Alice Kayitesi has been elected the new mayor of Kamonyi replacing Aimable Udahemuka who resigned in June.
Gilbert Habyarimana has also been elected the new Rubavu District mayor to replace Jeremie Sinamenye who submitted his resignation letter in July.
Kayitesi was a member of Musambira Sector council while Habyarimana was the Director General of Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA)
Habyarimana pledged to use his experience in economy and ensure the development of Rubavu District
“I will ensure the development of the District by increasing agricultural productivity. I will do my best to find jobs for youth. Our district shares borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo and is also a tourism District, we shall not take all these opportunities to waste,” he said.
Condé was reacting to the 16th November statement from the Directorate General for Immigration and Emigration saying that effective from January, 1st 2018 citizens from all countries will get their visas upon arrival in Rwanda without prior application.
The statement also says that Guinea is among 10 countries that Rwanda will grant visa free of charge with 90 days to their residents.
Through his twitter wall, Condé hailed the decision and Kagame’s commitment in easing circulation across Africa and the World as a whole.
“Since January 2018, Guinean residents will no longer requested visa for entering in Rwanda. Easing circulation of people and goods across Africa is of great value. Thanks Paul Kagame,” tweet reads
For more details: [All Rwanda visitors to get visas on arrival->http://en.igihe.com/news/all-rwanda-visitors-to-get-visas-on-arrival.html]
Before winding up her visit in Kigali, Kaljulaid toured different parts of the city where she visited different entrepreneurs most specifically those with Made in Rwanda related businesses.
Among the businesses she visited are; Inzuki Designs where their management expressed much appreciation to receive the president in their workplace.
“It was a great honour to have the President of Estonia KerstiKaljulaidstop by the store this morning on her tour of Kigali”
Inzuki Designs is a local brand that specialises in Jewellery, fashion accessories, and interior decor derived from unique hand-made products.
Before winding up her visit in Rwanda, Kaljulaid wrote on her twitter wall that she will work to tighten relations between both countries.
“Found lots of friends in a country of thousand hills Rwanda. Our nations have more in common than one might think. Will work for tightening the relations between our governments and business communities. Lots of opportunities for both,” reads her tweet.
Sagashya, had been on Wednesday dismissed from his office by the city council due to what they described as extreme insubordination and destruction of City files.
Speaking to IGIHE, the Police spokesperson, ACP Theos Badege said that it is now two days since they launched investigations into Sagashya misdeeds and his accomplices.
Other suspects are the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Officer, Medard Mpabwanamaguru and the CoK Building Electro-Mechanical Inspection Officer, Enos Twahirwa.
Badege explained that the accused are suspected of having tampered with evidence and damaged City files which they accessed by virtue of their employment.
Kaljulaid who is in a two day working visit in Rwanda came in the country yesterday from Ethiopia. She said that she was pleased to meet President Kagame for important talks.
Speaking to the media, Kadri Humal-Ayal, Honorary Consul of Estonia in Kenya said that their country aims to expand relations with other countries based on available opportunities.
Kadri said that Estonia and Rwanda share different things and can explore opportunities in developing ICT in government services.’
Later on, she described her experience of her visit in Kigali in one of her tweets, saying that she had received ” a really warm welcome by President Kagame in Kigali. #Rwanda is African #ICT champion and great part of our discussion focused on digital societies. But also EU-AU relations as well as coop in UN. Great to find friends so far from home!”
President Kaljulaid also visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Center where she paid tribute to more than 250,000 genocide victims laid to rest there.
According to the statement issued by the EAC Secretariat this Thursday, the postponement comes following consultations and guidance from the Chairperson of the EAC Heads of State Summit, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, Convening the Joint EAC Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure and Health.
Development and Financing as earlier planned, according to EAC will coincide with the African Union Heads of State – European Union Summit due in Abidjan, Ivory Cost on 29th to 30th November 2017, where the EAC Heads of State are expected to attend.
“In a bid to give way for effective dialogue at both events for the benefit of the East African region, the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in collaboration with Partner States are working on rescheduling the Retreat and a final decision on the new dates shall be communicated in due course” reads the statement on EAC Secretariat website.
The statement continues to say that the papers and registrations for participants and exhibitors received will retain an active status until the rescheduled date.
The owner of Gashumba milling factory and adjacent buildings hosting three other milling factories located in Gisozi Sector of Gasabo District, Tharcisse Sebukayire, claims to even not be concerned with the ongoing phase of wetlands eviction saying he has settlement permits while the phase concerns those who settled in the wetlands without official permits.
The four maize milling factories on one compound were closed down mid September when Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) the City of Kigali (CoK) flanked by ministers and security forces cracked whip on industrial, business and residential houses located in the city wetlands.
The millers are hitherto guarded by two rotating men to ensure that they do not operate the mills while Sebukayire says the closure has caused him heavy losses as over 200 tonnes of maize in stores he had already acquired before the closure are perishing while he sought at least 10 days to process them but the CoK has rejected his request.
Parfait Busabizwa, the CoK Vice Mayor in charge of Finance and Economic Development, told IGIHE on Wednesday that 39 business owners were granted extension of relocation period ranging from one month to one year but the case of Sebukayire is different because the milling factories were found with poor hygiene conditions among other uncertainties during the crackdown.
“For the maize millers in Gisozi, they have a permit to develop coffee factory but they are milling maize and their poor hygiene also prompted their closure. We have showed them a site cheaper than what they have in Gisozi. They can rent at Rwf300,000 in Kigali Special Economic Zone, the same amount they are renting currently. There are cheap sites but still smart and authorised under the Kigali Master Plan,” said Busabizwa adding that resistance is always there among people when they are told to relocate and some of them even ask for unreasonable relocation period by lying on the reasons.
Busabizwa says small factories can still settle in Nzove and Gahanga sectors while garages have space in Jabana and Masaka.
“They said they found lack of hygiene at one of the plants at this site but why did they close all four milling plants here. Again, the hygiene is not irresolvable, it can be worked on for reopening operations but they never allowed us even a single day to process the maize we have in stores. We are losing much, worrisome losses,” complains Sebukayire adding that he has met with city officials over five times but all in vain.
{{Who is to be relocated?}}
The ongoing relocation order concerns properties which were developed in the wetlands after the ban on settling in wetlands in 2005 while those which settled before will be evicted later as the government finds the budget for their expropriation, according to Remy Norbert Duhuze, Director of Environmental Regulation and Pollution Control at REMA.
Duhuze says the relocation will be done on an area of 7,700 hectares of wetlands in Kigali and later reach out to all other parts of the country.
Busabizwa says at least 2,078 properties are concerned with the relocation in Kigali including 1,118 which lack settlement permits and 960 which have the documents and will receive compensation. Gasabo District has the largest number of properties in wetlands standing at 1,448, while Nyarugenge and Kicukiro have 317 and 313 respectively.
He urged property owners to respect the relocation period they were granted “without trying our authority to force them out.” “Those hiding out there, we shall catch them and it will not be good for them. We are fining those who default the order. We work with local leaders and security forces, so it is easy to catch them,” warns the city official.
Rwanda’s wetlands represent about 14.9% of the national territory, including 6.3% for marshes and 8.6% for lakes, rivers and permanent or seasonal fresh water pools.
The State Minister was speaking yesterday in Musanze District where he officiated at the launch of the road safety campaign.
The official launch brought together hundreds of road users including drivers, cyclists and motorcyclists as well as students and residents.
The countrywide campaign, which will last for a month is held under the theme: “Know and Respect Traffic Rules to Save Lives.”
“The government is constructing more roads, but it’s one thing to have goods roads and another to keep them safe. We are not constructing roads to kill people… we are building roads to further improve the livelihoods of the people,” said the State Minister.
Last week, Rwanda National Police (RNP) held a meeting with partners including policymakers and transporters, and resolved among others, to revise road traffic laws to criminalise fatal accidents, ease the process of withdrawing driver’s and operational license including those of transport companies or individuals caught in life-threatening traffic offences.
The current law specifies a maximum of six month in prison, although majority traffic offenders easily challenge the law in court with financial penalties almost the only available option.
Terminating or suspending a driver’s license is also close to impossible in court, with only one person stripped of the license in the last four years.
While reacting on the “reckless behavior” of drivers, Eng. Uwihanganye said: “It’s not about holding a steering wheel… you are not transporting luggage; you are holding the lives of people with that wheel. You are transporting human beings whose lives matter to their families and to the nation.”
He reminded that launching the road safety campaign shouldn’t just be an event but a reminder of the responsibility of every individual to make roads safer for all.
“Whenever you are in a vehicle and the driver is on phone or speeding, you have a right to stop it, get out and inform the police immediately. That way, you would be saving not only your life but also the lives of others,” he said.
About 23 percent of total accidents recorded between August and October were either caused or involved passenger service vehicles.
He also reminded motorcyclists and cyclists to reorganize their cooperatives and “take safety first.”
The road safety report also indicates that motorcyclists account for 18.5 percent of fatalities while cyclists comprise of 17 percent, in the last three months.
The Governor of the Northern Province, Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi said that the region will carry on with the road safety awareness programmes by holding talkshows on radios.
“Roads are part of safety and development programmes and it’s the responsibility of everyone to make them safe,” Governor Gatabazi said.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana said that “prevention requires strong partnership and individual responsibility to drive and use the road safely.”
“Road accidents are not a pandemic; it’s a result of individual behaviors that we cannot entertain. Don’t drive if you are drunk; regulate your speed; don’t use a phone while driving; use pedestrian pathways and zebra crossing…be vigilant whenever you are using the road,” IGP Gasana said.
He also called for strengthened partnership in raising awareness and fighting high impact crimes like human trafficking, narcotic drugs and child related crimes including child pregnancy.
The road safety month will be conducted in four phases; the first week will focus on educating pedestrians on road safety standards and how safe they can use roads;
Pedestrians comprise the majority victims involved or cause road traffic accidents accounting for 46 percent of the fatalities registered between August and October.
Pedestrians also account for 21 percent of the 254 serious injuries registered in the same period.
Meanwhile, the second week of the campaign will focus on motorcyclists followed by cyclists in the third week, and vehicles in the fourth week.
Nominated October 26, 2017, Vrooman most recently served at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as deputy chief of mission from July 2014 to August 2016 and as chargé d’affaires from September 2016 to July 2017. If confirmed by the Senate, Vrooman would succeed Erica J. Barks-Ruggles, who served in Kigali starting in December 2014.
Peter Hendrick Vrooman was born March 1, 1966, near Canton, New York. Vrooman worked from 1989 to 1990 as special assistant to Richard F. Pedersen, then the president of the American University in Cairo and a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, before joining the State Department as a foreign service officer in 1991.
Vrooman served early career assignments as watch officer in the State Department’s Operations Center (circa 1991 to 1992); in Djibouti City, Djibouti (circa 1992 to 1993); at the US Liaison Office in Mogadishu, Somalia (circa 1994); as desk officer for Algeria (circa 1995 to 1997) in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs; and in Beirut, Lebanon (circa 1998 to 2000).
Vrooman served as deputy political counselor at the U.S. mission to the United Nations from 2000 to 2005, and was an advisor on the Middle East. He then served three straight postings concerned with that region: as deputy political counselor at the embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel (circa 2006 to 2008); at the embassy in Baghdad, Iraq (circa 2008 to 2009); and as director for Iraq on the staff of the National Security Council (circa 2009 to 2011).
Vrooman also completed his education, earning an M.S. in National Security and Resource Strategy at the Eisenhower School for National Security & Resource Strategy at the National Defense University in 2011.
Vrooman worked as spokesperson at the embassy in New Delhi, India, from August 2011 to May 2014, after which he began his stint in Ethiopia.
Vrooman speaks Arabic and French. He is married to Johnette Iris Stubbs, a photographer with whom he has two children, Zarah and Hendrick.
Kaljulaid visits Rwanda from Ethiopia where she met different leaders including these of African Union.
In Ethiopia she met the Commissioner for Trade and Industry in African Union, Amb. Albert M. Muchanga and discussed partnership between African Union and European Union.
Estonia is located in Northern Europe Currently, Estonia leads the Council of the European Union.
