Tag: MainSlideNews

{President Paul Kagame has talked about foreign aid, the recent referendum and what it takes for a country to embrace positive changes. }

He talked about the issues yesterday in the 4th World Government Summit that brought together 300 delegates in Dubai, where he noted that Rwanda’s progress is not a function of aid but a supporting part of the whole.

“Aid is not taken for granted. We want to use that aid to build our economies,” he said.
Suspension of aid to Rwanda by some donors is among reasons that fostered Rwanda to launch Agaciro Development Fund which now holds over Rwf 25 billion to be invested in development projects.

President Kagame says that Rwanda is committed to promoting self reliance and boosting trade.

“Nothing can hinder the promotion of trade between African countries to the scale of commerce in Europe and America. The matter is not undeveloped commerce but the most important is the good management of what we own whether little or much,” he said.

Talking about the 18th December 2015 referendum, President Kagame said that Rwandans voted to express their will.

He said that he doesn’t care about speculations and odd sayings but concentrates his efforts in listening to the will of Rwandans who own their future and destiny.

“We have heard what has been said. After that, it is necessary to take a decision of what to do for oneself and own country. Nations can’t attain anything in the absence of collaboration between the government and citizens to meet their needs,” he said.

The three day international summit started on Monday 8th February, 2016 in Dubai and is being held for the 4th time with delegates from 100 countries deliberating on issues of education, health, urbanization and energy.

{The Peace Building Institute (PBI) program held in Kigali, Rwanda, ended successfully on Friday. Organized by Never Again Rwanda, a human rights and peace building organization based in Kigali, the conference attracted over 20 youthful participants from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Burundi, DRC and Rwanda.}

Now in its 13th edition, PBI been a rollercoaster of peace-building activities and a forum for exchanging knowledge, citing lessons from the Rwandan genocide participated against the Tutsi in 1994.

Participants visited Rwanda’s memorial museums and several historical sites to gather enough knowledge on the scars the genocide left on Rwanda. Some of them broke down at Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre, Murambi district in southern Rwanda, where over 50,000 Tutsis were butchered and buried during the genocide.
The aim as has been the case with past editions, was to train participants, mainly university students and young professionals, to become critical thinkers and able leaders good enough to prevent genocide in their countries and also deliver good governance.

Over 150 youth have gone through this platform that rides on the theme; “What Can Rwanda Teach the World?” the past years. In it, participants learnt how to detect signals of genocide and stopping the violent acts. They also get lessons on restorative justice, as well as unity and reconciliation. Robert Cyubahiro, a Rwandan participant, believes participating in PBI has opened him to more information than he did not know about his country’s past. “Growing up, I had heard about Gacaca courts but I didn’t know what they did. I have learnt about transitional justice and governance. I now know leaders have to be put to accountability and how citizens can become community watchdogs.

NAR organizes PBI twice a year, one for African Great Lakes participants and another for international students from Europe and other continents, with the latter set to happen in April. On his part, Mr. Johnson Mugaaga, acting executive secretary National Unity and Reconciliation Commission commends PBI for bringing youth from different countries to learn from Rwanda.

“After the genocide, we Rwandans had to discover ourselves before starting this program to unite us,” he said.

“For over 100 years people were divided, that is why it’s important to build youth into visionary leaders in programs like this for a better future.”

Dr. Joseph Nkurunziza, the NAR co-founder , says this edition has achieved all the targets that had been set, “We have not yet reached where we want PBI to be but this edition was a success. Hope to build more on this next time. We want to make PBI a fully-fledged institute in future.

{The National Itorero Commission has unexpectedly suspended the civic education of secondary leaving students which was slated for 6th to 18th January, 2016 over the increased cases of malaria across the country.}

The Ministry of Local Government has, via twitter account, confirmed widespread news on social media that the civic education (Itorero) for secondary leaving students has been postponed.

The communications officer at MINALOC, Ngendahimana Ladislas, says local leaders were informed about the decision since the invitations of attending civic education had passed through their hands.

“We can’t let children suffer from mosquito bites while they are not protected. The decision was taken after the meeting reserved for preparations of the civic education where a consensus was reached to avail basic materials including mosquito nets and mosquito repelling drugs,” he said.

Ngendahimana said that a video conference has been held between concerned stakeholders to address the issue.

District executive secretaries, the head of National Itorero Commission, education officers in districts, representatives of sports and culture among others are expected to attend the meeting in which the new schedule of Itorero is supposed to be announced.

Every year, outgoing secondary students attend Itorero where they are trained on values of Rwanda, civic education and government programs.