Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has been awarded a Honorary Doctorate from Fatih University – Istanbul, 23 March 2012.
President Paul Kagame received the Honorary Doctorate during a Working Visit to Turkey.
He also attended the Turkey-Rwanda trade & investment forum- Istanbul, on 22 March 2012.
The first Diamond ring in the world has been created in Switzerland at a cost of $70 million. It took a full year to carve the ring, which has been copyrighted.
The ring was created by Shawish’s president and CEO Mohamed Shawesh using lasers along with traditional diamond cutting and polishing techniques.
Most other diamond rings are composed of a precious-metal band with a diamond centerpiece.
The 150-carat ring runs laps around some other famous diamond competitors, including Beyoncé’s 18-carat engagement ring from Jay-Z and the even better known 30-carat ring given to the late Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton.
One person has died and others sustained minor injuries this evening at 7:00 PM when an unknown type of explosive blew off in Musanze district town. The Dead person is suspected to have been in posession with the explosive
The blast occurred close to Equity Bank near former premises of Belvedere Transport Company on the road leading to the construction site of the new Musanze town bus terminal.
Mpebyemungu Winifrida the Mayor of Musanze district told IGIHE minutes after the blast that the victim of the blast could have been the one in possession of the Explosive.
According to the effect of the blast of the deceased it clear the victim was in possession of the Explosive. There wasn’t much damage in the area and other people sustained minor injuries. The town has always been safe”.
Suprentendent Theos Badege the Police spokesperson told IGIHE the injured are five people and are already receiving medical care at Musanze hospital and “One person died on spot”.
Supt. Badege explained that the cause of the attack hasn’t been established but investigations have already been launched. No suspects have arrested in connection with the attack.
Four people have sustained injures in an accident involving three cars at Kimisagara in Kigali city.
The accident occurred at 5:00PM. It was caused by an over speeding commuter taxi (RAB035K) that lost control after failing to brake and rammed into other two cars a minibus RAB 525G and a Rav4 RAV4 of RAB238V.
IGIHE talked to the driver of the RAV4 car on condition his identity remains anonymous, “the minibus driver lost control while over speeding and swerved from one side of the road to another and hit us”.
The police officer who was present urged drivers to pay attention especially to the technical status of their cars.
The injured were rushed to CHK -University Hospital of Kigali.
European countries have secured permission to launch military attacks on Somalia land aimed at dismantling pirate’s bases including other targets at sea.
In a two-year extension of its mission, EU defence ministers agreed warships could target boats and fuel dumps. The extension means EU warships will stay until at least December 2014.
Currently there are up to 10 EU naval ships actively patrol the Horn of Africa. They have policed shipping routes and protected humanitarian aid since 2008.
An EU official said the new mandate would allow warships or helicopters to fire at fuel barrels, boats, trucks or other equipment on beaches.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters, “The EU plan is to allow attacks on land installations when ships are assaulted at sea,” adding that “much care” would be taken to avoid civilian deaths.
If passed into law, the draft law currently before Cabinet awaiting passing into a Presidential Order, will empower Kigali city as a stronger entity that will be in charge of all developments in the three districts that makeup the capital city.
Fidel Ndayisaba Kigali city Mayor told a local daily that the new law will harmonise all plans developed by the three districts.
“We want Kigali to become a business oriented city and are very optimistic this new policy, once approved, will be a very positive move towards the development of the city”.
The three Kigali city districts including; Nyarugenge, Kicukiro, and Gasabo, will only be in charge of social affairs.
Local Government Minister James Musoni was quoted by the local daily saying that “budget will also be centralized”.
However, Minister Musoni explains that the new policy, “will not remove the three districts; they will remain with their autonomy while facilitating certain developments in compliance with the City of Kigali”.
IGIHE has reliably learnt that MTN has moved up 12 places to the 188th position in the world’s most valuable brand rankings and maintained its position as Africa’s only company in the Brand Finance Global 500 grading.
MTN boasts of 164.6 million subscribers across its 22 markets in Africa and the Middle East. By 31 December 2011 MTN Group revenue had increased by 9.7% to R121, 884 million and subscribers grew to 164.5 million, an increase of 16.2% from 2010.
“MTN’s impressive growth are a result of hard work and resourcefulness of the MTN people whose passion for the mobile business and superior customer experience continues to inspire MTN to new global heights every year,” said De Faria.
“We are very pleased with our global ranking accolade. It shines the spotlight on our efforts to grow the MTN brand through differentiated offerings that go beyond merely enabling our subscribers to make a voice call, but to empower them to become active global economic citizens through access to world-class telecommunications services, including data,” says Christian de Faria, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer.
“Being recognised as the only African brand in the top 500 Global Brands for two consecutive years is an inspiration. We have invested a lot in ensuring that MTN is reflective of our customers and our markets and what makes them so unique and special.”
“From our sponsorship of the 2012 FIFA World Cup to our involvement in community projects in each of our markets, we are proud to connect with our customers in a meaningful way and to be recognized on a global stage,” says Jennifer Roberti, MTN’s Executive for Marketing.
Nine Hundred students have been awarded with degrees and diplomas at the Kigali institute of Science and Technology-KIST.
This is the tenth graduation ceremony held since KIST was established.
The minister of Education Dr. Vincent Biruta the chief guest at the function told the graduates are welcome to the job market and encouraged girls to also embrace technology courses.
KIST Rector, Dr. Mujawamariya Jeanne D’Arc said the graduates had undergone industrial training at various institutions while others had developed project proposals that would be beneficial to the country’s development.
Mujawamariya told the graduates to create their own Jobs and desist from job seeking.
The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) will on March 26, launch a national Customer Care Campaign “Na Yombi” at Serena Hotel, Kigali to sensitise the public on the importance of good customer care to the country.
A communiqué this reporter has seen says the campaign is part of the continued effort to promote and support the private sector, especially the private sector in order for the country to achieve accelerated socio-economic development.
“The objective of the new campaign is to influence behavioral change both in public and private sectors and create channels through which we can initiate public dialogue in order to create awareness about the reality of customer service in Rwanda and how it impacts on economic growth,” reads the communiqué from RDB.
The campaign comes at the time when there is concern that customer care is lacking in the services sector. Particularly, the hospitality industry is greatly affected by the poor customer care despite the factor that it is the leading foreign exchange earner for the country.
Rwanda wants to gain a competitive edge in the region’s tourism industry through the campaign to boost customer care. According to RDB, tourism receipts increased by 25% in 2011, from $200M to $252M as the investments in the sector in 2011 amounted to $117M compared to $106M in 2010.
Early this year, RDB together with representatives from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Private Sector Federation, hospitality associations as well as the quality standards taskforce within the Tourism Unit met to identify ways of improving customer care in the hotels and restaurants.
Speaking to the press then, Rica Rwigamba, the Head of Tourism and Conservation at RDB, said it was agreed that the association of hoteliers embarks on an urgent programme to ascertain the standards and quality of services delivered by hotels and other hospitality facilities.
Last year the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR) released a report calling for the urgent solutions to the problem that could even push back foreign earnings but employment as well.
The report shows that 25% of tourists experienced bad customer experience during their stay in Rwanda.
“Rwandan customer service is seen as the worst in the East African region, which comprises of Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Poor customer service and its impact on the Rwandan economy,” said Gloria Lwakabamba the lead researcher.
To boost Government efforts, high institutions of learning like Rwanda Tourism University College now offer courses hospitality where the issues of customer care are empahsised. But it is hoped the upcoming nationwide campaign will deliver positive results and grow the sector further.
Thirty military officers from East African member states have concluded a three-week security training at Rwanda Peace Academy, Nyakinama in Musanze district.
The international course aimed at enriching the military officers on military ethics and the law of armed conflict.
Col. Kabandana Innocent the head of Rwanda Military Academy urged the participants to apply the skills acquired during the training.