Author: b_igi_adm1n

The Rwandan government together with the experts from Singapore has trained local leaders in leadership development training that have taken three weeks.

During the training, expert from Singapore Mr. Shahrill Aj emphasized that it is important leaders to be equipped with leadership.

“Leadership is a key to development so leaders should be equipped with leadership before leading others,” Mr. Shahrill Aj said.

During the closing ceremony the Minister of Local Government James Musoni reminded that trainees of unity in order to work towards one team a great nation.

“What you learnt from here should be put into practice because the country needs to develop as quickly as possible,” Musoni added.

”We are all here for one purpose and we are glad that now we will work out very well and we will fish the best fish to feed our people,” said Dr Aissa Kirabo Kacyira the Eastern Province Governor who spoke on behalf of the trainees.

“We are one team playing one game and aiming at winning,” Aime Bosenibamwe the Northern Province Governor told IGIHE.com.
During the training, the Singapore experts delivered examples from their small country that has acquired a big economy.

Local leaders were trained in leadership and management styles, stages of team development, key concepts of strategic and systems thinking, basic elements in resource management, budgetary reforms, learning and action planning.

The training was funded by the government through the National Decentralisation Implementation Secretariat (NDIS) in collaboration with development partners, namely the German International Cooperation and Swiss Cooperation.

A whooping US $ 39.8 m loan and grant from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to Rwanda to help improvement in Agriculture.

The loan and grant agreements for the Project for Rural Income through Exports (PRICE) and the Support Project for the Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture (PAPSTA) have been signed by John Rwangombwa the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and Yukiko Omura Vice-President of IFAD.

Agriculture accounts for 32 per cent of the GDP and employs more than 70 per cent of the country’s population.

Through PRICE and a supplementary grant for the ongoing PAPSTA project, the Government of Rwanda and IFAD will work with the project beneficiaries and the private sector to boost the potential of the agriculture sector to move from subsistence agriculture to market-based farming.

“With its focus on enabling smallholder farmers and vulnerable groups to participate in export value chains for coffee, tea, silk and horticulture, PRICE is a flagship project in terms of public-private partnership,” said Yukiko Omura.

PRICE aims to promote sustainable increased returns to smallholder farmers from the coffee, tea, silk and horticulture value chains by helping farmers to increase the volume and improve the quality of production.

The project will support 170 farmers’ cooperatives nationwide, and will push for a high share of the export price to reach the smallholder producers. More than 125,000 vulnerable households, particularly households headed by women and young people, will benefit from PRICE.

Newly available funding for PAPSTA, which works in the six districts of Bugesera, Kirehe, Gakenke, Ngororero, Nyamagabe and Nyanza, will help to continue rehabilitating an additional 150 hectares of marshland for rice production.

The project will also increase its activities in the areas of agricultural strategy formulation, soil and water conservation and marketing support structures.

With this new Project for Rural Income through Exports, IFAD will have financed 14 programmes and projects in Rwanda for a total investment of US$189.8 million benefiting 500,000 households.

Thirty senior police officers including five from the newly formed state of South Sudan have gathered in a two-week training aimed at proffessionalising the force.

The training has been organised by Rwanda National Police in conjunction with the British High Commission to Rwanda.

The training is in line with the implementation of the resolutions adopted the recent Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) meeting to join in combating trans-border crimes.

In the meeting, EAPCCO member states agreed to help in training the police of the newly formed South Sudan state.

The Inspector General of police Emmanuel Gasana who also chairs EAPCCO says 21 other officers are undergoing various courses with 14 of them doing online degree courses at Cambridge University and two attending the international strategic and leadership course and international commanders’ course at Bramshill College.

Two other officers are scheduled to enrol at Teesside University for Masters’ degrees in forensic science while three others are slated for Leicester University on the online Masters’ degree.

Ten officers have so far graduated with Masters’ degrees from Teesside University.

“This is a clear manifestation of our effort towards professionalising the police force. I am sure the knowledge that will be acquired here will increase their capacity in leadership, management of crucial incidents, command and control, strategic planning and management and community policing,” Gasana said.

Ben Llewellyn Jones, the British High Commissioner to Rwanda says that it is very important his government to support the Rwandan police and South Sudan too plus supporting links that exist between the two countries.

“It’s important that police becomes professional, which is central to good governance,” Jones said.

They will be trained in leadership, management and community policing, the latter, which aims at enhancing the cooperation between police and the local communities.

It will also cover topics such as intelligence-led policing to further improve the exchange of information between the police and the general public.

The marketing manager of Hello’s Corner has observed that safety of their clients is vital for the growth of their business and other business across the country.

Augustine Munyangabo told igihe.com in an interview that progress of doing business in Rwanda was a contribution of peace, security and stability in the country.

“Our success in business can be attributed to the security in the country in addition to customer care we give to our clientele,” Munyangabo said in an interview.

“Given the fact that Rwanda has been recently ranked the top country in the region in doing business despite having minimal resources Rwandans should attribute this achievement to the peace and security experienced in the country today where everyone is free to work 24hours a day with no interference,” he added.

In order to make their clients more secure, the Montel-pub has introduced metal detectors used to search their clientele whether they seeking for accommodation or getting their services and leave.

“We have equipped our security staff with security skills and in addition purchased metal detectors that we use to ensure security of clients and their property.”

Hello’s Corner is a Motel-Pub located in Remera opposite control techniques. This facility operates 24hours 7days a week and offers variety of services such as Sauna, Massage and Lodges.

The popular ‘One Dollar Campaign’ which was aimed at fundraising money to solve shelter problems of genocide orphans wants Frw$4billion to complete its work whose deadline is december. It’s now two years since the campaign kicked off.

The campaign was launched by members of the Rwandan Diaspora to source funds with an aim of solving the issue of homeless orphans of the 1994 Genocide.

December this year is the deadline set by One Dollar Campaign officials to complete the first phase of constructing homes for genocide orphans.

The campaigns director Apollinaire Sayinzoga Nkongoli has been quoted saying there is still a deficit of 4 billion to complete the work.

The first phase of buildings is composed of a four storey house with rooms, a dining hall and kitchen.

It is expected that by December this year, 192 orphans will move into the new building after all the necessary amenities are installed inside.

The completion of the whole phase of construction will see the accommodation of 600 children many of whom do not have a place to call home especially during school holidays.

The one dollar campaign was initiated by the Rwandan Diaspora to contribute funds mainly to construct houses for orphans of the genocide against the Tutsi and Igihe.com had an interview with One Dollar Campaign Director Apollinaire Sayinzoga Nkongoli and the following are the excerpts.

How did One Dollar Campaign Project develop?

One Dollar Campaign is a project that emerged from discussions in 2009 among the Rwandan Diaspora through their forum Rwanda Diaspora Global Network (RDGN).

Léonie Rutanga the vice president of the forum told IGIHE.com that during the Diaspora meeting in 2008, suggestions of how we can help genocide orphans who had no where to stay especially during the holidays which would often lead to isolation of children and self neglect.

We then thought of collecting money which would be used to construct houses for the children.

Parfait Gahamanyi the commissioner in charge of Diaspora in the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation said that the Diaspora quickly without hesitation agreed to start the process of fundraising.

The government of Rwanda also supported the initiative by sensitizing all Rwandans in the country on the project.

What has been achieved?

Sayinzoga Nkongoli the head of “One Dollar Campaign Project” says there was a delay in implementation but now there is what can make someone to smile since 2009 when we the fundraising begun, getting the construction site and securing the necessary documents for the work to begin.

The real construction process kicked off in January this year and now the first block is almost getting completed at an average of 70%. When completed this single complex will accommodate up to 192 children.

How much work is left?

As narrated by the Diaspora committee and “One Dollar Campaign organizers, this complex is one of the three complexes that have to be completed and all together will accommodate about 600 children.

The second phase of the construction phase is soon starting. One Dollar Campaign authorities are still calling upon Rwandans for their support which is most needed especially at this crucial stage of the construction.

This first phase is projected to cost about 812million Francs, while the whole complex which will be constructed in three phases will cost almost 5billion Francs. Since the project kicked off, 985 million Francs has been collected meaning that this will only complete the first phase.
Two hands are better than One

This comment came from Parfait Gahamanyi the commission of Diaspora in the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation MINAFFET, who was expressing on the achievement made so far noting that since every Diaspora agreed to contribute at least $1 and today we are registering such achievements.

The remaining phases require much support and effort. The executive secretary of RDGN Aimable Rwamucyo told Igihe.com that whoever wishes to know the progress of the construction in detail and who ever wishes to give his contribution no matter the location to visit

“http://www.rwandandiaspora.gov.rw/” for more information.

The Minister of Health Dr. Agnes Binagwaho has re-emphasized that delivery and access to quality health services is a national priority.

The Minister was referring to the government’s commitment to invest more in health sector upon handover health tools worth over Rwf 200 million to health workers.

In partnership with Global fund, the Ministry of Health donated 4 cars and 101 motorcycles to facilitate District health workers across the countries.

“We are aware that investing in health infrastructure is an engine to making provision of quality of care a national priority,” Binagwaho said adding that the donation of the motorcycles and cars was an indication of the government’s commitment to invest in health.

The Minister also said that an increased investment in health infrastructure has put Rwanda on track towards attaining the MDGs and the government’s vision 2020.

Binagwabo added that Ministry of Health has put extra efforts to develop health infrastructure and bridge the geographical access gap through construction of new health facilities.

Other efforts include rehabilitation of the health facilities, purchasing of new ambulances for Health Centers, generators to rural health centers, improvement of the laboratory system and the development of Telemedicine.

According to the minister motorcycles will be distributed to District Hospital Technicians, Community Health workers Supervisors and Health Centers for HIV services integration.

At Lemigo Hotel, Justice stakeholders held a meeting with different donors for an in-depth analysis of performance during the past fiscal year 2010/11 in the implementation of EDPRS results and policy matrix and an assessment of the CPAF targets and policy actions in order to come up with policy recommendations for the coming year.

The meeting is held annually bringing together justice sector stakeholders including the ministry of justice, security organs, the Supreme Court, reconciliation commission and civil society organization and donor partners focusing on human rights.

“This annual meeting is mainly oriented towards review and evaluates the past set objective and what was achieved. We develop strategies so that the coming year they can realize. For instance last year we had four major objectives; decentralization of justice, fight against genocidal ideology, enhancement of laws in the country and consolidating peace and security in the country.” Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwari the permanent secretary in the ministry of justice told igihe.com.

Stakeholders present at the meeting included representatives of the lead sector ministry (MINIJUST), representatives from other concerned ministries and government institutions, representatives from the National Budget, National Development Planning and Research and External Finance Units of MINECOFIN, representatives from donor organizations, Civil society representatives and other delegates from government institutions as deemed by the lead ministry.

According to Jolke Oppewal the head of cooperation at the Netherlands embassy and the co-chair for the Justice and Reconciliation Sector told igihe.com that the objective of the meeting was to look at the sectors performance in the year 2010/11 that ended 30th June.

“Currently the sector is getting much better as institutions work together, they have much better planning and monitoring and they have well set targets and indicators on what they want to achieve related to a number of issues that are very important; what is the capacity of prisons compared to the number of prisoners, access to justice houses at the district level; are they there, how long do people have to wait before their trail? All these are indicators in this framework and the present conclusion of this morning is that a big majority of these targets has been achieved.” Jolke Oppewal

According to the coordinator of the Legal Aid Forum Mr. Andrews Kananga “Much has been achieved not only in 2010/11 even before because we have a framework that we are working in called EDPRS.

For the past three years, we have been working in that strategy and a lot has been achieved in terms to access to justice, we have a lot of achievement as far as decentralization of justice is concerned where by the government has put in place access to justice houses, equipment and trained officers working in those houses to be able to assist people in legal matters”

The United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda based in Arusha Tanzania, has upheld 25-year jail terms imposed on a former Rwanda military officer and a landowner for Tutsi genocide in 1994.

The appeals chamber of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) dismissed the appeal by Lieutenant Colonel Ephrem Setako(photo above), who was also head of the defence ministry’s division of legal affairs, upholding his conviction for genocide for ordering the killings on 25 April 1994, of 30 to 40 ethnic Tutsis at Mukamira military camp and some 10 other Tutsis there on 11 May.

It also confirmed his convictions for extermination as a crime against humanity and for violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons as a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions that govern the treatment of prisoners of war.

The chamber also upheld the 25-year jail term imposed on Yussuf Munyakazi, a former farmer and landowner, for genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity based on his role in the killings of ethnic Tutsi at Shangi and Mibilizi parishes on 29 and 30 April 1994, respectively.