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Participants of the Senior Executive Course of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies of Nigeria (NIPSS) who are on study tour in Rwanda from 13 to 27 July 2013, visited the Ministry of Defence on 20 July.

The visit is aimed at broadening the Course participants their outlook and perception of the Republic of Rwanda.

At the Ministry of the Defence, the Nigerian delegation was received by Brig Gen Joseph Nzabamwita, Acting Director General of Policy and Strategy.

On behalf of Hon. Minister of Defence, the DG Policy and Strategy briefed the visitors on national defence and security as well as the regional security situation.

Rwanda is among the six selected countries to host the study tour of the participants to the Senior Executive Course of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies of Nigeria.

The study tour is under the theme “Strengthening Institutional Frameworks and the Transformation Agenda in Nigeria”.

MOD

{{The Governor of Eastern Province Uwamaliya Odetta has laid a foundation stone at a site that will host an international standard vehicles parking yard named Roadside Station.}}

The new Park will be built in Kayonza district as a means of addressing various road accidents that result from fatigued drivers plying internationl routes in and out of Rwanda.

Governor Uwamaliya noted that the parking yard will help such cross-country drivers to recuperate before continuing to their final destinations.

On a daily basis, over 2500 vehicles go through Kayonza most of which are from Uganda and Tanzania.

Several cargo trucks have been involved in various accidents along routes connecting to neighbouring countries.

Gakuba Francis construction firm will construct the RoadSide Station which will be a storied complex with over 20 rooms. It will be built in a period of 12 months.

Kayonza District Mayor Mugabo John said the project will provide jobs and will help conduct mechanical tests on the veehicles.

{{Members of Diamond Holiday Travel, a pyramid business in Rwanda say they are concerned after their Company account was allegedly frozen by the central Bank of Rwanda -BNR.}}

The bank declined to comment as the matter is under investigation.
Diamond Holiday Travel, is a Hong Kong based company engaged in pyramid business in Rwanda and tour and travel services.

It has about 3,500 members in its pyramid business. However, to become a member you have to deposit Frw250,000 on the company’s account.

A member who brings in new members is given, onset, Frw500,000 and as the team builds she/he is rewarded a bonus of Frw5 million. This translates that she/he moves to a second category.

Climbing in steps comes with benefits such as getting a discount on hotels and air tickets to the registered members when they travel.

Long queues can be cited at the offices of DHT, members coming to get their cash. The organization’s activities were registered by Rwanda Development Board last September.

Some of the members ORINFOR crew talked to said that they are greatly concerned by the freezing of the company’s account by the Central Bank.

They said they are making losses as some had deposited as much as Frw1,000,000.
On its part, Diamond Holiday Travel said that the central bank informed them that the company’s account in ECOBANK had been frozen; without providing reasons for such a decision.

Mrs. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, speaking to Radio Rwanda declined to comment on the matter as investigations are underway.

DHT began operations in Rwanda in September last year. It has branches in 18 countries in Africa.

{Orinfor}

{{Legislators from member states in the region will converge in Kigali on July 24-25 for that the 7th Ordinary Session of the Executive Committee of the Forum of Parliaments of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (FP-ICGLR).}}

The (FP-ICGLR) is an inter-parliamentary organization of African Parliaments in the Great Lakes Region.

The 7th Session of the Executive Committee seeks to organize the 4th Ordinary Session of the Plenary Assembly of the Forum of Parliaments of ICGLR.

This session will discuss the following issues: Present and discuss the activity report for the first half of 2013 including the financial situation and challenges of the Forum; Draw up recommendations on political and security situation in the region ahead of the drafting of Resolutions to be submitted to the 4th Ordinary Session of the Plenary Assembly; and Adopt the draft agenda of the 4th Ordinary Session of the Plenary Assembly to be held in November in Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi.

The meeting will attract representatives from 12 countries members of ICGLR that will convene at the Parliamentery Buildings, Plenary Hall of the Senate.

{{The Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana has appealed to police officers to double their efforts and to link up their mission, duty and tasks to political end.}}

The IGP was speaking yesterday at the closing of a two-day retreat which brought together senior police officers and heads of departments, held the Rwanda National Police (RNP) General Headquarters in Kacyiru.

He appealed to the officers to understand the operating environment, mindset and effective communication and coordination to effectively accomplish their tasks.

The retreat, which started on Saturday, discuss key police issues including fighting corruption with in the force, welfare, capacity building, community policing, international cooperation and crime prevention.

The IGP told the officers to always make continuous review and improvement in their duties.

RNP

The Rwanda National Police’s Fire and Rescue Brigade last night saved properties worth hundreds of millions, shortly after an inferno gutted commercial buildings.

Police fire brigade recieved calls for help to save a chain of shops in Mateus street.

Meawhile, the real cause of the fire has not been established, but preliminary investigations indicate the fire could have been caused by an electric shortcircuit. Investigations are undergoing.

The City Mayor Fidel Ndayisaba, who was at the said scene, thanked Police for the quick intervention.

{US ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec awards Patrick Ismael Liewa a certificate of merit on Thursday after he won the top award in the US State Department’s Global World Aids Day Poster Contest}

{{Kenyan students have beaten their counterparts from four African countries in a HIV/Aids poster competition, where their drawings came tops.}}

Patrick Ismael Liewa, whose parents died of the disease when he was six years, led contestants from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Swaziland.

The students took part in the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) World Aids Day poster contest.

Six Kenyans were among the 11 finalists, with Liewa, 20, from Ukwala Boys High School in western Kenya’s Siaya County, taking the top prize and 20-year-old David Niwewe from Rwanda taking the second prize.

Another Kenyan, 15-year-old Felix Owino Odhiambo, who is a Form One student at Ndenga Secondary School, also in Siaya County, was third overall.

The winners, who were drawn from three age groups between five and 20 years, received prizes at the US embassy in Nairobi Thursday, where ambassador Robert Godec was the chief guest.

Pepfar, an initiative of the US government to assist those living with HIV and Aids, launched the World Aids Day poster contest last year to educate the youth against risky sexual behaviour that could expose them to the virus.

“When I was six years old, I could not tell what had killed my parents, and now that I know, I am willing to make a difference,” Liewa said.

His drawing portrayed an older generation that had been ravaged by the disease contrasted with a younger group that had apparently overcome it, and were living free of the disease due to increased awareness.

{{Medication challenges}}

Mr Godec said the posters created by the students would be part of a global awareness campaign against HIV and Aids.

He noted that Kenya was “turning the page in combating the disease”, as infections rates had reduced drastically.

He attributed the reduction to scientific breakthroughs in the HIV and Aids war, political commitment and determination in the shared goal that an Aids-free generation could be achieved.

“Make no mistake, your accomplishments are impressive and would be part of a global campaign to combat HIV/Aids, one of the worst pandemics of our time,” he said.

According to the Kenya’s Ministry of Health figures, the country had already achieved targets set for 2015 to reduce new infections by 50 per cent, with people being infected reducing from 166,000 in 2007 to 91,000 in 2012.

However, out of the 1.4 million Kenyans infected, only 620,000 were on anti-retroviral (ARVs) therapy, with Pepfar, the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders working to ensure those out of the loop were brought under medication.

The National Aids Control Council (NACC) deputy director in charge of coordination and support, Dr Sobbe Mulindi, said most patients who tested positive in hospitals failed to go to health centres where they were referred to for medication and counselling.

“We are facing challenges from patients who test positive but fail to go for referrals in hospitals where they are advised to go,” he said.

He said NACC was working with other stakeholders to help close the gap between when patients are diagnosed and the time they are advised to go for referrals to ensure as many of them as possible were put on medication.

NMG