Wibena Impact, said: “When you have knowledge no one can take it away, we believe that knowledge is the path to Africa’s development.”
He outlined the goals of Rwanda and Africa, in general, to build a knowledge economy, explaining why there should be a change in the current knowledge, which is more relevant to the times.
He said the WIBENA Impact is campaigning, to encourage all stakeholders, including the government, to put more effort into the reform of knowledge in general.
In this journey, Wibena Impact is also organizing training to raise the profile of those who are lagging in development, including women and youth.
It is a training course for 120 people in Nyarugenge District, where they will be taught vocational skills and will be helped to find tools that will help them to make it productive.
“It is a project to provide practical skills training to the most vulnerable people in Nyarugenge District. 120 people will be selected from the sectors that make up the region, and then, we will provide them with the equipment they need that will enable them to start earning money,” Uwayo said.
Speaking on the development of women and youth, Uwayo said that these categories of people are among the most lagging in development, where statistics show that during the Coronavirus period, unemployment increased to 22.1% from 13%.
About 25% of those who lost their jobs were women, 27.1% were youth while only 19% were men.
Uwayo points out that there is still a need for more efforts to help these levels rise.
He said development is impossible for people who do not complement each other, which is why their concerns include complementarity between the two sexes. This will go hand in hand with helping everyone get the opportunity they deserve and achieve their dream, no matter what their gender is.
“Let people be prevented with incompetence, but not by human inventions,” he said.
This will ensure that resources are shared fairly, where everyone gets what they deserve, and there is no need for the poorest and richest in the country.
In maintaining good health, Uwayo says it is important that as a development community, they should study the issue of climate change and take care of the environment because that is where people draw their lives.
He also said that it is important to protect the environment to protect future generations, “which can be heard in history because they will no longer exist.”
Wibena Impact combines all the responsibilities to be productive.
“Looking at our projects, it has a connection. As an example of the training we will provide, we can teach leadership responsibilities, conduct anti-drug or violence awareness campaigns, so each one complements the other. ”
He said WIBENA Impact is conducting a regular assessment, which is what Steve Young’s statement is: The principle is self-control, self-improvement, and self-improvement today than it was yesterday,” he said.
The campaign aims to bring change
To develop the youth, the WIBENA Impact has a large government advocacy program aimed at encouraging it to reduce taxes.
WIBENA Impact says that although taxes are not eliminated for young people, they can be reduced or there may be a time limit for small businesses operating to allow them to build capacity that will help them pay taxes in the long run.
In addition to tax reduction, there are projects the organization plans to undertake in the field of environmental care including forestation during the mining week, which will be celebrated at the end of the year.
It will also educate miners on the best ways to protect the environment near their place of work, as the mining industry when mismanaged, damages the environment by flooding rivers, forests, and so on.
“When you look at mining around the world, you will see that it is one of the most polluting substances in the environment, such as water, illegal logging, and soil contamination. We will not stop mining because it is very important for the economy. In Rwanda, it is the second-largest source of foreign exchange earnings after tourism, but there are ways to do it better, depending on the environment in general,” he added.
In the field of education, WIBENA Impact says it plans to focus on promoting education based on the history of the African continent, rather than focusing on other countries, because “when you don’t know where you came from you won’t know where you and you are going”.
“We believe that education is the right of every African. We want Africans to know their history because a country that does not know its history it fails in the middle of the journey. When you look at Africa, we study foreign history more than our own, which makes us love foreign countries more than we love our countries. So if you don’t like where you are, you won’t be able to do sustainable development. ”
WIBENA Impact is one of the organizations that helped people get food during the lockdown program, where they provided food in the Nyarugenge, Nyakabanda, Kimisagara, and Kicukiro areas.
It aims to reach out to all African countries as there are often many problems common to the entire continent, so this will give it a chance to achieve its goals of improving the lives of Africans in general.
Currently, the organization has launched a series of discussions on technology, covering a wide range of topics. As of this month, the discussion returned to the topic of “Youth and talents”, which was attended by celebrities including artist Mani Martin.
The talks also drew a crowd of over 23,000 people from around the world.
The organization helps the poorest sections of the population, helping them build health and progress. For people with development projects that can change the lives of many, WIBENA Impact welcomes them, where they can easily achieve it, through its social media platforms or by emulating it at its headquarters in the Centenary House in Kigali City.
For those who want to support it, WIBENA Impact is ready to work with them, where an individual, an institution, a certain family, and many others, can approach it and be shown the projects they are sponsoring. Basing on the huge responsibilities this organization has, supporting them is to help the youth, women, and others who have projects that this organization is developing.
WIBENA Impact’s activities can also be found on social media including its website https://www.wibenaimpact.org/ , Twitter and Facebook on behalf of Wibena impact
Early in the morning, the first passengers boarded a truck from Mahama camp to the Rwanda-Burundi border in Nemba in Bugesera District, donning masks, drinking water and seated in a bus respecting social distance as a measure of preventing Coronavirus spread. The total number of registered applicants is 1,800, but Burundi has announced that it will receive about 500 in the first phase.
The Burundians returned home voluntarily, expressing great joy at their returning home five years after fleeing the political turmoil that erupted when President Nkurunziza sought to run for a third term.
“When I heard that they had a refugee resettlement plan, I immediately decided to return. I was happy to be back in my country. I came to Rwanda 2017 from Kirundo.” Said Ndezi Nastivine
“I was pleased by the news of going back home. It is time for me to return to my former job at the bank, I no longer have a reason to be kept in refugee,” Said Philbert Harerimana another refugee.
{{Some refused to return home}}
Burundian refugees, who have returned, are voluntary registered but some say they refused to return.
“I ran away from being persecuted by the television and it didn’t end there. In 2014, my house was burned to the ground, when I found new a place to live, they would come and spy on me at night and decided to run away,”Niyonzima Prudence said.
Niyonzima said he would return to Burundi if security was assured.
“Some are still dying, others are still being persecuted. I will go back when I hear that no one is being persecuted, no one is being killed, no one is disappearing,” he said.
Rwanda hosts about 72,000 Burundian refugees. From 2015 to March when the border was closed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, about 5,922 had voluntarily returned to Burundi.
Jean Paul Niyonsaba, was arrested at his shop located in Gacurabwenge Sector, Gihinga Cell where he was also found selling alcohol and narcotics to his customers.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Aloys Bugingo, the acting District Police Commander (DPC) for Kamonyi, said that Niyonsaba was apprehended at about 10PM.
“Police had information from local residents that Niyonsaba is a drug retailer using his shop as cover,” CIP Bugingo said.
He added: “When the deployed Police officers arrived at his shop on Tuesday at about 10PM, they found ten other people drinking and during the search they recovered 52 pellets of cannabis.
He had turned his shop into a bar and narcotics retailing spot. Bars are closed in this period, it was time when everyone was supposed to be home as per the directives, no facemask or social distancing and worse still using the shop to cover his criminal narcotics business.”
Niyonsaba admitted to selling cannabis for a while now. He disclosed that this time, he had bought 500 pellets of cannabis from his supplier, and the 52 rolls he was caught with were remaining.
The suspect was handed over to RIB at Gacurabwenge station alongside the exhibits.
The DPC said that the ten other people, who were found drinking were educated and penalized accordingly for violating the directives meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
CIP Bugingo thanked the residents who provided information on the criminal acts and breach of the directives on COVID-19.
The materials were recovered from three suspects on Monday, August 24.
The suspects include two security guards at the construction site identified as Faustin Niyotwizera, 26, and Jean Pierre Basigayabo, 28.
The third suspect is called Theogene Uwitonze, 37, who was buying the construction equipment from the two security guards.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the Police spokesperson of the Eastern region, said that the materials were found at Uwitonze’s site, where he was constructing his residential house.
“On Monday, builders were shocked when they found no construction materials at the site and others missing from the store, including bags of cement, bricks, iron bars and water containers, and they immediately called the Police.
The two guards were identified as prime suspects, and indeed, they admitted to the alleged crime and led the Police to the site where Uwitonze was constructing his house, where some of the equipment were recovered,” CIP Twizeyimana said.
Among those recovered are four bags of cement, seven iron bars, over 500 bricks and 30 jerrycans full of water
CIP Twizeyimana appealed to the local residents to protect such items jealously since they are meant to ensure that their children acquire education.
“Such criminal acts affect the national education programme and particularly children in the area, who are supposed to benefit and study from these classrooms. Protecting such public infrastructure is the responsibility of everyone so as to ensure a better future for their children,” CIP Twizeyimana said.
All the suspects have been handed over to Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) in Gashanda.
Prior to taking over Ndoli supermarket, Sawa Citi has been opening branches across Kigali City, it already has four branches and is preparing to open its fifth branch in Rusororo, Kigali, which will open its doors in the coming days.
The brand name Ndoli Supermarket will however remain in use with Sawa Citi running its management and operations.
The caution follows a party held on August 15, at ‘The Retreat Hotel’ in Kiyovu.
About 35 people gathered at the hotel for the party dubbed “Les Samedis Sympas,” which was organised by one Juan Nsabiye, a fashion designer, in collaboration with the Retreat Hotel.
The party included music by DJs; Toxxyk and K’Ru.
RNP spokesperson, Commissioner of Police (CP) John Bosco Kabera said that the event was a “total violation of COVID-19 prevention measures.”
CP Kabera said: “Not only that parties or social gatherings are prohibited in this period, Les Samedis Sympas was a total violation of COVID-19 preventive measures since no one was wearing a facemask and they did not practise social distancing.”
“Les Samedis Sympas, like similar other parties lately organised by celebrities and attended by young people especially personalities and social media influencers, who should otherwise promote positive behaviors towards collective efforts to fight the pandemic; instead they knowingly violate the directives and enjoy publishing their violation photos on their social media platforms, which undermines awareness efforts on safety practices, promotes negative actions and further undermines public confidence in adhering to recommended measures against COVID-19,” CP Kabera added.
The spokesperson said that some of those, who were involved in the violation have been identified, summoned and taken to isolation center to be quarantined for at least seven days in line with Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) guidelines, where they will be tested for Covid-19.
So far, 21 out of the 35 people, who attended the party have been identified and placed under isolation for close follow up.
{{Others are still being traced}}
The tests, however, will be carried out at the violators’ own expenses, same as the quarantine costs.
CP Kabera also reminded owners of hospitality facilities to operate within the limits of the directives and to promote positive behaviours rather than engaging in business activities that might lead to further spread of the pandemic.
In 2016, the first program was launched, bringing together three African countries including Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, plus two countries from Asia, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
In the 2017-2020 program, two projects directed to African continent were launched, and just at around the same time two programs directed to Asian continent were launched in the same sense; the countries that attended these program were Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Rwanda on each continent, each represented by two Cities.
In this training program, Rwanda was represented by water and sanitation officials in the City of Kigali and the Eastern Province.
This project was implemented by two companies, NIRAS and the WaterAid project and was funded by the Swedish Agency for International Development and Cooperation, AIDS.
Jean Paul Mbarushimana, WaterAid’s director of monitoring the project, said the training program is important because it aims to build the capacity of institutions and individuals, whether from public, private or non-governmental organizations, all sharing a connection with water and sanitation in different ways.
These include decision-making bodies such as the Ministry, regulatory agencies such as RURA, and water and sanitation agencies such as WASAC, Districts and other agencies.
“The main goal is to increase the capacity of the institutions to plan, implement, and monitor projects in a sustainable manner.” He said
So far, 36 graduates have been enrolled in the program and 18 others are still enrolled, and graduates have been shown to be productive of the changes needed in the workplace.
The program was launched by Rwandans in 2017, with 12 participants each year; the city of Kigali provides six, and the Eastern Province provides six.
The final phase of the course is in Kigali City and in the East they will finish in the coming days. Graduates in the field of water and sanitation are awarded international certificates.
