Rwanda’s Presidency has revealed that President Kagame is in Singapore for a three-day visit. He is expected to meet with the country’s President, Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.
In the morning of Friday 30th September 2022, the Head of State toured the exhibition showcasing the university’s history over the last 30 years that have led it to becoming one of the top academic institutions globally.
Kagame also delivered a lecture to close to 1000 participants in a session moderated by Prof. Subra Suresh, President of NTU Singapore.
As he delivered the lecture at a session attended by government officials and members of the private sector, Kagame said that Rwanda has been transformed for the better after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi owing to home-grown solutions.
Rwanda and Singapore enjoy cordial relations. The country’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong recently visited Rwanda during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in June. He was also hosted at Urugwiro Village by President Kagame.
At the time, the Head of State said that he had a very productive discussions with the Prime Minister of Singapore and thanked the country for being a reliable partner with Rwanda and expressed optimism that both countries will be doing even more together, in the years ahead.
“We value highly the trade and investment links as well as the cooperation between our central banks. Both our countries have created a strong foundation. Singapore’s development model and its commitment to social cohesion and national unity are very impressive,” he said.
Both countries have partnership in the areas of investment, trade, education, rule of law, technology and air transport service among others.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Diane Karusisi, the CEO of Bank of Kigali said: “We are delighted to have appointed Mr. Eveque as the new Chief Information Officer. His appointment is an important step for us as a financial services institution that seeks to deliver tech oriented services and products. His leadership will ensure BK builds innovative and world-class services that evolve with the changing needs of our customers.”
Mutabaruka has ten years of experience working in the Banking sector occupying different Information Technology managerial positions. He has vast knowledge and experience in Information Technology project implementation, having worked as Chief Information Officer at BBS Limited in Botswana, and Head of Engineering in Bank of Kigali and other managerial roles in Bank of Kigali Ltd and KCB Rwanda Ltd. He re-joined Bank of Kigali Plc’s Management Team in June 2022.
Mutabaruka holds a Master of Science Degree in Software Engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology with an ongoing Master’s in Business and Administration at the University of People in the United States of America.
He also holds a first-class bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Ngozi.
ACHIEVE is a project funded by PEPFAR/USAID to prevent HIV infections and reduce vulnerability among orphans, vulnerable children, adolescent girls and young women in selected high burden districts in Rwanda. The programs are implemented through sensitization to enlighten beneficiaries on preventive measures and reduce the amount of HIV in the body.
PEPFAR stands for the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief while USAID is the United States Agency for International Development.
Under the interventions of ACHIEVE, adolescents and women with high vulnerability to HIV are assisted by mentors who advise them to take Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a medicine taken to prevent getting HIV and educate them on reproductive health.
They also benefit from capacity building initiatives through vocational training to improve their wellbeing.
ACHIEVE beneficiaries attest that the project has changed their livelihoods and helped them get out of isolation.
Henriette Nyirabahire, who was impregnated at early age testified that ACHIEVE has restored her hope for a bright future.
“I was leading hard life before ACHIEVE’s intervention. I had no hope for a better tomorrow but the support received from the project helped me to move with others along the development journey. Today, I have my own house and have learnt how to prevent HIV infection and protect my life,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry at the Ministry Of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), Mireille Batamuriza said that ACHIEVE came in handy to solve problems affecting families.
“This project came as a solution to many family problems. As MIGEPOROF, we make an effort to build a safe family. ACHIEVE programs aligns with these ambitions to build the family especially drawing attention to female and male adolescents including HIV/AIDS positive ones and teen mothers. They are taught how to adapt to different situations with a view to build safe and resilient families,” she noted.
The core objective for the project’s inception was to prevent new infections and help HIV positive people to access health services easily and reduce the amount of HIV as revealed by Moïse Mutabazi, the Country Project Director.
“ACHIEVE project was initiated to provide a contribution aimed at reducing the severity of HIV, lessen problems facing HIV positive people and assist others with high vulnerability to infections,” he said.
“There are infected people who would not easily access health services to strengthen their immunity. This project encourages them to seek services offered at health facilities and benefit from programs aimed at uplifting them from poverty,” added Mutabazi.
ACHIEVE has so far provided school fees for 6160 beneficiaries including children, adolescents and young women to attend primary, secondary education and vocational training.
Among others; a total of 14,716 have been enlightened on reproductive health and ways to fight violence.
The project’s interventions have also reached 31,492 young women and adolescents.
ACHIEVE currently operates in four districts.
The clothes were seized from five smugglers, who were arrested in Rushubi Village, Ngeri Cell, Munini Sector.
The arrested suspected smugglers are Dieudonné Musayidire, 21, Eric Ndayishimiye, 27, Olivier Manishimwe, 18, Vianney Habumugisha, 25, and Olivier Habinshuti, 33.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Theobald Kanamugire, the Police spokesperson for the Southern Region, said that the smugglers had sneaked the sacks of used clothes into Rwanda from Burundi on bicycles, before they were seen and reported by the residents.
“Residents of Cyahinda Sector called the Police reporting a group of five cyclists, who had crossed into Rwanda from Burundi with sacks of what they believed to be second-hand clothes.
Police trailed and intercepted them in Munini Sector with 12 sacks of used clothes. Other two sacks were recovered in an abandoned house in Cyahinda,” SP Kanamugire said.
He added that law enforcement organs are still searching for two men identified as Célestin Hakizimana and Oscar Hakizimana, believed to be rightful owners of the clothes. The two men allegedly hired the group of cyclists to smuggle the second-hand into Rwanda from Burundi.
This is the second case of foiled smuggling in Nyaruguru District. Last week, Police intercepted three people in Nkanda, Busanze Sector with three bales of second-hand clothes.
In the neighbouring district of Nyamagabe, Police also seized 200kgs of used clothes from six smugglers mid this month.
The ruling was read in the afternoon of Thursday 28th September 2022 by judges at Nyarugenge Intermediate Court which handled his case since 13th September this year.
Ndimbati who was not present in court was represented by his defence lawyer, Irene Bayisabe.
Ndimbati has been facing counts of defiling a minor identified as Fridaus Kabahizi after intoxicating her, which resulted in a pregnancy that led to the birth of a set of twins; both girls.
During trial proceedings, Ndimbati insisted that the girl was mature by the time they had sex.
The accused objected that the girl was born on 1st January 2002 that she had reached the maturity age (18) when they had sex on 2nd January 2020.
The Prosecution has been however claiming that the girl was born on 7th June 2022 and presented disputed documents to justify the girl’s age.
The court has rejected documents presented by the Prosecution justifying she was born in June 2002 and considered the identity card which the girl possessed when she had sex with Ndimbati.
The court also maintained that it was not convinced by presented evidences proving that Ndimbati had sex with Kabahizi on 24th December instead of self-confessed 2nd January 2020, acquitted Ndimbati and ordered his immediate release.
The Prosecution was not represented as judges read the ruling.
The hearing of opening statements began on Thursday 29th September 2022 but Kabuga boycotted the court as revealed by Iain Bonomy, the presiding judge at the UN tribunal.
Bonomy said that Kabuga is in good health but did neither accept to attend in-person nor virtually.
The MICT recently rejected the request of Lawyer Philippe Larochelle who requested the suspension of Kabuga’s trial awaiting the ruling on suggested replacement of defence lawyer.
On 5th September, Lawyer Larochelle appealed against the ruling dismissing the request to replace Emmanuel Altit as Kabuga’s defence lawyer.
He claimed that Kabuga was denied rights to choose a preferred defence lawyer which ‘would have a negative effect on court’s proceedings’.
On 20th September 2022, MICT validated the relevance for Kabuga’s defence plea but rejected the request to suspend the trial.
According to The New York Times, Kabuga refused to appear in court, saying in a note that it was in protest against a refusal to let him change lawyers, but judges ordered that the proceedings should go ahead and asked the prosecution to read its opening statement.
Kabuga is charged with several counts including five related to genocide; genocide, complicity in genocide, director and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide.
Other charges are persecution and extermination, both as crimes against humanity.
Arrested on 16th May 2020 in France, Kabuga was transferred to a UN tribunal in The Hague for stand trial. He is known as the Chief Financier of Genocide against Tutsi.
Kabuga was a wealthy businessman and core member of the Akazu (a small powerful circle of ideologues that masterminded the Genocide). He was also the founding president of the board of shareholders of hate radio RTLM, which incited killings.
Kabuga was originally scheduled to appear in court in Arusha, where the other arm of the MICT resides, but judges had ruled he would remain in The Hague “until otherwise decided.”
It was hard to sustain his business given that social gatherings were prohibited.
Besides, visits to national parks and other touristic attractions were also suspended.
As the government eased COVID-19 restrictions to resume domestic tourism, Nzabonimpa mulled ways to encourage Rwandans to visit their country’s attractions.
The man owns a company dubbed Beyond the Gorillas Experience Ltd, which focuses on hiking, visits to historical and cultural vestiges among others.
Nzabonimpa had his eyes wide open and realized that Rwanda has a lot of attractions that locals and foreigners need to explore like lakes, hills, parks’ perimeters, cow-based tourism and king’s palace among others.
In collaboration with members of the Private Sector (PSF), Rwanda Development Board (RDB) seeks to promote such attractions beyond the experience of visiting national parks.
Speaking to IGIHE, the Head of Tourism and Conservation Department at RDB, Ariella Kageruka said that the country plans to increase touristic attractions.
“ It is evident and the demand analysis proves it. The latter continues to indicate that people around the world consider new ways of visiting countries where they can spend long time in one country instead of touring different countries for one trip,” she said.
“These are great opportunities for members of the private sector, and other sectors because many of them have a link to tourism, be it agriculture and transport among others,” added Kageruka.
Among the attractions to be given attention, she pointed out hiking, visits to national museums, tourism on Rwandans’ lifestyle among others that can make tourists’ stay a memorable one.
Nzabonimpa has explained that they have explored more attractions since they began exploring other touristic attractions outside national parks and encouraged Rwandans as well as foreigners to take their time to visit such features.
“There are lakes, hills, agritourism, watching how local banana brew is made and cow-based tourism among others. In Rubavu, there is a scenic view of hills along the road to Rusizi and Lake Kivu. In this area, we trek through the hills where we spend ten days from Rubavu to Rusizi. It offers an amazing experience as we camp in different places and experience diverse attractions,” he said.
Rwanda also has plans to promote sports tourism, entertainment events and international conferences among others.
“During COVID-19, Rwanda continued to host international conferences, concerts and sports events. This is an exciting milestone because the country has been expending much effort in infrastructure development. Besides, partners were reinforced to make improvements luring international events organizers to think of Rwanda as their destination,” said Kageruka.
She also hinted at major events the country is set to host including the Basketball Africa League (BAL) tournament to be held in Rwanda for the third time, the Veterans World Cup and UCI Road World Championships in 2025 among others noting that it is a positive development proving how more great things are on the way.
{{Speedy recovery from COVID-19 effects }}
On 27th September 2022, Rwanda joined the rest of the world to celebrate the annual World Tourism Day. This time’s celebration focused on rethinking the impact of tourism on sustainable development.
The celebration held on Wednesday 27th September brought together officials from RDB, and partners including MasterCard Foundation, members of the private sector and investors in the tourism sector. The event also coincided with tourism exhibition.
The day was observed at a time when Rwanda continues to make commendable steps towards recovering the tourism sector that had been shaken by COVID-19 over the past two years.
Figures show that revenues from Rwanda’s tourism sector have been increasing steadily following the drop by 70% owing to effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Rwanda registered an increase by 25% in tourism revenues reaching US$164 million up from US$131 million of 2020.
In 2019, the country generated US$498 million from tourism.
Kageruka has expressed optimism for Rwanda’s tourism to recover quickly from effects of COVID-19 and hailed Rwandans’ increased interest in exploring touristic attractions.
“As you know, tourism is rebounding, slightly over 80%. This evidences how people continue to promote tourism. RDB has also been introducing programs helping tourists to explore the country’s attractions. For instance, we have reduced gorilla trekking permit from US$1500 to US$200 for Rwandans and East African nationals and US$500 for foreign residents,” she noted.
The Director General of the Rwanda Chamber of Tourism at the Private Sector Federation, Frank Gisha Mugisha said that the country’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have played a pivotal role for the sector’s speedy recovery and expressed optimism that it will remain a major contributor to national development.
Sources indicate that the accident involved a truck with Tanzania’s number plate which hit and severely damaged a public transport vehicle.
The driver identified as Silamu Majyambere died on spot. The accident also injured 15 people of whom four survived with serious wounds.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) René Irere, the spokesperson for Traffic and Road Safety department told IGIHE, by press time, that investigation was underway to establish the cause of the accident.
“Police officers arrived on the ground and gathered information as part of ongoing investigation pending transfer of the dossier to the Prosecution,” he said.
These include Lt Col Emmanuel Ruzindana, the Director of Operations promoted to Colonel and appointed Defence Attaché in Uganda.
Lt Col Frank Bakunzi, the Directing Staff of Rwanda Defence Force Command and Staff College (RDFCSC) in Nyakinama has been also promoted to Colonel and appointed Defence Attaché in Egypt.
Among others; the Head of State has appointed Brig Gen John Baptist Ngiruwonsanga as the Head Peace Support Operations (PSO) in RDF, Lt Col Claudien Bizimungu has been named Deputy Commander of Engineer Command; Lt Col Innocent Kayisire is named the Managing Director of Horizon Logistics; Lt Col Jean Paul Munana has been appointed as the Commander of Combat Engineer Brigade while Lt Col Faustin Mafura is appointed the Deputy Commander of Combat Engineer Brigade.
The statement released by RDF reads that the promotions and appointments take immediate effect.
Rulindo is one of the districts in Rwanda that are rich in minerals and where related illegal practices are conducted.
Through partnership with the local communities in Rulindo, Police has continued to make headways against these unlawful activities and illegal have been dealers arrested.
In an operation conducted on Tuesday, September 27, four people were arrested in Masoro Sector, Kivugiza Cell in Musega Village where they were destroying people’s gardens searching for minerals.
Those arrested are Asuman Musitafa, 19, Jules Nsengimana, 32, Jean Claude Tuyisenge, 44, and Innocent Hategekimana, 19. They were handed over to RIB for Murambi station.
Police also seized from the suspects, tools including hoes, spades and pick mattock which they were using.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Alex Ndayisenga, the Northern Region Political and Civic Education Officer (RPCEO) reiterated the role of the public in fighting illegal mining activities.
“These illegal mining practices were reported by the affected residents, whose farms were being destroyed. Mining is done in authorized areas by licensed people or companies, and so is mineral trade.
Those conducting mineral exploration illegal will be arrested, and we urge the public to continue reporting such people,” SP Ndayisenga warned.
He further warned residents against entering in closed concessions, which is dangerous and life-threatening.
Article 54 of the law N° 58/2018 of 13/08/2018 on mining and quarry operations, states that; any person, who undertakes mineral or quarry exploration, exploitation, processing or trading without a licence, commits an offence.
Upon conviction, the offender is liable to imprisonment for a term of between two and six months and a fine of not less than Rwf1 million and not more than Rwf5 million or only one of these penalties.
The court also orders confiscation of any seized minerals or quarry in storage, trading or processing without a license.
