Pastor Mutesi who was the head of Gates of Heaven Ministries was found dead in her home on September 10th last year and her husband Mugisha was immediately suspected of being behind her death.
The presiding judge said that they based the ruling on the incriminating evidence including a doctors’ report and witnesses’ testimonies.
Doctors’ report revealed that Mutesi was, at the time her death, was not sick and that her body was found with wounds on the left side of the head with crushed bones.
The body was found with nail striations in the neck, had coagulated blood in the throat and the ribs at the left side of the body were broken.
The presiding judge also said that they based on testimonies which said that the couple had been living in conflicts.
Besides giving him life sentence, the court also instructed Mugisha to pay fines of Rwf one million to the family of the deceased. Both Mugisha and his lawyer did not attend court.
TMEA first signed an MOU with the Rwanda government in 2011 and lasted until 2017. The new MoU extends partnership to 2023.
Among the total $53 million of the MoU, $45 million has been contributed by the Belgium, UK and USA governments through their development agencies and the remaining $8 Million to be mobilised within the next two years in partnership with other development partners.
The signing ceremony was officiated by Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Amb. Claver Gatete and TMEA Chief Executive Officer, Frank Matsaert.
In the first phase, the organisation implemented interventions in partnership with several partners including the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the former Ministry of EAC Affairs, Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda Revenue Authority, Rwanda Standards Board, Private Sector Federation, Profemmes Twese Hamwe among others.
In second phase, TMEA commits to work with Government and private partners to support construction of harbour facilities at Rubavu and Rusizi ports of Lake Kivu and provide support to the government in the implementation of its industrial park development strategy.
It will extend its work in supporting implementation of quality standards in key export sectors like honey, tea, coffee, meat and horticulture, automation of trade processes and work in facilitating trade nationally and beyond Rwanda’s borders.
The organisation will also deepen its support for women in trade with a focus on building capacity of women traders.
“We will contribute to creation of additional employment opportunities as investors capitalise in the transport and manufacturing sectors and export growth. Our second phase will consolidate successes achieved by our partners and innovate around lessons we have learned so far. What we will have is a leaner, more efficient programme that will deliver at least 100,000 jobs for the people of Rwanda in six years,” said TMEA’s Frank Matsaert.
While speaking at the event Minister Gatete commended TMEA’s willingness to contribute to the development of Rwanda’s priorities.
“TMEA’s new strategy augers well with government plans of raising Rwanda’s profile and increasing our export competitiveness,” he said.
In its first phase (2010-2017) TMEA partnered with the government of Rwanda in the construction of the Kagitumba One Stop Border Post, the development of the Rwanda Electronic Single Window and the Rwanda Electronic Cargo Tracking System and investment attraction towards the development of the Kigali Logistics Platform. A recent evaluation of TMEA’s first phase of programming in Rwanda indicates a 28% return on investment (ROI) and that the interventions induced $100 million worth of trade.
TMEA interventions contributed to a reduction in cost for transporting containers from Mombasa to Kigali from $6,500 in 2011 to $4,800 in 2017 saving Rwanda approximately $7 million.
CBA came as the 16th commercial bank on the local market and becomes the 11th owned foreign-owned bank in Rwanda.
At the end of 2016, CBA had got approval to operate in Rwanda as a micro-finance bank.
With headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and 56 years of experience in financial sector, the bank operates in East African countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. It also operates in Ivory Coast. The bank’s total asset is $2.5 billion as by December 2017.
While launching the bank’s activities in Rwanda on Monday, CBA Group Managing Director, Desterio A. Oyatsi expressed great optimism on Rwandan market, as a country that has significantly economically developed and raised the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 7.2% from 2000 to 2017.
“That is why we observed long-term economic stability and we decided to invest in Rwanda. Until today, we have invested $9.5 million in Rwanda and will increase as we continue to expand our activities,” he said.
He said that the bank targets to use ICT services for all clients, with the ambition to dominate every market of the country they operate from.
In November 2012, CBA in partnership with Safaricom introduced M-Shwari, a programme which facilitated many clients in terms of saving and credit services in Kenya. The similar programme dubbed M-Pawa was introduced in Tanzania in partnership with Vodacom. Also the same programme was introduced in Ivory Coast.
“In 2016, we partnered with MTN in Uganda and launched MoKash which currently has over three million subscribers. In February last year, we extended our partnership with MTN and launched MoKash in Rwanda. We have reached a remarkable progress as we have 700,000 subscribers,” Oyatsi explained.
He said that they are committed to partner with Rwanda to achieve her goals. CBA investment in the country is in line with their targets to become the leading financial institution in Africa.
Central Bank Governor, John Rwangombwa said that there are opportunities on Rwandan market as there are a number of people who do not access bank services.
“CBA entered the market when the country committed to take financial services closer to people. As the 2016 financial scope shows, 89% of populations have access to financial services, 68% embraced reliable financial services, but, only 26% means 1.5 million people use bank services,” he explained.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete said that the commencement of CBA in Rwanda is a significant milestone in country’s financial sector.
“This event is also of great significance in the integration of the East African Community,” he said.
He said that the Government of Rwanda adopted Vision 2020 with the ultimate goal of transforming the country into a middle- income nation.
“In light of global shocks characterized by volatile commodity prices and financial market volatility resulting in massive capital outflows Africa needs strong and sound financial institutions to achieve its development agenda. The role of a developed financial sector towards economic growth and development is vital. The financial sector mobilizes savings and allocates credit across other sectors that are needed by private sector player,” he explained.
He said a developed financial sector provides not only payment services, but also enables firms and households to cope with economic uncertainties by hedging, pooling, sharing and pricing risks.
The event was also attended by Kenya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Monica Juma who is in Rwanda for the African Union Summit.
Speaking to IGIHE, the Director of Public Health and Environment in the City of Kigali, Patricie Mukangarambe said that the facilities were closed last weekend after establishing that they had failed to meet hygiene standards.
“Every closed facility has hygiene problems especially in kitchens. Food stores and preparation process which can cause health problems,” she explained.
“In the past two weeks, the monitoring team conducted the exercise and recommended to them what they ought to change, which they failed to do leading to closure,” she added.
Closed businesses are Kwetu Residence Inn, DV Apartment, La Palisse Nyandungu, Isimbi Hotel, Impala Hotel, Rolex Restaurant, Amazing Restaurant, Chez John Restaurant, Aromas Coffee House, Fantastic Restaurant, Sky Hotel (Eminence), Sundowner (Kimihurura) and Quelque Part Bar & Restaurant.
She said that the monitoring continues and numbers of businesses to be affected could increase.
Recently, the City of Kigali issued guidelines regulating hygiene in the city.
The hygiene standards spell that residential houses should not be used for restaurants,, located from far away from landfills, and in a reasonable distance from residential houses and free from mud.
The facility should also have rain water harvesting system, painted in white or yellowish and constructed with durable materials among others.
The main objective of the project is to promote innovation economy in Rwanda and the East African Community (EAC) region. The resource will be used to establish an investment vehicle focused on funding Tech-Enabled Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and to develop the country’s entrepreneurial/innovation ecosystem capacity.
The project is of strategic national importance to Rwanda as the country seeks to unlock its fast-growing innovation economy and expand and diversify growth in a low-carbon, climate-resilient manner, in line with its Vision 2020 and its current strategy to drive private-sector-led inclusive growth.
There is no Venture Capital Fund vehicle in the country for supporting its promising young entrepreneurs, and local investors struggle to service early stage ventures, including follow up on investments, due to limited funding capacity and liquidity issues.
“By extending this loan to the Government of Rwanda, the Bank wants to enable the country to develop the sector and attract private investors. The project will enable the Bank to play a leading role in helping Regional Member Countries develop sustainable innovation ecosystems, spur entrepreneurial growth, address funding gaps, reduce poverty, and promote socio-economic growth,” said Abdu Mukhtar, Director at the Bank’s Private Sector, Industrialization and Trade Development Department.
The Fund will support and provide equity financing for SMEs, train tech-oriented entrepreneurs in business planning and management, and increase awareness and sensitization with respect to intellectual property rights in Rwanda, the East African Community and beyond. It aims to mobilize at $100 million in direct commitments from the Rwandan Government and private investors, while targeting a leverage multiplier effect of up to US $300 million in follow-on investments.
The project is expected to support more than 150 companies at various stages and invest in about 20 early growth stage opportunities. It will create more than 2,000 direct jobs and over 6,000 indirect jobs over its 10-year life cycle. It will provide capacity-building to 7-10 incubators and accelerators, facilitate 3-5 additional angel networks, and training to about 30,000 entrepreneurs across the region.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with IGIHE, Bizimana said that the lectures that will be given during the commemoration have already been sent to all districts and other institutions both public and private.
He said that all districts have prepared people capable of providing these lectures and CNLG has sent staffs to train them.
He said that the commission has had meetings with different institutions and ministries so as to organize ways discussions will be conducted.
Bizimana said that they have partnered with Rwanda’s embassies and sent them lectures that will be used in different discussions during the commemoration period.
{{Commemoration at village level}}
In 2013, the commemoration week was taken at village level. Bizimana said that since they took the activity there, all people found it as all Rwandans’ responsibility.
“Previously when it was at national level, people used to take it as the activity for some and others didn’t attend,” he said.
He said when at national level, some people used to neglect the activity.
“Some used to neglect to attend different programmes due to different reasons like opposing the activity, but when it is taking place close to them, they can’t refuse to attend,” he said.
He said that some commemoration activities used to take place far from people residences and caused some to miss attending.
“Take an example when the activity takes place at District level, the district is very big for all people to attend, but when it takes place at village level, it is very easy to reach there. Also, it facilitates people to discuss genocide history related problems in their villages, and take decisions related to cases in their localities” he added.
{{Commemoration activity should be similar everywhere}}
At the beginning of this year, CNLG issued new directives regulating commemoration activities.
Bizimana says that before they issued new directives, they consulted different institutions including the Ministry of Local Governance, the Ministry of Sports and Culture and different Survivors’ Organisations among others.
He said that different reports from districts revealed some problems during the activity and obliged them to introduce directives that regulate commemoration across the country.
He said that in different places, the activity used to be conducted based on individuals’ decisions.
Using an example, he said that in some places the activity used to take many hours and cause people to get tired.
“In some places, the activity used to take like eight hours and more or about the whole day. Now we urge that the activity should take at least three hours ,” he added.
Under the Sustainable Development Goal 7, countries aim at having universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services by 2030.
Speaking at the meeting, the Deputy Secretary General in Charge of Administration and Finance of the East African Community (EAC) Christophe Bazivamo said that the region still has problems related with using energy due to the small number of industries and limited access by households.
Energy generation in the EAC countries amounts to 4000MW in total. As a result, one person from the region uses only 136 Kilowatts per year, while in developed countries, each person uses between 3000 kilowatts and 7000 kilowatts.
Bazivamo said that the available energies in EAC are not properly used.
“We are not able to use enough electricity because we don’t have enough industries which would consume it,” he said.
He said that as a way to solve energy problem in the region, EAC Heads of States have agreed on a comprehensive plan of action about energy and cooperation in solving accessibility problem.
“That is where they construct connections linking countries so that where there is high quantity of electricity generation, it can be shared with others,” he said.
Speaking in the meeting, the State Minister in Charge of Energy, Water and Sanitation in the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), Germaine Kamayirese said that the 2018 has come at a time when the East African Community Partner States are working together to strengthen infrastructure development in the region including energy to stimulate economic growth.
She highlighted the commitment of Rwandan Government to achieving universal access to sustainable energy by 2024 with focus on renewable energy resources, which requires doubling the generation and demand capacities by working closely with development partners.
For a nation that aspires to become a service-based economy, it is imperative that its citizens and institutions are customer-centric. It is vital that businesses and organisations adopt a customer service mentality, said Vanessa Leyka, Chief Executive Officer of Seraph Network. In today’s highly competitive business environment, there’s a constant and never-ending struggle that every business must face. Those who can adapt will survive and thrive, resulting in near-boundless financial success and market saturation. Those who cannot see the proverbial forest through the trees, suffer a slow and inevitable death.
The struggle that exists today pits profits against the necessity for total customer satisfaction. The truth? Not everyone lives by the credo that the customer is always right. Not everyone is as concerned with customer satisfaction as others are. But it’s those who don’t relent and cave into the pursuit of profits above all else who ultimately win in this ruthless business climate, said RL. Adams, Founder of Wanderlust.
As Rwanda is being put on the map as a country that is open for business, it is important to understand that Customer service isn’t just about being courteous to your customers – it’s a vital element of business operations that can impact your bottom line and affect how your company is viewed in the public eye. The good news is, it’s relatively simple to implement a customer service improvement plan that keeps your business on top and Customer Experience Chapter Rwanda 2018 will be bringing concrete tools and strategies to do just that.
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Ndayisaba was speaking Saturday to teachers from Kamonyi and Muhanga Districts of Southern Province as they visited Kigali Genocide Memorial.
The action was organized by a local organization ‘Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Action (CARSA)’.
He said that the new generation should be explained thoroughly about the history of the genocide as a way to help them avoid divisionism.
“This generation is made up of children who did not get involved in the genocide, however, the history affected them, they see their effects, so they want to get well explained about the history,” he said.
“They should have critical thinking and stand firm so that no one could lead them back in the same tragic history we passed through; no one else could help us to achieve that than teachers. For you to help them, you should also have learnt about that history,” he explained.
Ndayisaba said that all Rwandans have the scars caused by the genocide. He however, urged teachers to prevent Rwandan children from falling back in such history.
Innocent Nzeyimana, a teacher at Groupe Scholaire Mbati said that he learnt a lot from the lecture adding that he got responses to different questions that he used to be asked by students.
“This lecture is very crucial and we are going to implement what they requested us, we have learnt a lot from here and we will not get confused in telling the history,” he said.
CARSA Coordinator, Christophe Mbonyingabo said that the action to take teachers and students to the memorial aimed at helping youth to grow with unity and reconciliation values.
“They aimed at training youth to build on unity and reconciliation along with values of sustainable peace. It is very crucial to bring them here to learn from the memorial about the history of the country. We can’t affirm that what they learn from their parents or to school are completely enough, it is necessary for them to be here to enable them fight against the genocide consequences, ideology and denial among others,” he said.
The teachers toured different parts of the memorial and laid wreaths to the graves where over 250,000 victims are laid to rest .
In 1997, former forces for Rwanda (EX-FAR) attacked Nyange School and asked the students to separate themselves ethnically (Hutu and Tutsi). However, the students resisted the attack and the attackers elevated spots on them, killing many but 40 survived.
Until today, there are no preserved documents or video telling the history of heroism that characterized the students.
While remembering the heroism of the Nyange Students yesterday, the CHENO Chancellor, Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi said that they are going to prepare a center which will tell the history of the school.
“This place should be used, the cabinet meeting has approved that we will put there a sign of heroism, in the near future it will have been done; in our negotiations with the Ministry of Education, we shall take one room and use it to preserve that history,” he said.
He said that it will help to teach youth and called officials to use the center in instructing the children about the history.
Theodette Abayisenga, a survivor of the attack said that she could not forget the horror they faced.
All 40 students who survived the attack have been categorized in IMENA category of Rwandan heroes.
