Tag: MainSlideNews

Parliamentary general elections are taking place tomorrow in the country but the Diaspora usually votes a day before.

Rwandans in New Zealand were the first to vote this Sunday. They convened at the polling station at 9am there, that was 11pm on Saturday in Rwanda.

President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette have also voted from Beijing where the couple is participating in China-Africa Summit, FOCAC2018.

{{Elsewhere in the world, casting votes is going on
}}
-* In Egypt, Rwandans were casting their votes in Cairo at their Embassy’s Headquarters. Elections started from 9 a.m to 3p.m. Over 111 voters turned out in the elections.

-* In Congo Brazzaville, Rwandans are voting as well.

-* In Canada too, Rwandans were voting

-*Ambassador to Sweden, Christine Nkurikiyinka, casts vote.

-* Ambassador to Netherlands, Jean Pierre Karabaranga and other Rwandans there vote in for MPs.

-* Ambassador to India, Erneste Rwamucyo casts vote. More Rwandans in India vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday.

-* In Brussels and Liège, Belgium, Rwandans led by Ambassador Amandin Rugira vote. Belgium is home to one of the largest Rwanda’s Diaspora. Over 3,500 voters are expected to vote from Belgium.

-* In Paris, France, one Claudette Murekatete voted first out of 400 voters expected there.

-* In Moscow, Russia, Rwandans are voting as well.

-** Ambassador James Kimonyo leads Rwandan community in Kenya in the vote.

{{In Ankara, Turkey, Rwandans are voting.}}

-* New Zealand, 10 hours ahead of Rwanda, was the first to open the poll.

Speaking from New Zealand, Egide Kalisa told IGIHE that they got all the poll requirements from their embassy in Singapore on time. Kalisa was the first to vote among all Rwandans in Diaspora.

Rwandan youth in New Zealand in blissful faces after casting their votes.
L_R, Kevin Hazikimana, Flora Uwase, Allan Hakizimana and Godfrey Tahabwisi.

-* Rwandans in Tokyo, Japan, also voted early Sunday

-* Seoul in South Korea, Rwandans are voting for the 80-seat Lower House for the next five-year term.

-* Uganda, Rwandans are casting votes. There are 800 voters.

-* In Rwanda, polling stations have been set ready in colourful embellishments for the elections tomorrow.

Sunday and Monday polls will decide 53 seats. The 53 are sought by an RPF-lead coalition of seven parties, four other parties apart and four independent candidates.

The Head of state is in Beijing to attend the prestigious summit dubbed ‘Forum for Africa-China Cooperation, FOCAC’ hosted by the Chinese government.

Early in the morning, Rwandans based overseas descended to different polling stations located at embassies and consulates to vote for members of the august house.

Due to global time zone differences, Rwandans in New-Zealand were the first to cast their votes while it was night in Kigali. They were at their polling stations at 9a.m in the morning, being Saturday, 11 p.m in Rwanda.

In other places such as Tokyo, Rwandans also turned out early and in great numbers to vote for their candidates.

In Auckland, Rwandans gathered at 9 a.m to vote in proceedings that were said to be peaceful, according to Egide Kalisa, as they were given every necessity by their Embassy located in Singapour.

There are 46,955 voters expected to vote from 115 polling stations in Diaspora, up from last year’s 44,362 in 98 stations in presidential elections.

The Forum for Africa-China Cooperation, FOCAC, is a meeting between the two partners and is largely premised on ways to increase diplomatic, economic and bilateral ties.

The prestigious summit is set to officially kick off from September 3 through to September 4. Themed “China and Africa: Toward an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation.”, this year’s edition aims to build a closer China-Africa relationship, set a new path for a higher level of both continents’ cooperation and deepen people-to-people exchanges.

For Rwanda, the summit is special. Relations between Rwanda and China have been growing over the past 46 years with the later supporting several development projects in Rwanda ranging from Infrastructure, Health, Education and Economy. In January, China offered Rwanda to construct a $37 million modern complex as the office for the Prime Minister. Once complete, the building will serve as an Administrative Office for the Prime Minister, other ministries and government institutions.

The summit is seen largely as key diplomatic event hosted by China this year and attended by the largest number of foreign leaders to date.

African leaders already in Beijing have held different levels of talks with their Chinese counterparts signing deals and also meeting investors.

The summit will conclude with the signing of a declaration and an action plan, providing guidelines for China-Africa cooperation for the next three years.

The documents are expected to build on the outcomes of the Johannesburg summit, during which Xi announced 10 major cooperation plans to promote industrialization and agricultural modernization in Africa. Most of the plans have been implemented.

The country is receiving millions of visitors every year, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in the national coffers.

The figures are increasing even further, thanks to different mechanism including the recent migration policy that provides all visitors with visas upon arrival.

But the progress doesn’t just come out of chances; efforts are bearing fruits. And figures have it clear in five points.

{{Safety }}

Gallup’s Law and Order Index 2017, ranked Rwanda as the fifth safest country in the world with the score of 87/100.

The same American firm ranked Rwanda as second with safe people in Africa.

Figures indicate that foreign aid to Rwanda is in a more manageable range than any other country in the region.

Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings 2018 graded Rwanda’s economy outlook as positive with B.

World Economic Forum (WEF) 2016 report ranked Rwanda Government as the most effective in Africa and seventh globally.

WEF also ranked Rwanda National Police as the most trusted in Africa and 13th globally.

{{Growing economy
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Rwanda’s economy has recently emerged the second fastest growing in Africa.
Ibrahim Index 2017 put Rwanda atop in Africa for having developed all sectors over the previous five years.

African Union (AU) report ranked Rwanda as the first among 54 countries for having implemented effectively nine resolutions aiming at developing agriculture. The resolutions were adopted in 2014 at the AU Summit of Heads of State and Governments in Guinea.

{{Doing Business
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The World Bank’s Doing Business report 2018 ranked Rwanda 41st globally and second in Africa.

Rwanda Development Board reports that it is currently taking a maximum of six hours to register a new company.

Ministry of ICT reports 96% internet coverage countrywide.

Global Gender Gap 2017 ranked Rwanda as fourth globally and first in Africa in bridging gender gaps.

{{Rwanda in integration
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It will always remain in the history of Africa that 44 AU member states convened in Kigali and signed the declaration on Africa Continental Free Trade Area on March 21, 2018.

Rwanda is among 50 countries that have so far ratified the declaration.

Rwanda has developed a national carrier, Rwandair, that connects it to many countries on the continent and beyond.

Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, has fascinated foreigners with its beauty, cleanliness and infrastructure, setting it on the third position in Africa for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions, according to ICCA report of May, 2018.

{{Natural resources
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Different reports have indicated that Rwanda has natural raw materials for industries.
The country is home to rare mountain gorillas. The recent census indicated that the gorilla population in Volcanoes Park was at 604 in 2016, up from 480 in 2010.

The gorillas attract a large portion of the tourists who stood at 1.5 million in 2017.

Presenting the bank’s performance, Dr. Diane Karusisi, managing director and CEO of Bank of Kigali, said the increase was enabled by Customers’ trust, solid growth on the entire group’s business lines as well as effective cost management.

“Our net loans grew by 6.8 per cent to Rwf481.2billion. In the same period, customer deposits increased by 3.8 per cent to Rwf472.3 billion compared to the same period, last year. The total assets stand at Rwf731.8 billion which represents a growth of 1.7 per cent year-on-year,” Karusisi announced

The bank’s first quarter statistics indicate that the total assets stood at Rwf6.0 billion as of which represents a significant growth of 7.7 year on year.

“We will remain focused on innovation and digitalization to further drive growth, efficiency gains and cost optimization in all the subsidiaries.” Karusisi observed

To maintain their top position on the market, Bank of Kigali Group PLC is presenting a secondary offer, which includes the cross-listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, and is scheduled to start this year.

BK will be the first Rwandan company to cross-list in Nairobi and therefore offer Regional and global investors a new opportunity to participate in Rwanda’s growth story.

Presenting the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement (MPFSS) of the first half of 2018 on Thursday, Central Bank Governor John Rwangombwa said the performance was driven by the 12.0% growth in the service sector, 8.0% in agriculture and industry’s 7.0% growth.

The Composite Index of Economic Activity increased by 15.4% from 7.8% registered in the same period of 2017.

The country’s formal trade deficit reduced by 2.0% in the first half of 2018 compared to the corresponding period of 2017.

Formal exports increased by 23.2% in the first half of 2018. In the same period, non-traditional exports increased by 19.1%.

Governor Rwangombwa said that Rwanda’s financial system remains safe and sound, pointing at the profits increase among banks, micro-finance institutions (MFIs) and insurance companies in the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017.

As of June 2018, the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 21.4% for banks and 32.5% for MFIs compared to the 15% prudential benchmark.

Banking sector Liquidity Coverage Ratio stood at 299.5% in June 2018, compared to the 100% prudential requirement. The liquidity ratio of MFIs stood at 103% in June 2018, compared to the 30 percent prudential limit.

The solvency position of private insurers increased to 149% in June 2018 compared to 61% registered in June 2017.

Non Performing Loan ratio in banks dropped to 6.9% from 8.2% in June 2017. The ration in MFIs reduced from 12.3% to 8%.

Financial sector profits, combining banks, MFIs and insurance, increased from Rwf40.2 billion in June 2017 to Rwf50.6 billion in June 2018.

The banking sector profits increased from Rwf21.5 billion to Rwf22.9 billion.

The MFI sector rebounded from a loss of Rwf118 million in the first half of 2017 to a profit of Rwf3.3 billion in the first half of 2018.

The insurance sector profits increased from Rwf18.6 billion in the first half of 2017 to Rwf24.5 billion in the first half of 2018.

Rwangombwa said exchange rate pressures remain moderate. By end of June 2018, Rwandan franc depreciated by 1.7% against the US dollar. The depreciation is predicted at 4.0% maximum by end of December while the inflation is projected not to exceed the medium term objective of 5%.

Central Bank Governor presents Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement twice a year to highlight updates on economic and financial developments and future prospects thereof.

The historic moment was made on a very wet Thursday afternoon with the rain pouring heavily on the artificial turf of the Kigali Regional Stadium in Nyamirambo. But despite the depressing weather, diehard Rayon Sports FC fans were singing and cheering for their team.

In the first ten minutes of the match, Eric Rutangwa tried to sweep the ball past Young Africans custodian for the opening goal, but was stopped by Young Africans’ Haiji Shaibu.

Caleb Bonfils Bimenyimana was the one who swept the ball past the custodian for the opening goal, exactly on the 19th minute.

As the match closed on a 1-0 at half time, Young Africans came back battling for an equalizer, but to no avail as Rayon Sports’ players stayed with the ball.

Lucky enough for the Blues, last minute efforts by the visitors to get an equaliser bore no fruit as Rayon Sports who played with a handful players, broke into jubilation after the final whistle.

The win took Rayon Sports’ count to nine points, placing it just behind USM Alger, which won 2-1 in another tie against Kenyan Gor Mahia. The team will wait for their quarter-final opponents on Monday, September 3.

[Click here for more pictures->https://www.flickr.com/photos/igihepictures/sets/72157697555252512]

{{Photos: Moses Niyonzima }}

OECD is a 36-member club of the world’s most developed economies.

The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that Israel former Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and former ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, are working hard to see Rwanda join the club.

During his visits to Rwanda as Attorney-General, Weinstein developed a good relationship with President Paul Kagame.

When Weinstein left office, he and Prosor held talks with Kagame and Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo as Rwanda was weighing in joining the OECD.

The Israelis helped their country join OECD in 2010.

Joining the OECD would foster Rwanda’s development and foreign investment.

“We all saw eye to eye. They showed enthusiasm that Rwanda should go for it. After very little time had passed, they hired us. They said, ‘you have experience, you did it in Israel, you can get it done for Rwanda,” Weinstein told The Jerusalem Post of the talks he had with Kagame and Mushikiwabo.

He said that, after the 1994 Genocide that devastated Rwanda, the country’s economy and political situation have stabilised, adding that attracting foreign investors is now Rwanda’s high priority.

Weinstein said that for Rwanda to hire him and Prosor also proved the country’s serious commitment.

If Rwanda joins OECD soon, it may be the first African country to be in the organisation.

South Africa tried to join but its methods of governance hindered the bid.

Weinstein said that they have already started to lobby allies on behalf of Rwanda.

He said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria also views the potential of Rwanda joining the same way that the Israeli does.

“He wants to broaden the OECD. He really wants African countries to join. He tried hard with South Africa,” said Weinstein referring to OECD SG.

He, however, predicted that joining OECD can take Rwanda more than five years as the process also took Israel more than three years.

Talking of Rwanda’s potentials, Weinstein described Kigali as a Western-style city, saying that Kigali is “orderly, developed, clean and secure.”

Weinstein said Rwanda has gone beyond the genocide effects to embrace “a genuine forgiveness process,” contrary to Israelis who say about the Holocaust: “We don’t forget and we don’t forgive.”

He said that in Rwanda the approach is: “We don’t forget, but we do forgive.”
Weinstein plans to help Rwanda move toward OECD acceptance by encouraging a free market, democracy, transparency and the rule of law.

This entails a five-part strategy proving Rwanda’s sufficiency of its internal laws, independence of its state prosecution and judiciary from political influence, the stability of its banks and a readiness to comply with international conventions.

Weinstein has legal review assistance by veteran attorney Ron Dror and law clerk Yael Hadad. The team is now advancing Rwanda’s OECD bid.

“Africa is the only continent not represented in the OECD, and I think everyone should applaud Rwanda [for] its desire to break the barrier and become the first African country to join the organisation,” said Prosor.

He added that joining OECD would be of mutual interest for both Rwanda and international community as other African countries can follow Rwanda’s lead in joining the club which requires highest international standards.

The 2017 tourism revenues constituted almost 50% of the country’s services exports.

The report of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) released on Tuesday indicates that national parks received 94,000 visitors in 2017, putting $18.7 million in the national coffers.

Volcanoes National Park accounted for 38% of all parks’ visits and fetched over 90% of the revenues. Akagera and Nyungwe national parks received 44,000 and 14,000 visitors, cashing in $1 million and $500,000 respectively.

International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), ranked Rwanda in 2016 as Africa’s 3rd leading MICE tourism destination.

MICE stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions.

RDB annual report also showed that Rwanda recorded growth in investments registered in 2017. Export values and volumes also increased.

Registered 137 investment commitments amounted to $1.67 billion and are expected to generate 37,548 jobs. Most attracted were transformative investments in logistics, tourism, agro-processing, health and mining.

Overall exports fetched about $2 billion and grew by 36% compared to 2016 while merchandise exports grew by 58%. At least 100 export market destinations were served through 81 different products in 2017. Tourism exports grew by 12% from 2016-2017.

The report shows that the country’s population size was 11.3 million with $729 GDP per capita.

The 27-year old party puts forward the citizen-based development.

PL has been in Rwanda’s politics in different capacities including having seats in parliament and holding other senior positions in the government.

PL President Donatille Mukabalisa was the Speaker of the Lower House dissolved early this month.

Mukabalisa has told IGIHE in an exclusive interview that PL has confidence and abilities to do well in parliament.

It has selected 80 politically skilled candidates. Most of them are degree holders, two with PhD and eight with master’s degree in different disciplines.

Mukabalisa says PL MPs will strive to have in place good policies that consider citizens’ views.

She said PL will encourage MPs outreach to consult the public during law-making process. Getting closer to citizens and responding to their concerns is enshrined in PL’s principles.

{{Review of Ubudehe categories
}}

Categorisation of citizens basing on their financial means, locally known as Ubudehe, is one of the policies that has often ignited public outcry. Some claim to be denied services and opportunities due to their categories which do not match with their means.

Mukabalisa says PL intends to harmonise the categorisation to make everyone be in their right category and ensure that all the needy receive support to help them graduate from one category to the better.

“This has been an issue of debate for long. We shall have this corrected…if we want to build a knowledge-based economy, we need to support the education of the vulnerable students,” she remarks.

{{Farmers considered
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PL is concerned that skills and research are highly needed in farming activities. This will lead to increased production.

Mukabalisa observes that research is paramount to optimise the country’s small land by identifying crops that are suitable for every area.

PL will strive to develop agro-processing and exportation of farm production in order to reduce trade deficit.

Mukabalisa says the party will ensure the government puts in place a bank for farmers to increase access to finances. PL will also advocate for an insurance scheme for farming activities.

It will also seek to empower Rwandans with industrial competences in order to develop this sector in the country. PL will ensure every district makes profit of the opportunities within its boundaries. This will be done by making sure the district has the funding to implement its projects.

Mukabalisa says PL will strive to set right what went wrong in the past. The party will ensure the 80-seat Lower House fulfils its duties of legislation and overseeing the government’s activities.

PL won six parliamentary seats in 2003, four in 2008 and five in 2013.

Basing on citizens attendance to PL campaigns, good manifesto and skilled candidates, Mukabalisa has confidence that the party will secure more seats this time than ever before.

Parliamentary general elections are slated for September 2-3 to decide on 53 seats. The 53 are sought by an RPF-lead coalition of seven parties, four other parties apart including PL and four independent candidates.

Other 27 seats for women, youth and people with disabilities will be decided on September 4.