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{Agaciro Development Fund has so far made a profit of Rwf2.1 billion in the last fourteen months through lending to banks, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Amb. Gatete Claver has revealed. }

He revealed this while receiving a donation of Rwf10 million from MTN Rwanda, a mobile telecommunications company, to Agaciro Development Fund(AgDF), Rwanda’s first sovereignty fund, based on voluntary donations to attain national development and self reliance.

He said that AgDF has collected Rwf 28.6 billion from Rwandans and institutions some of which has been lent out to banks. “We are grateful to MTN for this noble contribution. This show of commitment to extend this type of support should as well be emulated by other corporate institutions. We have lent out some of the money to banks and have made a profit,” he said as he clarified that even the Rwf2.1 billion profit has also been lent to other banks for accumulation of more interest.

The MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gunter Engling, while handing over the donation, pledged commitment towards involvement in community development activities as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.

Minister Gatete commended MTN’s contribution not only to the AgDF but overall national development through providing jobs and paying taxes revealing that the Fund will continue partnering and investing in and with credible institutions.

Gatete said that the government plans to increase its contribution to AgDF, revealing that 5% of earned income from public institutions sold to private investors as well as 5% revenue from natural resource extraction is remitted AgDF.

Gunter Engling noted that MTN existence in Rwanda for 16 years has seen a total of 70,000 Rwandans make a living out of selling MTN services every day; ranked among the top tax payers and the only telecommunication company listed on Rwanda Stock Exchange.

{The Information and communications technology (ICT) sector continues to be one of the top attractions to local and foreign investors as well as one of the top contributors to the country’s gross domestic product. }

According to statistics from the Ministry of Youth and ICT presented at the sector’s joint sector review meeting, yesterday, ICT attracted investments worth $ 61 million in the last financial year and is projected to contribute up to $120 million by the end of the current financial year.

The findings noted that the investments in the last year were mostly from the telecom sector and the expansion of 3G and 4G networks in the country.

Part of the expected investments will come from the operationalisation of Kigali Innovation City Project located around Masoro, which will be home to ICT-related firms, as well as the establishment of the ICT innovation fund.

Beyond attracting investments into the country, the sector also increased its impact on sectors such as finance.

The statistics showed that in the last financial year, the value of mobile money transactions reached Rwf691.5 billion up from Rwf330.4 billion the previous year.

Mobile payments were mainly used for cash-in, cash-out and transfer services, representing significant percentages of all values transacted.

In the same period, the accounts for mobile payments service grew from Rwf3.83m to Rwf6.76m. This development was termed as one of the key facilitators of a cashless economy.

In the said period, mobile phone penetration grew to about 73 per cent (up from 53 per cent in the previous year) of the total Rwandan population, while internet penetration was at about 32 per cent by June.

The director-general of ICT in the Ministry of Youth and ICT, Didier Nkurikiyimfura, said the growth in device and internet penetration would facilitate the adoption of e-government services currently being rolled out by the Rwanda online Platform.

So far, seven services are available on the platform dubbed ‘Irembo’ with the ministry projecting that about 40 services will be added in the next financial year.

The services available include; online registration for provisional and definitive driving tests, marriage certificate, application for a birth certificate and application for a criminal record.

Nkurikiyimfura noted that among the sector’s priorities include the roll out of e-government services that would significantly improve service delivery in the country.

He added that the implementation of the Smart Africa Manifesto and the recently adopted Smart Rwanda Master Plan would further accelerate the sector’s growth and its impact across other sectors.

Speaking at the stakeholders’ forum, Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said the sector had continued to grow in recent years exhibiting potential to place the country as an ICT hub, as well as facilitating the development of meaningful income-generating activities from the sector.

Przemek Praszczalek, the deputy programme officer of USAID, said Rwanda had made progress in the sector in the last decade with milestones like 4G roll out being not only significant to the country, but to the entire continent.

“This being a forum to evaluate the progress achieved so far and to identify the challenges and opportunities, it is important to commend the progress that Rwanda has been able to make over the past years most of which have had an impact beyond the country,” Praszczalek said.

Among the emerging challenges cited include the slow pace of adoption of new technologies and systems by the various agencies.

Stakeholders at the forum called for the need to address the difficulties and challenges experienced when rolling out technology solutions and systems.

The New Times

{Over 24,000 residents of Runda and Rugalika Sectors of Kamonyi District can now access clean water after the launch of a 31 kilometre water supply system by the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) in conjunction with the district.}

The water facility was officially inaugurated by Germaine Kamayirese, the state minister in charge of energy and water in the Ministry of Infrastructure, on Tuesday.

Beneficiaries include residents, schools, hospitals and businesses.

“Running a school without water had affected our planning. There was water scarcity which worsened especially during drought. We relied on the water reservoir at a nearby Catholic Church but it was not sustainable because of many people,” said Vestine Kamazinga, the head teacher of Marie Adelaide Secondary School.

“We could order two water tanks from Kigali every week to fill our tanks but with over 500 students who need water every day it could hardly take us through the week. One tank requires Rwf130, 000 to be filled.”

Esperance Nyirakanyana, mother of four said her children walked a long distance to reach the nearest source, where a jerrycan of water cost Rwf200.

They spent hours there due to long queues, wasting school time, she said.

James Sano, WASAC Chief executive officer said the Rwf795 million water pipeline stretches through four cells of Gihara, Kabagesera, Muganza and Kagina of Runda Sector and part of Rugalika Sector.

He said the same pipeline would be extended to other areas of the district in Kayenzi, Karama, Gacurabwenge, Musambira and Kayumbu which would increase water access to about 90 per cent in the district.

Minister Kamayirese urged residents to find ways of extending water to their homes to reduce the time spent going to the community source.

“The next step that requires your input is to extend water to your homes so that you do not waste valuable time which would be spent on economic activities looking for water. Our target is to reduce the distance covered to reach a water source from 500 meters to our homes in line with new sustainable development targets,” she said.

Kamayirese said WASAC services would be extended to Runda Sector to facilitate payment for people wishing to extend water to their homes.

She urged residents to guard the water infrastructure jealously and use the water and energy to start income generating activities to reduce poverty.

The New Times

{The government yesterday signed more contracts with mining companies to boost production and exports.}

The contracts, signed between the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the investors, are aimed at bolstering exports by at least 28 per cent, Evode Imena, the state minister in charge of mining, said.

RDB granted four mining companies with licences to take charge of six mining blocks in Ngororero District, Western Province.

The companies include; Ngororero Mining Company Limited who will take charge of Nyamisa and Nyabisindu blocks, KNM Combines Ltd for Bijyojyo mining block, Daba Supplies Limited was given Ndago and Nyabitare mining blocks, while SEAVMC Ltd will exploit Gasovu.

The total investment, according to the minister, is estimated at almost $38million (about Rwf28bn) for the next five years.

“Under the agreement, investors are required to continue exploration works, develop world class infrastructural facilities and oblige to their social corporate responsibilities,” Imena said.

They will have to adhere to the environmental protection procedures as stipulated by the national mining policy guideline, he added.

Francis Gatare, the chief executive officer of RDB, said attracting private investors into the mining sector remains the government’s top priority as a way of boosting foreign revenues.

He urged investors to embrace private equity as a main source of finance for long-term returns
“We are encouraging investors to diversify their sources of credit and want to continue attracting more investment and development banks as the main source of long-term credit to bolster our economic development,” Gatare noted.

This will help make the mining sector more competitive and boost the country’s external trade, he added.

Early this year, six more private mining companies were given the green light to manage Gatumba Mining Concession.

The companies are expected to invest Rwf6.5 billion in the next five years to extract 3,300 tonnes of mixed tantalum, tin and tungsten ores from 10 blocks of the former Gatumba Mining Concession in Ngororero and Muhanga Districts.

Miners commit to adhere to standards

The miners pledged to adhere to standards and value addition to meet their targets.

Abdul Gaffar Khan, the managing director of KNM combines Ltd, said meeting targets will require sector players to embrace modern technology to become more competitive on the global markets.

For the first half of 2015, Rwanda exported 4,500 tonnes of tin, tantalum and tungsten that generated $8.2 million.

The sector is targeting to fetch at least $250 million by the end of this year despite turbulence in global prices for major minerals.

And as part of the strategy to achieve these targets government has already, approved 29 mineral and quarry licenses under the new ministerial guidelines to help boost the sector.

The New Times

{The government is pushing for a review of the Penal Code to deal with the increasing new forms of crime.}

The anticipated revision seeks to amend the 1977 Penal Code to introduce stringent penalties for aggravated cases of assault.

The revisions, which are yet to be tabled before Parliament, follow a public outcry on a number of issues that include the red tape in legal abortion procedures, overlapping penalties and obsolete provisions.

Presenting the issues that informed the revision to judicial stakeholders in Kigali yesterday, Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said the significant rise in crime necessitated the review to address new trends of offences.

“It is the prerogative of the Law Reform Commission and all stakeholders to provide sound scientific basis for penalties for all offences.

“It is paramount to ensure periodic evaluation and to check beyond reasonable doubt that what the Parliament asked for was achieved,” he said.

According to Busingye, key focus in the upcoming revision will evolve around economic crimes, environmental crimes, sexual offences, human trafficking, terrorism, drug trafficking, conspiracy, aiding and abetting, concealment and corruption-related crimes.

“The same revision of the Penal Code will also ensure government handles categorically offences committed against women and children and offences related to public resources on top of observing appropriate drafting and translation,” he added.

Should the Government maintain its current way of handling crimes, according to Busingye, some of the national development projects, including Vision 2020 and other progressive agendas, might be affected.

“To match the required economic development speed, any country must have an effective penal code, effective law enforcement in an effective rule of law environment,” he said.

According to law enforcers, stringent penalties will help reduce crimes such drug trafficking, violence, defilement and robbery which constitute more than 50 percent of all crimes.

ACP Theos Badege, the head of Criminal Investigation Department at the Rwanda National Police, said the revision was timely and would help address investigation and prosecution challenges.

“There is a need to draw a clear difference between crimes. A number of times, we report a crime and encounter difficulties, mainly due to reporting methods used or how a crime was defined before it is submitted to court,” he said.

The challenges according, to John Gara, the chairman of the Law Reform Commission, are the same reasons that will enable the commission to revise the Penal Code in a bid to make it flexible and dynamic.

“Due to provisions that say all crimes should be handled by the Penal Code, the assumption, was that such an organic law had to be one,” he said.

The current Penal Code has at least 766 articles.

Gara further stated that offences such as adultery might be handled by civil laws other than the Penal Code and that the revision will see whether attempt to commit suicide is an offense that needs to be punished or be addressed medically.

Legal experts have also proposed tougher penalties for crimes against children and women, where if convicted of indecent assault against a child, for example, instead of being sentenced to five years, the jail term might be extended to 10 to 15 years.

The same law might also see financial crimes handled in a standalone legal instrument, while formalities to procure a legal abortion might be cut down on top of having the final decision coming from specialised medical doctors other than court Judges.

The New Times

{Senators yesterday suggested some changes in the draft law of constitutional amendments as the standing committee in charge of political affairs started to scrutinise the proposed amendments on articles.
}

Of the deconstructed articles were introductory provisions as entailed in the preamble of the Constitution.

Earlier debates on the preamble girdled around who and what to acknowledge. Yesterday’s discussions evolved on the appellation of democracy and its suitable meaning within the Rwandan context; the country’s achievements and aspects of gender, amongst others.

According to Marie Claire Mukasine, a member of the senatorial committee, the preamble should have captured strong pillars of peace, security, unity and reconciliation, which have many times been cited by members of the public.

“These are strong pillars expressed by members of the public as a result of our field trips. They should have been brought up or captured in the preamble. We consider them to be amongst the tenets of democracy,” she said.

Senator Tito Rutaremara made reference to what should be considered as principles of democracy in Rwanda.

“We believe components of peace, security, unity and reconciliation constitute strong pillars of the country’s democracy; otherwise the model that the country had chosen remains the consensual democracy,” he said.

Consensual democracy as opposed to adversorial democracy practiced by other countries claiming to be champions of egalitarianism, is a unique model chosen by the country entrenched in the country’s unique history, according to senators.

According to the draft law, in the same prelude, Rwandans should commit to build a State founded on democracy, power sharing, national unity and reconciliation, good governance, development, social justice, tolerance and resolution of issues through dialogue.

Additional to the preamble, the principle of gender equity, complementarities and acknowledgements of heroic deeds by ancestors were introduced with respects to achievements registered by the country.

“This is one of other major achievements recorded over the past 21 years. It would be paramount to have it captured in the preamble of the Constitution; it is something we take pride in,” said Mukasine.

Should the draft law be passed in its current status, it will equally acknowledge historical values as performed by the country’s forefathers, including liberators who rescued the country from the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.

“We the people of Rwanda, honouring our heroic ancestors who sacrificed in founding Rwanda, and those who heroically fought for security, justice, dignity, freedom and restored our national tranquility and pride;

“Considering that we enjoy the privilege of having one country, a common language, a common culture and a long shared history which ought to lead to a common vision of our destiny;

“Conscious of the genocide committed against Tutsi that decimated more than a million sons and daughters of Rwanda and conscious of the tragic history of our country;

“Committed to build a State governed by the rule of law, based on respect for human rights, freedom and the principle of Gender equality of citizens before the law,” reads part of the amended preamble.

The draft law further stated in its preamble that Rwandans resolve to prevent and punish the crime of genocide, fight revionism, eradicate the ideology of genocide and all its manifestations – divisionism and discrimination – based on ethnicity, region and any other ground.

The same provision further states that Rwandans are determined to ensure that values based on family, morality, patriotism and justice are maintained and all functions of the State and fulfilled in common interest.

“Exercising our sovereign and inalienable right to determine the form of governance for our country; Do hereby revise, through referendum, the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda adopted on 26 May 2003 and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda of 04 June 2003 as amended,” further reads the concluding part of the preamble. The debate continues.

The New Times

{The Ministry of East African Community Affairs will on Thursday launch its sixth edition of the EAC awareness week aimed at raising awareness on the benefits of regional integration with a focus on students and border communities.}

The EAC Week will be held under the theme, “Eight Years of Rwanda in the EAC: Deepening the Regional Integration Agenda.”

Nathan Gashaija, the director-general of coordination of EAC affairs, on Friday said this year’s awareness will focus on community engagement based on special focus groups.

“Having that ultimate aim of engaging the community in mind, we clustered the categories of people who we should target. We identified students as the first priority,” Gashaija said, explaining that harmonisation of EAC education is now top on the bloc’s integration agenda.

Citizens, he said, especially the border communities, are another important cluster because of the importance attached to propping up cross-border trade.

“Informal cross-border trade is one of the quick wins we want to fix. How? By explaining to the border communities things such as the simplified trade regime and the opportunities in the EAC in general,” Gashaija said.

The awareness is held in all EAC member states during the month of November every year as directed by the Council of Ministers in 2010.

The events across the region are aimed at raising awareness on the EAC integration agenda.

In Rwanda, during the awareness, Rwandans will be updated on key integration achievements; key ongoing projects and programmes.

Officials will also listen to public’s concerns about integration.

Activities during the week will include the launch of East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO) in Kigali on Friday and a visit to Rwanda-Tanzania border district of Kirehe on Saturday.

However, the events will be preceded by a public lecture on EAC integration at the Adventist University of Central Africa; a students debate at Mount Kenya University and an interactive panel discussion at Kigali City Hall on Thursday.

Last year, the fifth EAC week edition was held under the theme, “EAC Regional integration: Benefits and Opportunities.”

A study conducted last June showed that only 44 per cent of Rwandans understood what the EAC means and are aware of the opportunities that come with the integration process.

Innocent Safari, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, said despite the many achievements in the integration agenda, there are challenges to contend with, including slow implementation of projects and commitments at EAC level, especially due to an equally lagging harmonisation of pertinent regional laws.

According to officials at the ministry, the other challenges include projects often being over taken by events, delayed benefits to EAC citizens, and insufficient financing for EAC Infrastructure Projects.

Other challenges the EAC is working to eliminate include a mismatch between qualifications offered by the higher learning institutions and the job market; national priorities that often compete with regional priorities; limited involvement of the private sector and civil society; and persistent non-tariff barriers hindering free movement of goods.

An estimated $100 billion is required for EAC infrastructure projects during the next 10 years.

Rwanda’s achievements eight years on

In the past eight years, the Electronic Single Window System implemented by the Customs Authority and other local stakeholders is seen as a key accomplishment.

The system allows all parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point. This initiative has reduced the time it takes to clear goods by an estimated three days, from arrival to exit – from two days and 10 hours to one day and 10 hours.

The Revenue Authorities Digital Data Exchange (RADDEx), a computer system that facilitates exchange of customs data between EAC partner states, is the other achievement.

Here, all advance information is accessed before arrival of goods in Rwanda. It reduces delays in cargo clearance by avoiding the duplication of data capturing at the border posts.

Under the Single Customs Territory along the Northern Corridor, goods are now cleared at first point of entry in EAC, weighbridges are being removed, police and customs check points were reduced, and computerised clearance introduced as well as electronic cargo tracking system.

As such, transit time reduced from 21 to five days from Mombasa to Kigali, and the cost of hiring a truck to convey cargo from Mombasa to Kigali reduced by about $1,000 from $5,200 in 2010 to $4,200 in 2014.

The removal of non-tariff trade barriers has also improved the business environment in the region.

Statistics from the ministry indicate that by September, 87 non-tariff trade barriers were removed with 22 remaining, while newly-identified and reported barriers in September were 14.

According to Flavia Salafina, the information, education and communication specialist at the ministry, operationalisation of the one-stop border posts, a concept combining activities of two partner states at a single location to remove unnecessary obstacles which hinder legitimate trade, has improved business at borders.

It extended working hours from 12 to 24 at Gatuna border post between Rwanda and Uganda, 16 hours at Cyanika border post between Rwanda and Uganda, 16 hours at Rusumo border post between Rwanda and Tanzania and 18 hours at Nemba border between Rwanda and Burundi.

The ultimate plan is to extend working hours to 24 at all the borders.

Under the Common Market arrangement which came into force on July 1, 2010, the use of ID or student’s cards and the waiver, by Rwanda, of work permit fees for all EAC nationals, are some of the other positives to note.

The New Times

{Local entrepreneurs and investors in the ICT sector have partnered to form a wholesale distribution outlet of gadgets and electronics manufactured in the country by Positivo BGH.
}

Constituting 15 entrepreneurs, Africa Smart Investment Distributions (ASI-D) will be involved in the distribution of devices produced by the Latin American firm with a presence in Rwanda.

The new entity has since been hired by the Government to facilitate the distribution of devices to ensure acceleration of the commercialisation of the devices produced.

ASI-D kicked off their operations on Friday at a launch that hosted prospective resellers, telecommunication firms and government officials at their warehouse based in the special economic zone in Kigali.

Francois Karenzi, the executive chairman of ASI-D, said they were looking at working with the electronic device manufacturer to accelerate the penetration of devices in various market segments beginning with the education sector.

By contracting the firm, the Government aims at mitigating challenges previously experienced by buyers of electronic gadgets such as laptops.

“One of the challenges Africa has always faced is purchasing electronic devices with non-existent or expensive after sale services,” Karenzi said.

Positivo BGH is a Latin American multinational, which manufactures laptops, computers, tablets, and other electronic gadgets, and last year set up shop in Kigali.

The firm took interest to establish their presence in Rwanda due to the model and impact of the One-Laptop-Per-Child programme.

Currently, the One-Laptop-Per-Child project has distributed over 200,000 laptops in over 410 schools across the country.

Production commenced early this year following a deal between the government and the firm.

Part of the deal provides that the Government will purchase about 150,000 units (electronics) every year, most of them going to the education sector.

Positivo BGH’s partnership with the Government is one of the private-public partnerships aimed at fully utilising the benefits presented by ICT.

Juan Ponelli, the Positivo BGH Africa president, noted that with the devices being produced in Africa, they are not only affordable, but also relevant in addressing the continent’s needs.

The Government’s interest in the partnership is to increase access, quality and relevance in the local education sector using technology.

Nkubito Bakuramutsa, the IT advisor at the Minister of Education, said the ministry is partnering with many stakeholders both in education and the IT sectors, including Positivo-BGH, INTEL and Microsoft.

Reacting to the development, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the Minister for Youth and ICT, said the partnership would improve the ICT ecosystem and was a realisation of the broadband commitment.

“This is an exciting moment for the ICT industry. With 4G LTE rollout on course to provide national coverage, affordable smart devices are needed to make Rwanda’s commitment to broadband for all a reality,” he said.

Nsengimana said this was among the first steps to the realisation of the Rwf300 billion worth of investments set during the recent Transform Africa forum.

The New Times

{Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye called for international collaboration to counteract international crimes through security organs.}

He delivered this message during Sub-Saharan African Executive Policing Meeting under the umbrella of IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police).

The meeting is held one day before Interpol summit that will take place in Kigali.
Minister Busingye said that the meeting offers Rwanda opportunities to find solutions,since it may come up with the remedy of arresting displaced genocide perpetrators.

“You already know that we have sent 410 indictments in 30 countries across the World. It is undoubtedly that some criminals may be hiding or wandering openly in anticipated delegates’ countries.”

The robbery of precious stones in the recent boat that reached the destination containing bricks proves that security organs need to concentrated efforts.

Minister Busingye said that the country requested cross-border partnership to ensure that protection within the country is extended across the World.

The Inspector General of Police Emmanuel Gasana expressed gratitude to participants of the meeting and unveiled that more efforts are needed to resist challenges the World is facing.

“We need to concentrate on capacity building and increase partnership to counteract emerging security crisis.”He said.

IGP Gasana said that the partnership will evaluate readiness of police units in different countries to fight against terrorism and human trafficking.

The head of IACP, Terry Michael Cunningham, declared that insecurity organs need to collaborate with citizens because it has an added value to the prevention of crimes.

As Terry Michael shared, international summits provide great opportunities for leaders to counter terrorism, human trafficking, illegal arms selling and technology related crimes affecting the World.

During the summit, IGP Emmanuel Gasana handed over the power of IACP to Ugandan police head, Gen. Kale Kayihura who is going to lead IACP in Sub-Saharan region for two years.