Author: b_igi_adm1n

Mcleod Russel India under its Borelli Tea Holdings Ltd. (Borelli),has taken full management of Gisovu Tea Company pending completion of certain formalities.

The said formalities having been completed, Gisovu has issued 12,740 Ordinary shares of RWF 1,00,000 each being 60% of the paid-up share capital of the said Company to Borelli on December 01, 2011.

With the issue of the above shares to Borelli, Gisovu has become a subsidiary of Borelli and a step-down subsidiary of Mcleod Russel India Ltd.

The Mcleod Russel India Ltd stock closed the day at Rs.226.75, up by Rs.5.80 or 2.63%. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.228.95 and low of Rs.223.25

Rwanda Defense minister Gen.James Kabarebe is in a four day visit to the republic of Côte d’Ivoire.

Gen.Kabarebe is expected to hold talks with the country’s leaders on the program of country’s reconstruction following the destruction caused by war and political instability.

Côte d’Ivoire government has expressed interest for learning from Rwanda’s reconstruction Experience following the devastation caused by the 1994 Tutsi Genocide.

The government of Côte d’Ivoire is faced with a major challenge of disarming citizens that are in possession with fire arms, demobilisation of former combatants (Rwanda has demoblised over 78,000 former soldiers) establishing a military representative of all groups and establishing citizens unity and reconciliation program.

Gen. Kabarebe on Sunday met with his Côte d’Ivoire counterpart Paul Koffi Koffi.

He will also meet with Côte d’Ivoire Prime Minister Guillaume Soro and Charles Konan-Banny the leader of the country’s Unity and reconciliation commission.

Gen. Kabarebe’s Visit follows the recent visit to Rwanda of Côte d’Ivoire Prime Minister Guillaume Soro.

The Minister of State in charge of Transport Dr. Alexis Nzahabwanimana has urged entrepreneurs to meet deadlines of what they agree in contracts they sign.

Dr. Nzahabwanimana said this during his visit that intended to assess the evolution of roads built at Taba in Butare town in Huye district, Southern Province.

He said the contractor is delaying in accomplishing the activities, differently from the contract.

He said, “According to the contract the entrepreneur didn’t meet the deadline of building these roads. They also have to improve their work and meet the deadline to achieve the development”.

The representative of the company building the roads promised that before 2012, all Taba roads will be ready for use.

Some contractors delay to accomplish what they sign in the contracts between them and different institutions including government agencies.

The delay affects the way people expect to meet their goals to reach development, there are cases where entrepreneurs setback to meet the deadlines to complete what is expected to be accomplished in a given period.

The Economist Conferences, a division of the Economist Group, publishers of The Economist, are hosting The East Africa Summit in Kigali to be held on December 6th-7th, 2011 at Kigali Serena Hotel.

The conference will attract international business leaders and policy-makers to engage in a frank, open debate about the region’s prospects and explore emerging opportunities for companies seeking to grow their East African businesses.

Under the theme ‘Unlocking the business potential of a dynamic region’, The summit aims at bringing together more than 150 international business leaders, investors, policymakers and influential commentators.

Participants will take an incisive look into East Africa’s new role in the fast changing global business arena.

Clare Akamanzi, the COO of the Rwanda Development Board noted, “The conference will provide an opportunity for Rwandan private sector to create gainful partnerships, break into new markets and seize new opportunities along with regional and international businesses.”

Akamanzi added that the summit will provide a window through which the world can gain a better perspective of Rwanda and the East African region and offer a platform for showcasing to participants, not only Rwanda’s investor-friendly and predictable environment, but also its enormous opportunities in a vast array of sectors in Rwanda and the East Africa region.

“Rwanda was this year named as the third most competitive country in sub-saharan Africa after Mauritius and South Africa and the third easiest in Doing Business in Africa. Therefore this conference, which is welcome, will further boost Rwanda’s and the region’s attractiveness for investments.” Akamanzi stressed.

Notable speakers at the summit will include the Hon Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya; Richard Sezibera, Secretary General, East African Community; Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom; Pierre Trouilhat, CEO, Nestle Equatorial African region; Gordon Boyle, Chief Executive, BMMI Group; Joe Mucheru, Regional Lead sub-Saharan Africa, Google and a host of others.

The summit discussions will focus on the future trading prospects for East Africa in a globalised economy, examining which markets will perform strongest in coming years, the most compelling opportunities for investors, and the practical steps governments should take to ensure the region fulfils its economic potential.

The East African Community member states of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi represent a fast growing economy of $74bn.

If other potential members like Ethiopia, DRC and South Sudan become integrated successfully in the future, the region has the capability to gain enough influence for global competition.

Emerging investment opportunities between now and 2020 will be discussed, including trade, manufacturing and investment as well as the transformation of the business environment, the East African labour market and the next generation financial services.

Effective yesterday the border staff of both Rwanda and Burundi located Nemba in Bugesera have started working under the same building, they jointly offer services related to customs and immigration.

The cooperation is part of an agreement between revenue authorities from both countries with an aim of improving quick services rendered especially at the custom department.

Eugene Higiro a representative of the private sector in Bugesera district noted that he expects the cooperation to improve services since traders using the borders have been complaining of wasting time which affects their business since most of the time they don’t deliver their goods on time.

Kieran Holmes the commissioner general of Burundi Custom Union advised that facilitating traders would encourage trade between both countries hence raising the revenues.

The Rwanda Revenue Authority commissioner general Ben Kagarama commended the cooperation assuring necessary infrastructure at the border post will be hastened. He expressed optimism that there will be more activities at the joint border.

“The cooperation means attracting more activities especially in trade that’s why we want to improve our infrastructure. Meanwhile, we have bought modern weighing scales and more is yet to come,” he said.

So far financial institutions have showed interests in building banks at the border, in terms of hospitality there’re guest houses to accommodate visitors.

The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) director of quality services Jean Baptiste Mutabazi has dismissed allegations from experts claiming that Rwandan telecommunication masts pose a health threat to the general public.

“We have the best telecommunication boosters with less radiation which can’t affect people, mind you we have done research and used some of the best practices from countries which have managed to reduce radiation in their societies,” he remarked.

He noted that Rwanda is a member if the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) which assists them to identify sophisticated gadgets.

However,Dr. Rudasingwa Gatege who heads the faculty of physicians at the National University of Rwanda disagrees with Mutabazi.

“Trust me the radiation might be less but let’s not forget that the health complication doesn’t occur over night rather with time and can cause serious diseases especially in the brain,” he explained.

“It’s not only radiation from telecom masts that are harmful even cell phones and laptops also exhume radiations and since we cannot play safe 100%, still we can reduce the risks by placing the masts away from public and keeping cell phones away from our bodies especially when asleep.”

Meanwhile,others claim that they haven’t experienced any health complications from the telecom masts or perhaps it’s because they have less knowledge about the technology.

Elias Nzabandora a resident in Kimironko who lives nearby a telecom mast gave us his opinion.

“What do you mean by radiation? I’ve never heard of it. As a matter of fact I’ve not heard anyone complaining of health issues as a result of this mast, apart from some who are uneasy with its loud sound of generator when power goes off.”

Jean Baptist Uwihanganye, the Executive Secretary of Mukura Sector in Rutsiro district has recommended the formation of a protection unit to curb the rise of illegal mining in the area.

He noted that despite arresting over 50 illegal miners, the extraction of minerals continues.

“I imagine they have a spy network that monitors and alerts them when we are going for patrol that’s why I recommend a special unit to do the patrols in a consistent manner,” he recommended.

If formed the protection unit will have trusted guards nominated by the society, they will be tasked to guard the mining holes on a 24 hour period, reporting dubious activities and sensitize the public about the risks of mining without professional supervision.

Uwihanganye further urged the government to support the initiative by allocating funds to the protection unit will also the reduce tax evasion.

The leaders started campaign given the fact that for the past four months illegal mining had intensified.

“What they’re doing is risky, recently one person was found dead as a result of landslide,” said Christophe Mudahemuka the Executive Secretary of Ruseheya Sector in Rutsiro District.

RwandAir the national carrier on December 2 launched direct flights to Lagos the commercial capital of Nigeria and West Africa in its effort to connect Kigali to the rest of the world.

The three weekly flights will depart from Kigali at 0830HRS (Local Time) and arrive in Lagos at 1140HRS (Local Time). The return flights depart from Lagos at 1330HRS (Local Time) to reach Kigali at 1840HRS
(Local Time).

The latest Rwandair Boeing 737-800 has already set off to Lagos to mark the first flight.

Lagos becomes the 13th destination to join the airlines rapidly growing network and the
fourth new destination this year after destinations including Gisenyi in the north, neighboring countries; Brazzaville-Congo and Libreville-Gabon.

The ceremony to inaugurate the flight was held in Abuja at a gala dinner that was attended by Rwanda senior government officials, business community and government officials from Nigeria among other guests.

RwandAir CEO John Mirenge present at the event said that Lagos route is part of the airlines commitment and plans to continue exploring the westward network expansion drive.

“At the beginning of the year, we made a commitment to expand our network with a focus on Central and West Africa. Lagos for us is an exciting addition to our network and we know the destination will have very positive contributions to the already existing network,” Mirenge pointed out. We are pleased to make this our first West African destination,” he added.

Mirenge further stated that the Nigerian Aviation Authorities had been very cooperative and responsive to the RwandAir request to fly to Lagos.

“From the time we declared our intentions to fly to Lagos, the Nigerian government and aviation authorities have been very swift and quick in welcoming us,”

Albert Nsengiyumva, the Minister of infrastructure said that aviation experts predicted that Lagos is poised to become an airline megacity in the next 20 years with the ability to handle over 10, 000 passengers per day.

“Rwanda is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and Nigeria should be our number one partner in revolutionizing this sector,” Nsengiyumva remarked.

In Ruhango district, a Pastor identified as Evariste Habiyambere 65,including other four people have been arrested and suspected of stealing 10 laptops meant for pupils in the program named ‘One Laptop per Child’.

Only the Pastor of one of the Seventh day Adventists church has been identified while efforts to obtain identification of others were futile.

Police reports that the laptops were stolen recently at a Nine year Basic Education School of Mutima in Ntongwe sector, Ruhango district by a 19 years old student; Edward Munyabugingo who then gave them to the pastor to market them.

In his words, the pastor accepts the guilt. “I helped boys to keep them and to find a buyer but they caught me before getting them sold.”

Ruhango district Police Commander, CIP Jules Rutayisire, announced that five of the ten laptops have been recovered and the rest are still missing.

Two of them were discovered in Busoro, Nyanza district and other three were recovered from Ntongwe and Kinazi sectors in Ruhango district.