Author: b_igi_adm1n

Genocide survivors in Huye district are willing to plan a protest against the recent acquittal of genocide charges towards Runyinya Barabwiriza a former adviser to late president Juvénal Habyarimana.

Laura Gatera a survivor in Butare town disclosed that Barabwiriza was a close a friend and he had no doubt that he took part in preparing the genocide since he was also the Huye head of National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) the ruling political party by then which organaized the massacres.

“I saw him chairing several meetings with militias , he also went to an extent of advocating for more weapon distribution in our area, really I wonder why the court set him free,” he argued.

Recently the Huye based intermediary court highlighted that evidence against the alleged genocider had been contradictory yet prosecutors said they would appeal. “We have appealed but the exact date hasn’t been communicated yet,” Gatera remarked.

The prosecutor in charge of the case refused to disclose any information citing that only the prosecutor spokesman was allowed to communicate to press. Efforts to reach the spokesman were fruitless as his phone wouldn’t go through.

Janvier Forongo the executive secretary of IBUKA (association of genocide survivors) condemned the court’s ruling adding that it was disrespect to those affected by the war. “It’s so discouraging to find that some of the witnesses like Jean Pierre Rutagengwa who was last night stoned because of giving his testimony,” he said adding,” we urge all witnesses to be strong and give out the truth.”

Over a thousand youths from Rwanda and eight other countries are camping at Nyamirambo’s Sainte Andre secondary school to discuss behavioral initiatives that can fight temptations threatening their future.

The camping was organized by the International Youth Forum (IYF) that has been operating in Rwanda for the past five years. It’s permanent secretary Blaze Nyiribakwe said that so far they have transformed many from “immoral behavior”.

“Most of the drug addicts counseled at the centre are progressing well and others have decided to become volunteers to assist others, especially their friends still involved in drug abuse,” he stressed.

Moreover, behavior change he emphasized is about encouraging the youth to exploit their talents rather than being idle during when many fall into temptations.

The weeklong camp will see participants take part in various activities meant to exploit their talents as a way strengthening the youth networks in the region.

According to Rwanda’s IYF public relations officer Peter Kiogothi, there will be sports, debate competition, performance and mind education which is similar to counseling.

“In sports we intend to have soccer, volleyball, athletics and many others, while in debate there will be topics based on the role of youth in developing their countries. Competitions on the other hand will be based on talent exploitation, singing, dancing and English speech contest.” Kiogothi said.

Serge Nzabonimpa, the advisor, ministry of youth urged participants to interact and share ideas highly meant to develop themselves.

“You should strive to learn from one another while strengthening the spirit of unity across the world if you want to achieve more,” he emphasised.

IYF has been organizing similar camps in other countries, especially during holiday seasons in order to discourage the youth from being tempted into corrupt behaviors.

Kiogothi further noted that participants are taught on Godly practices whose past fellowships helped a lot.

Jin Yudan and Miao Danying are university students from China attending the camp who noted that they expect to learn a lot from Rwandan culture and history and wished that local participants would open up and freely talk to them about the challenges there face.

“In terms of culture exchange we intend to train them how to be punctual because I’ve realized that the majority are late. This camp is about respect and courtesy towards each other,” Yudan said

After the camp, the teachings do not end rather they proceed in various clubs formed by IYF particularly in learning institutions.

“In Kigali we have formed clubs in over five secondary schools and higher learning institutions such as Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and the national university of Rwanda and so far there’s progress,” said Director of IYF Rwanda Chapter Bongjin ko.

“We conduct special language courses including English, Swahili, Korean and Chinese,” said Bongjin ko.

He further pointed out that the lessons also promote their communication skills, especially when interacting with other youth from foreign countries.

The Institute for Youth Fellowship which is ran by volunteers was founded by a South Korean pastor Ock Soo Park in 1990, to help mankind overcome some of the world’s temptation Challenges through strengthening their faith in God.

By: Igihe.com Reporter

Rwanda’s permanent secretary in East African Community Robert Ssali has said Rwanda still faces the challenge of capacity building in its national budgeting process.

Ssali told igihe.com shortly after officially opening the two day 7th Annual Seminar of the Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI) taking place at Serena Hotel.

“Like any other country in Africa, they almost share challenges in their national budget process, challenges persist around the implementation of budget reforms and execution,” Ssali said.

According to the press release, African public financial management (PFM) systems generally suffer from an implementation deficit laws and processes may be in place but seldom affect actual behavior.

He, however, says Rwanda has done quite a lot in 17 years after the 1994 genocide to improve in almost every sector including using well foreign aid that have been directed to national budget.

“Rwanda has really picked up quickly, it has dealt with public finance management systems very seriously instilling discipline in all operators on accountability. To me, discipline of fiscal related matters is the key,” he said adding that Rwanda is the least corrupt country in this region which makes her do well in budget reforms.

Ssali says that seminar was critical to African countries since most of them have their national budgets that are not fully supported by their own resources.

For him the important thing is not having a national budget in place but how to effectively make the budget implemented and serve the needs of the citizens.

The theme of the seminar is “Making Budgets Work – The Implementation Challenge” and emerging information indicate that making budgets work is critical for efficient and effective service delivery, economic growth and socio-economic development.

The 7th CABRI annual Seminar will also explore the reasons and identify possible solutions for the implementation deficit.

The focus will be on three implementation challenges in particular, how to create organisational structures that are most conducive to improved pubic financial management, how to enforce legal frameworks and how to improve fiscal decentralisation to improve local budgeting and service delivery.

Senior budget officials from across Africa met to share knowledge on common challenges of budget implementation on the continent.

Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI) is a professional network of senior budget officials of African Ministries of Finance and/or Planning.
Rwanda is one of the CABRI founding members and also sits on the Management Committee.

Rwanda is hosting a high powered international conference dubbed: “Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CAFRI)” mainly attended by senior Africa budget technocrats at Serena Hotel.

According Seebundhun Kresh, the Chair Person of CABRI from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Mauritius, the participants will explore the reasons and identify possible solutions for the national implementation challenges in particular.

Seebundhun said that delegates will exchange the ideals to create organizational structures that are most conductive to improve on public financial management.

“The main challenge to most countries is practical enforcement of budgets within legal framework.

“It’s also challenging to implement fiscal decentralization to improve local budgeting and service delivery in many African countries and this forum will participants to exchange practical experience to resolve the obstacles,” Seebundhun added.

The permanent Secretary ministry of East African Affairs Robert Ssali reasserted Seebundhun’s observations saying Rwandan budget technocrats will share knowledge on common challenges of budget implementation with their counterparts on the continent.

“Rwanda Achieved remarkable progress in public finance management in a relative short period and that is why we selected to host the 7th annual seminar. We should not cry for what we do not have and think that the happiest ones are those who have much, but rather we should appreciate the
little we have,” said Ssali.

He further said, challenges still remain but Rwanda will have an opportunity to share experiences with peers on how such challenges can be addressed, “The biggest challenge is that, donors influence our budget decisions which could be as a democratic process to our development,” Ssali told participants.

Germany International Corporation (GIZ) Representative help partner countries in technical and budget matters told Igihe.com, “it is essential for the African countries to meet and learn from each other how to manage the economy, as tax payers need to know how their money is well used,” he says.

Different countries face capacity building problem according to the requirements of donors, and priority setting in the implementation process of where to put the budget in the right position, he added.

Rwanda is a member CABRI, a professional network of senior budget officials from ministries of finance and planning in Africa with the mission to promote efficient management of public finances in Africa. Up to 27 member countries send delegations to attend the conference.

By: Igihe.com Reporter

Rwandan businessmen have not been compliant to international standards for quality assurance, the Director General of Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) Dr. Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe has said.

Cyubahiro was attending a three day Regional Conformity Assessment workshop on product certification practices to ISO members.

“The challenges we have is convincing businessmen to have their products certified to meet international standards that gives one credibility and access to international market because you become trusted,” Cyubahiro said.

The certification is done by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for quality assurance of products.

Though certified products are highly needed on the international market, only 43 products have been certified with ISO in Rwanda.

African continent has gone below 3% of international business and it is believed that lack of certified products on international standards for quality assurance is among the contributors.

The ongoing workshop in Kigali which will end tomorrow August 18, has attracted about 50 participants from 27 African countries involved in conformity assessment activities.

The workshop aims at providing latest information on understanding the ISO standards and guides that set out the internationally agreed practices on conformity assessment activities.

Another focus will be made in respect to product certification practices, associated standards, and to respond to issues of special interest to the region during the workshop.

The ISO 9,000 family of standards relates to quality management systems and is designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders.

The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and available through National standards bodies.

The ISO 9,000 deals with the fundamentals of quality management systems including the eight management principles on which the family of standards is based with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard have to fulfill.