The mayor of Ruhango District, Habarurema Valens, told IGIHE that in rural areas, traders often have shops that also trade in food commodities and therefore most started pretending to be concentrating on selling food as they as well sold other items.
He said that in three days, 74 people were slapped with different punitive actions for their violations, 67 were fined with more than one million Rwandan francs and seven imprisoned.
Rwanda has so far registered 41 coronavirus positive cases. To curtail its further spread, the government restricted people’s movement, suspended public transport and ordered all businesses including shops and factories to close. The only traders allowed are vendors in food commodities, pharmacies, and affiliated institutions.
The announcement published by RRA on March 25th, 2020 stated that “In light of the challenges faced by taxpayers in filing their tax returns due to measures put in place to fight COVID-19, the management of RRA informs all taxpayers that deadlines for filing and paying income tax has been extended.”
Large taxpayers are required to submit to RRA not later than March 27th, 2020, the name of one staff in charge of filing tax returns in order to receive authorization to access RRA offices. The name of the concerned staff will be submitted to Drocelle Mukashyaka via drocella.mukashyaka@rra.gov.rw
For small and medium taxpayers, the deadline for filing and paying income tax for 2019 has been extended to April 30th, 2020.
Bizimana Ruganintwali Pascal, Commissioner General for RRA has urged taxpayers not to postpone tax payment because deadlines have been extended and encouraged them to use digital channels.
According to the law governing income tax, deadlines were set on March 31st, 2020 but due to obstacles posed by coronavirus, it has been extended.
RRA reminded taxpayers that filing and paying taxes can be done online using e-tax or M-declaration.
In a bid to further facilitate taxpayers, RRA recently announced that for 30 days, taxpayers will not be requested to pay the usual 25% advance on tax starting March 23rd, 2020.
In an announcement published via Twitter, RBA explained that the decision was taken to support the government of Rwanda measures to restrict movement in the country as a preventive solution against COVID-19.
Equity Bank has been the first to close less busier branches.
Hannington Namara, Equity Bank Rwanda Managing Director said that the Bank will close doors for 3 among 8 branches it has in Kigali. Branches with less customers will be halt operations until further notice.
“We will start by temporarily closing Gisozi-Gakinjiro branch since it has relatively less customers. Giporoso and Equity headquarters in town will also be closed while Remera-Gisimenti and Nyarugenge branches will keep operating.”
Namara encouraged Equity Bank Rwanda customers to use digital channels in all possible transactions to curb the spread of coronavirus.
In an announcement which was signed by Robin Bairstow, RBA Chairman states that ” RBA has advised the banks to temporarily close some of its branches in the country but more specifically the ones located in Kigali in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. RBA continues to monitor closely the situation and will inform its members, staff, customers and stakeholders on COVID-19 updates.”
RBA stated that banks will inform their customers on further steps through usual communication channels.
After the announcement was published, many people were confused as to which banks would halt operations but Banks administration have cleared the misunderstanding.
The government of Rwanda has taken many preventive measures since patient zero was identified including closing all public and private schools as well as higher education institutions and prohibiting public gatherings.
The ministry of health advises Rwandans to keep observing preventive measures to counter further spread of the virus and to call the toll-free number 114 to report any symptoms.
Banks services are currently operational with a focus on subscribing more customers to online banking services.
Kalisa Amin Shalid is one of the two Rwandans who are stranded in Kenya along with 61 other travelers of different nationalities.
They spend their days and sleep at the airport and were given explicit instructions not to move out. The Kenyan Directorate of Immigration Services has confiscated their passports to reinforce the instructions.
“We have pleaded with the Kenyan Directorate of Immigration Services to at least let us look for a hotel and wait for the 30-day air travel ban to end but they declined our request.”
Kalisa told IGIHE that he and the fellow Rwandan whose name was omitted were coming from Harare, Zimbabwe and that they are required to pay $1200 for all the time they will be kept in quarantine. “We were told we will be paying $90 for every day we will spend in quarantine and honestly speaking, we cannot afford it.”
Robert Masozera, Ambassador of Rwanda to Kenya told IGIHE that they have tried to negotiate with Kenyan authorities to release the 2 Rwandans but in vain.
“New preventive measures state that all travelers coming from endemic countries and transiting through Kenya will be subjected to mandatory quarantine. We tried to negotiate with immigration services in Kenya but they stood their ground and completely declined our request. The immigration services confiscated passports of all travelers who tried to oppose instructions.”
Amb Masozera said that stricter preventive measures have been implemented in Kenya to prevent the spread of coronavirus and that even some Kenyan nationals are stranded at the airport.
“We are in difficult times and we have tried our best to negotiate better conditions to no avail.”
Currently, 28 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Kenya while 1 person recovered from the virus.
Violators of the guidelines and orders are facing different punitive actions including fines, imprisonment, and a stern warning.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry [MINICOM], has carried out an inspection in the City of Kigali, Southern and Northern provinces to establish whether traders do comply with price ceilings and buy-rations set for especially food commodities.
The ministry has found that there has been an unprecedented rise in prices for all foodstuffs, hygiene products followed by the use of substandard weighing scales.
Inspectors from the Ministry have also established that there was much hoarding [storing of goods in anticipation of higher prices] of merchandise in different stores across the country. Other inconsistencies that have been identified include traders issuing invoices with a lower value in comparison to the actual cash received.
City of Kigali, Muhanga and Musanze traders that have breached commercial and standards guidelines have, between March 20 and March 25, been slapped with fines totaling to well over Rwf4 million.
During the six-day inspection,109 businesses were found culpable to flouting issued coronavirus-preventive guidelines. Coronavirus causes COVID-19.
Since Minicom began this audit, it has so far fined 153 businesses and traders and collected Rwf 8,745,000 in fines.
The App Store is an online store powered by Apple where users can download apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Apple TV and have them installed on your iOS device.
currently, Apple offers its services only to 155 regions or countries around the world.
Rwandan developers said the upgrade will allow them to develop applications both for Android and iOS devices since they did not have the required licenses before.
Most applications developed in Rwanda are only compatible with Android devices. People in Rwanda who use Apple devices had to acquire an Apple ID from another country bu changing locations to have access to some applications.
Although no precise date was mentioned, Apple advised developers to update their information by April 10th, 2020.
Habineza Moussa, CEO of KHENZ, a software developing company said Rwanda was isolated when it came to developing applications compatible to iOS devices but that once they sign license agreements, the issue will be solved.
Habineza added that iOS users in Rwanda will be able to use mobile payment and digital wallet services via Apple Pay.
Apple is an American multinational technology company headquartered in California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services.
Apart from Rwanda, 19 other countries will have access to the App Store including Afghanistan, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Georgia, Maldives, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cameroon, Iraq, Kosovo, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Tonga, Zambia, and Vanuatu.
The unfortunate incident took Tuesday evening in Nyamitovu village, Kabuga cell, when the deceased disobeyed police order of stopping at a checkpoint, and instead started a fight with the officers, during which skirmish the two, Jean Claude Nyiramana, 27 and Emmanuel Nyandwi, 25, were shot dead.
It has been reported that as local authorities and security personnel monitored compliance with the implementation of state guidelines for the prevention of COVID-19, the deceased duo ignored the checkpoint and instead parked at a nearby shop where one officer followed and asked them to present relevant documents that the rider, Nyiramana, failed to produce, started a fight, and tried to grab the officer’s gun.
As the scuffle ensued with the police officer pinned down on the ground, the second officer arrived, fired in the air to scare Nyiramana to let free the officer but he [Nyiramana] did not let go. It was at this point that Nyiramana was shot dead.
Realizing the last gasps of his dying friend, Nyandwi tried to grab the police officer with the intent of wrestling and disarming him. He was also shot dead.
In a statement issued via Twitter on Wednesday, Rwanda National Police says preliminary investigations indicate that the deceased were trying to fight police officers on duty.
“Preliminary investigations show that the dead first confronted a Police Officer who was on regular security duty. His colleague shot errant men in self-defense. An in-depth investigation is ongoing.”
The bodies of the deceased were taken to Nyanza District Hospital for autopsy.
But then, as life dulls into a lull, there are quite a number actions and lessons we get from this outbreak. First, we really are all in this together and our shared sacrifice should be to solve this common problem, consistent with Rwandan values; values that make Rwanda a great nation.
Remember, on the entire African continent [and the world, I can say] Rwanda is a country that represents and personifies hope.
The Government is making us feel safest by confronting reality and moving proactively. That is why lockdown and ‘stay at home’ actions came in effect when the cases had not got in the tens before it makes irreparable inroads… But because COVOID-19 is feared more for its contagiousness than for its lethal severity, it’s easy to be seduced by the desire to retreat into denial or try to avoid accountability altogether.
We need to remind ourselves that the pathogen first got out of control in China because of their government’s impulse to hide the truth. Denial is lethal.
Rwanda has proactively taken the lockdown and other measures basing on smart, science-based decision-making to drive government action against coronavirus, as denial would only make things worse; because the scourge is a serious life or death struggle. It is a challenge that requires responsibility from all citizens. Overcoming it will not be a quick fix — it will take time, innovation and sacrifice. But we will get through this, emerge stronger and wiser.
{{Let us do this}}
When we “STAY AT HOME”, we are actively supporting a “FLATTENING THE CURVE” anti-pandemic global policy/action, designed to minimize loss of life while maintaining proper functionality of the country and its health system plus normal continuity of the state and the economy after the pandemic.
Flattening the curve advocates for a technic similar to a “Scorched Earth” policy against the advancing virus so that it finds nothing to survive on wherever it reaches, can’t find anyone else to jump on to, and thereby quickly dies out. It is therefore apparent that we need to start flattening the curve early before we are overwhelmed like Italy.
We all need to understand what the effort is about so that we fight this together as a country.
The citizens’ part is simply to stay at home for the stipulated quarantine period. That’s all.
This is the time our country needs all of us marching together against this macabre global pandemic. This is the time for patriotism with a heart.
{{Do some more}}
Is all doom and gloom? Even as we await what lies ahead? I would say no. Sequestered at home with our families — away from the mad dash of social gatherings in the name of social distancing — we’re reminded that they are what really matters.
Playing catch in the backyard, reading a book, talking, cooking, laughing — these are the real joys of life. We should savor the simple things despite whatever fear we may feel.
A resident native of Bugeshi, Niyonzima Thomas, says they are adjusting to the effects of heavy rains that usually destroy their houses and gardens at the peak of the wet season.
“Here we are adjusting to the wind and rains favored by the surrounding forest. Otherwise, when we are in the rainy season, that’s what happens; houses fly and you see iron sheets in the air like airplanes,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of Bugeshi Sector, Jean Bosco Rwibasira, said the storm did not kill any civilians except for the houses that were severely damaged. He promised to advocate for the residents affected by the storm.
“It has been raining for days, but yesterday rainstorms destroyed 17 houses and household items. No casualties have been reported to the district administration,” he said, adding that as they await assistance, the 17 families affected are housed in neighborhoods.
“The army, during certain visits, found some older people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Monday, according to the BBC.
“We will be totally relentless and assertive over this,” she added, according to Turkish state-run news organization Anadolu Agency.
Robles said that staff members at some care homes had fled the premises after the virus was first detected.
“We have a clear message: The law will fall on all those who don’t comply with their obligations in these residences.”
Nearly 40,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Spain as the country tracks only behind Italy among the hardest-hit countries in Europe. The country’s death toll is now at almost 2,800, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The country’s deputy prime minister is currently hospitalized awaiting treatment for a respiratory infection and has been tested for the coronavirus, though the results of that test have not yet been returned, a government spokesperson told Business Insider.
“The Deputy Prime Minister went to a hospital yesterday afternoon and after medical tests were carried out doctors decided she had to remain there to receive treatment for a respiratory infection,” said the spokesperson.
