IGIHE

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  • Banyarwanda Day Concert to Rock Kampala City

    {{Rwanda popular artistes will join other East African artists in Kampala in a July 6, concert ‘Banyarwanda Day’, IGIHE reports.}}

    It’s the biggest Banyarwanda event ever held in Uganda and “will bring together Banyarwanda community in Uganda and neighboring countries”.

    Rwandan artist Kayiganwa Julienne aka BIG MAMA will perform alongside other artists who are the crème-de-la-crème in the East African region including; Uganda’s Jose Chameleon, Natacha from Belgium, Intore Masamba, Knowless, Dr. Claude, and Patrick Buta Sly among others all from Rwanda.

    Commenting about the significance of Banyarwanda Day in Uganda, Matsiko Isaac handling Public Relations at Great Promotions, the co-organizer of the event told IGIHE, “We realized there was a big gap in uniting Banyarwanda from all walks of life through music and especially cultural music.”

    “BIG MAMA launched her first album last year in October in Rwanda, so, it’s against that background that we approached her to consider performing in Uganda for the Banyarwanda community”.

    Matsiko emphasized it’s not a concert that concerns Rwandese alone. “It’s not Rwanda Day but Banyarwanda Day, meaning that anyone who considers himself a Munyarwanda whether by citizenship or by blood is welcome to the concert.”

    Furthermore, “friends and well-wishers are also welcome to have fun with us,” Matsiko added. We encourage all to come and witness the best of our culture, the beauty of our songs and the social nature that Banyarwanda exhibit.”

    According to posters which are already displayed on the social network (Face Book), the first show will be held at Theater La Bonita and will go for Shs 50,000 for V.I.P’s whereas Silver (ordinary) will be Shs 20,000.

    On the 8th July 2012, there is Banyarwanda Beach Party at Lido Beach which has a standard fee of Shs 5,000.

  • Rwanda to Have Sufficient Rice in 2016

    President Kagame and other officials listen as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ernest Ruzindaza explains how machines at the Rice Processing Plant work in Gatsibo District.

    {{Rwanda will by 2016 have sufficient rice locally produced and this will put an end to importing rice from neighbouring countries.
    About 35% of rice consumed in Rwanda is imported from neighbouring countries.}}

    Rice prices continue to rise making it unaffordable to the local population.

    The lowest quality rice known as ‘Kigori’on the local rwanda market is produced locally. It costs about Frw 600 per Kilogram. Imported High quality rice costs about Frw 20000 for a bag of 25kilograms.

    The ministry of agriculture has in the last three years established mega rice processing factories in the country especially one at Ntende, Ndatemwa in Gatsibo district which was recently visited by President Paul Kagame.

    Hundreds of hectares of mashlands have been carefully ploughed in Eastern Province to pave way for increased rice production capable of satisfying the local market.

    The permanent secretary in the ministry of agriculture says that more hectares of mash lands will be cultivated to increase rice production to cater for the large local demand for rice.

    However, upland rice has not been adopted. Rice farming is still conducted in low lying marsh lands. Neighbouring Uganda has in the past five years embraced upland rice farming which rapidly increased rice supply to the local Uganda market and export to neighbouring countries like Rwanda and DRC.

    According to the ministry of agriculture, rice in rwanda is currently grown on 15000 Hectares of land but reclaimed marsh lands total 22000Hectares.

    Government targets to increase acreage upto 35000 Hactres by 2017.

  • Rwanda Film Script Writing Winners to be Announced Tonight

    {{Tonight three winners will be announced at The Award Ceremony of the Film Script Competition at Ishyo center at 7.30 pm. Also a film “LA FILLE DU GRAND MONSIEUR” will be casting by one of the jury members, Georges Kamanayo, which starts at 6.30 pm.}}

    Young Rwandan filmmakers and scriptwriters (up to 35 years) were asked to develop a paper for a short film on the topic of “Zero Tolerance for Gender Based Violence”.

    In the case of the AWARD the script for a SHORT FEATURE FILM should deal with school related gender based violence.

    • contain the idea of the film (short paragraph)

    • contain the summary/synopsis (1-2 pages)

    • contain a sample of dialogue (1-2 pages)

    • consist of no more than 4 pages in total

    • be handed in until April 30th 2012 as both soft- and hardcopy

    • be written in English language, whereas the film itself is to be produced in Kinyarwanda with English subtitles.

  • MTN Launches New Brand: ‘We Are Better Together’

    {{MTN Rwanda has launched a new brand campaign,“We Are Better Together.”

    The new campaign has evolved from ‘My People, My Country, My Network’, which identifies with all Rwandans and the growth of the country, to ‘We Are Better Together’.}}

    Yvonne Makolo, MTN Rwanda’s Chief Marketing Officer said that the telecom company started operations in Rwanda over 13 years ago at a time when there were very few foreign investors in the country.

    She said over the years the company has grown with the economic development of Rwanda, introducing innovative products and services that have touched almost all aspects of lives of Rwandan people.

    “Since our inception in the Rwandan market in 1998 we have pioneered many services and products that have had an effect on Rwandans from all aspects of life. For example in February 2010 we introduced, the mobile money platform and to date it has registered more than 475,000 customers and transacted volumes of over Rwf 67 billion since it started operations,” Ms Makolo said.

    “With ‘My people, My country, My network’ our brand reaffirmed that we continue to grow as a network and continue to be relevant to the lives of close to 3 million subscribers across the country. The new brand campaign not only highlights MTNs role in every aspect of people’s lives but it also emphasises the sense of community in the country and how life is better when people come together”.

    In Rwanda MTN has supported and promoted the development of sports. This year alone the company’s sponsorship for the ‘2012 Peace Cup’ soccer tournament was worth Rwf51.4 million.The company has also promoted local musicians and still continues to support all kinds of arts.

    “Our brand has evolved with locally produced music. The success of local music is now synonymous with the MTN brand. The annual ‘Salax Music Awards’, which recognizes the achievement of local artists is sponsored by MTN. Our brand ambassadors, are local musicians. The models featured in all our brand campaigns are proudly Rwandan,”Ms. Makolo added.

    MTN has also put a smile on many by supporting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and community activities. MTN Foundation the vehicle through which MTN Rwanda implements the company’s CSR activities enjoys 100 percent funding from MTN Rwanda, which gives it up to 1 percent of its profit after tax.

    With 300 employees, MTN is one of the biggest employers in the country. Through the company’s distribution channels the company is still creating numerous jobs and is registered among the largest taxpayers in Rwanda.

    Sakyi Opoku, the Snr Manager – Brand and Sponsorship said that though MTN is a global, African brand, with some facets of brand-building differing from market to market, the brand values are all universal and include the same pointers.

    “In Rwanda we have built brand awareness and also want to continue building brand relevance. When it comes to sponsorship we look for properties that have the right fit with MTN’s brand and also with its consumers. Just like in the rest of Africa, in Rwanda its football, entertainment and CSR which fits the bill better than anything else.”

  • Swaziland Economy Collapsing

    {{Swaziland will soon become a failed Economy if it doesn’t contain the existing economic constraints that have even led to cancellation of support from the International Monetary Fund IMF.}}

    The Kingdom of Swaziland is the last absolute monarch in Africa.

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has followed steps taken by the IMF to withdraw support for Swaziland.

    The AfDB will not pay $100 million budget support due to the kingdom, because it has failed to tackle problems with its economy.

    Last month, the International Monetary Fund withdrew support for the Swazi government’s financial recovery plan, because it had failed to reign in public spending and had presented a national budget that took money away from education and poverty reduction and diverted it to other areas, widely understood to include spending on King Mswati III.

    Since 2010 the IMF has been working closely with the Swazi Government supporting its ‘fiscal adjustment roadmap (FAR)’ – a plan for recovery that included getting more revenue through taxes and reducing the public sector wage bill.

    The Swazi Government drew up the plan and was aided by the IMF in its implementation through a procedure known as the staff-monitored programme. But even though the FAR was the work of the Swazi Government and was completely under its control, the government failed abysmally to implement it.

    Central to the plan was to reduce the public sector wage bill – that of teachers, nurses and other civil servants – by 10 percent. This it failed to do.

    Media houses across the world have consitently criticised King Mswati for ‘leading a lavish lifestyle while his people starve’. It is believed that the King has a personal fortune of US$100 million.

    The extravagant King Muswati bought himself a luxury Maybach 62 sedan worth $500,000 despite his country’s economic problems, the dire poverty of the population. HIV pandemic is affecting 38.8% of his subjects.

    On his recent birthday in April, he bought ten BMW seven series vehicles for himself and several of his wives. He was also building ten new palaces for his wives at a cost of $17m, regardless of the budget deficit standing at swazi currency 800 Million.

  • Food Security: Farm Smarter Not to Plow More Land

    {{A major Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) says the key to food security is to farm smarter, not to plow more land.}}

    The strains on agriculture are growing as the global population rises and emerging economies demand more types of food.

    Frank Rijsberman, CEO of CGIAR noted,“Agriculture had been neglected for several decades. We had become used to abundant and cheap food. The world got a wake-up call in 2008, ’10, ’11 with spikes in food prices. People realised that we have to produce an awful lot more food for a growing world population, as much as 70% by 2050,”

    The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, an increase of 2 billion from the current level. However, to feed that many people, is it simply a matter of planting more seeds on more land?

    Rijsberman explained; “No, actually, that’s the wrong way to go. Crop yields – the amount of crop that we get per hectare has plateaued. It is no longer increasing. The only thing farmers can do is indeed plow under more land and they are doing that at an alarming pace.

    They are doing that now more rapidly than during the green revolution. But if they do that they’re going to plow under marginal lands, key environmental areas. That would be quite disastrous and not a long-term sustainable path,” he said.

    He said the key is research to learn how to get greater crop output from existing agricultural land. That’s one of the main goals of CGIAR.

    “There’s a lot of private sector research in agriculture, but that serves primarily the big commercial farmers. We are serving the smallholder farmers – the 500 million farmers on less than two hectares – that provide most of the food in developing countries,” he said.

    A second goal is to get the latest research into the hands of smallholder farmers as quickly as possible. Information such as ways to better access markets and reduce post-harvest loses.

    Another is to address the issues of climate change, nutrition and gender, since women account for much if not most of the agricultural production around the world.

    Rijsberman said while recent spikes in food prices may not hit consumers very hard in developed countries, they can have a devastating effect in poor countries.

  • Facebook Smartphone Ready in 2013

    {{In 2013, Facebook smartphone will be available to clients of the Social networking giant.}}

    In 2010, facebook was reported to have been “secretly” building a smartphone – although this particular project is said to have broken down.

    Facebook recently admitted it was struggling to make money out of its growing mobile audience.

    It is in this regard that the Facebook had been hiring several smartphone engineers—as noted by some facebook employees.

    It is also said that Facebook has hired experts who worked on the iPhone and other smartphones.

    Facebook recently floated on the stock market, has also just launched its own mobile application store.

    The App Center currently offers links to Facebook-enabled apps within Apple’s iOS and Google Android stores but developers will soon be able to write apps to be placed exclusively in Facebook’s store.

    It quoted a Facebook employee as saying the site’s founder Mark Zuckerberg was “worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future… Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms”.

  • Eden Hazard to Join Chelsea Next Season

    {{Eden Hazard has finally ended speculation about his future by announcing he has decided to join Chelsea next season.}}

    The 21-year-old Lille playmaker, who had long been linked with a move to the Barclays Premier League, revealed he had chosen the newly-crowned European champions on his official Twitter account.

    He wrote: “I’m signing for the champions league winner.”

    Hazard earlier continued to keep fans of several clubs in suspense by posting he had “made up his mind” who he was going to join but declined to name the team in question.

    There was no official confirmation on Monday evening from either Chelsea or Lille that a deal had been reached over the signing of Hazard, who has been rated at £32million.

    But reports in France suggest the Belgium star has agreed a five-year contract worth as much as £100,000 a week after tax.

  • Attackers on Kabila’s Residence Appear in Court

    {{The trial of perpetrators of the attack on the residence of DRCongo President Joseph Kabila and Kokolo military camp began this May 28 before the Military Court of Gombe. }}

    The accused include suspects with military ranks; Colonels, majors, captains and retired military and civilians prosecuted for participation in an insurrectionary movement.

    One hundred twenty-six people are suspected of involvement in the attack on the home of Joseph Kabila and the logistics base of Kokolo.

    The first hearing was mainly devoted to the identification of the accused and the confirmation of charges brought against them.

    On February 27, 2011 early in the afternoon, heavily armed men attacked the residence of the Head of State in the town of Gombe in Kinshasa.

    The Minister of Communication and Media, Lambert Mende had said it was an attack against the residence of Joseph Kabila, adding that the attackers were “heavily armed”.

  • Amavubi Beaten 5-1 in Tunisia

    {{Rwanda National football team Amavubi was this Sunday walloped 5 goals by the Tunisian national team. Amavubi managed to score only one goal in the weekend friendly match.}}

    The first half ended with Tunisia leading with only one goal against a goalless Amavubi.

    The second half saw Amavubi score its only goal by Dady Birori and Tunisia scoring 4 goals.

    Tunisia made two extra attempts at the Amavubi net towards the end of second half.