Igihe

Author: Publisher

  • Amavubi U17 mu Gikombe cy’Isi

  • A prelude of patriotism in Rwanda

    Rwanda existed long before European colonization. Born in the current district of Gasabo in the city of Kigali, the country grew over different conquests of neighboring kingdoms, like Gisaka, Bugesera, Nduga, Kinyaga, Ndorwa, etc. It is throughout these conquests it recorded a unique patriotic and heroic history. Having kings like Cyirima Rugwe, Ruganzu Bwimba, Ruganzu-Ndoli, Mibambwe Sekarongoro Mutabazi, Yuhi Mazimpaka, Cyirima Rujugiro, Kigeli IV Rwabugiri, and others as the foremost conquerors of the history of Rwanda, the country grew so vast until the 1888 Berlin conference that demarcated it to what it is today 26,338 km2.

    The country had its political and socio-economic organizations, its culture and customs. It was a sovereign nation. Within the same organization, clans or clan based structures played an important role because they constituted important links in the commanding chain of that time. The society was under a well organized monarchy system that coordinated socio-political and economical schemes towards the well being of the people.

    According to IRDP (2005) Gihanga is the founder myth in Rwanda and the origin of the Banyiginya dynasty. KANYARWANDA Gahima, a mythical King is the founder of this myth and this nation.
    The following are his legacies. He gave a name to this country, “Rwanda rwa Gihanga “; He gave a national unity ideology, uniting (Hutu-Tutsi-Twa) ethnic group that shares language, beliefs and love for the country as children of the same father, in one nation, all of them with complementary roles.

    A King, Mwami, federator or unifier protects the rights of all the Rwandans (political and administrative power, judicial power and moral power). Until the arrival of Lyangombe, who said to be the only intermediary between Imana(God the creator) and the Nation. His mission was to protect the borders of this nation and to expand the Country, to ensure peace and security of all the citizens (Rubanda rw’ umwami) and to protect them from the foreigners. Nobody was allowed to violate the rights of other citizens.

    Here is the assumption; all nations observe in due course their internal norms set to promote the inner culture which identifies themselves amongst the rest of the nations and none of the cultures should be regarded as the dominant. Regardless of how their norms should appear in the eyes of foreigners, the cultural values are self contained and cannot be distorted in any way. In this case what Rwanda had as cultural values are self contained and cannot be compared to any other nation’s values.

    Colonization, post independence regime policies or the dominance of western culture in Rwanda did not erode that much patriotism and heroism as far Rwanda is concerned. Patriotism involves morality and loyalty and these are individually driven and shaped. None can be said to be born a patriot, he learns and grows to be that patriot, the true sense is that, it comes much from him rather than the heard propaganda. He values what he sees and believes and therefore vows to preserve and protect them passionately.

    If that is the case, patriotism ideally amongst some Rwandans was and can never be deteriorated. As a matter of fact the liberation war that took off since 1990 was much driven by the same patriotism that rejected the mistreatment of the core values characterizing Rwanda before, which have been distorted by the post colonial regimes, excluding the Kagame regime.

    Specific details are coming soon.

  • Healing after genocide, Rwandan filmmakers use movies to show the progress

    A group of young Rwandan movie directors are making their mark on the world stage, and helping to heal the wounds of the country’s troubled past.

    Last month, four young Rwandan film makers traveled to New York’s Tribeca Film Festival to showcase their stories, inspired by the resilience and beauty of their country. Making its world premiere at the renowned film festival, “Grey Matter,” by filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza, is one of the first feature-length films to be directed by a Rwandan who still resides in his homeland.

    The film moves between fantasy and reality to illustrate the psychological aftermath of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800,000 people.

    The movie was given a Special Jury Mention at the New York festival “for its audacious and experimental approach.” Ruhorahoza says the idea for “Grey Matter” originated just after the genocide, when he was about 13 years old. He says he wanted to help people understand the effects of the violence.

    “After ’94 I just saw so much and it was overwhelming,” he says. “There are so many people who have lost everything, everything — parents, siblings, their houses — and don’t even have a place to live. And who talks about them?”

    To complete his film, Ruhorahoza says he had to overcome many obstacles that stand in the way of most emerging Rwandan directors. “I didn’t get any money from any institution,” he says. “Rwanda, we don’t have a film industry, we’re still trying to build up one — I couldn’t even get a tripod under my camera, we couldn’t get a sound recorder.”

    Although still in its infancy, Rwanda’s film industry has the potential to educate and move the once war-torn country forward. The Tribeca festival also featured “Perspective: Rwanda” — a series of powerful short films by three young Rwandan directors sharing their stories and examining the theme of “reconciliation.”

    “Saa-Ipo” narrates the story of a talented street musician who wants to make a life out of his passion for music. Director Jean Luc Fils Habyarimana chooses not to address the genocide issue head-on but instead focuses on life after the war.

    “There are a lot of films about genocide and I think many people already know what happened to Rwanda,” he says. “It was terrible, it was very bad, but we need to show people other things.
    “Of course we need to talk about genocide, but we need also to show people that after genocide we have other things to do, to show people we have other things to share.”

    In “Lyiza,” director Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo tells the tale of a young student who discovers that the parents of one of her classmates were responsible for the killing of her family.
    She says that with her film she aims to show the world how Rwandans managed to reconcile and solve their problems themselves without needing any help.

    “All Rwandans want to be reunited and reconciled, they want to see the children playing on the hills without thought of the past,” she says. “That is why they try to forgive. It is forgiveness that transforms the moment but does not erase the past.”

    In his film “Shema,” Kayambi Musafiri decided to cast his own brother for the role of a young man who was left crippled during the genocide — a fitting choice since the director’s brother himself lost a leg during the violence.

    “It was very hard for us both, (my) brother and me, but also we just wanted to show the whole world that things like that can happen but you can just move forward and look for the better future, education and having good times in your list of life,” he says.

    The very fact that Rwanda’s filmmakers are being recognized globally is a sign that, perhaps, the country is doing just that — moving forward to a better future. This story was published by CNN

  • Stakeholders’ role essential for environmental conservation

    The Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA) has introduced reforms meant to improve the role of stakeholders in planning and implementation of environmental conservation activities.

    The reforms will enhance close coordination between government and stakeholders with an aim to facilitate decentralization of the projects.

    According to MINIRENA permanent Secretary Caroline Kayonga, the ministry is working on a strategy that aims to involve stakeholders’ role in various activities such as the integration of environmental and natural resources program.

    “We have to avoid duplication of efforts from partners and we also need to inspect if the stakeholders especially NGO’s are full filling their objectives,” remarked Janvier Ntalindwa, a program officer with the Environment and Natural Resources (ENR).

    Chrysostom Sayine from Rwanda Environmental Conservation Organization (RECO) hoped that the dialogue would enhance capacity building among members as well as advocate for more funds to conclude some of the hanging projects.

  • Foreign markets require quality products, Kanimba advises potters

    The ministry of trade and industry (MINICOM) in conjunction with Rural Small and Medium promotion projects (PPPMER) has donated, 32 bicycles and one computer to a potters cooperative (COPORWA), the aim is to facilitate their work.

    While handing over the equipments to the cooperative, MINICOM minister Francois Kanimba encouraged the potters to be more hard working rather than basing their progress on sponsorships.

    In addition, Kanimba advised the potters to come up with quality products since it not only promote their sales locally but also in foreign markets. The intervention is in line with the ministry’s program to support (SMEs) to acquire latest technology aimed at improving their delivery.

    What’s more, PPPMER will offer literacy training to the potters in a bid to advance their communication skills particularly when dealing with foreign clients.

    On the same occasion the Rwanda Cooperation Agency (RCA) was also given 21 motorcycles meant to facilitate the staff in awareness activities.

    The RCA director Damien Mugabo noted that the donation will help them to reach out to members specially those under the crop intensification program which has so far shown progress in various parts of the country.

  • Budget, deficit will be narrowed to 2.3% of GDP after grants

    Rwanda plans to narrow its budget gap to 2.3 percent of gross domestic product in the year through June 2012 on increased donor grants and tax revenue said Fred Quarshie, an adviser to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.

    The shortfall will shrink from 4.2 percent in the current fiscal year, Quarshie said by phone yesterday.

    The deficit before grants will narrow to 13.7 percent of GDP from 15 percent, Quarshie said. Grants to the government will increase 19 percent to 444.7 billion Rwandan francs ($743 million), while tax revenue is expected to rise by 57.7 billion francs to 501.4 billion.

    Spending will increase to 1.12 trillion francs from 984 billion, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance.

    However, Inflation rate fell from 5.9 percent in December 2009 to 0.2 percent in December 2010, the lowest in the region.
    The Finance Minister said the government was monitoring the inflation rate that started to rise in 2011 before taking appropriate measures as it is expected to be highly affected by oil and food prices on global markets.

    The level of imports was lower than projected in 2010 due to delays in implementation of strategic investment projects.

    Certainly, the surplus of Balance of Payments helped the country to increase external reserves to US$814.2 million, enough to cover 5.4 months of imported goods and services. The full budget 2011/2012 will be presented to parliament later today. Some parts of the story were borrowed from Bloomberg news agency

  • Kagame affirms Rwanda’s democracy

    President Paul Kagame has bristled at suggestions that democracy is not flourishing in his country, and said that the 93 percent of the vote he won last year was not enough.

    Kagame further added that Rwanda enjoys a multi-party political system and that he supports, “a right that allows anybody, everybody to express themselves.”

    He said the will of the people was expressed during last year’s presidential election. “So, 93 percent — I wonder why it wasn’t higher than that,” Kagame told the Council on Foreign Relations, a prominent New York-based think tank.

    When a senior Human Rights Watch director in the audience challenged Kagame, the president said he did not want to hear “lectures.”

    Responding to Peggy Hicks a Human Rights Watch director on mere claims that there were no strong opposition in the elections and that some journalists were silenced.

    Kagame denied this, insisting that there were four presidential candidates from four different parties, although his three nominal opponents in fact had ties to his Rwandan Patriotic Front party.

    The president said anyone can participate in Rwandan politics as long as they do not advocate a return to the genocide that tore the country apart in 1994.

    “There are things that are unacceptable here or in Rwanda, or anywhere else if they work to the detriment of society,” Kagame remarked.

  • Villages yet to raise their own revenues, Japan’s way

    Rwanda is yet to replicate Japan’s way of raising revenues in respective districts, a team of experts from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will assist in the implementation of the program known as One Village One Product (OVOP).

    The program will enhance entrepreneurship by supporting business activities within a community then later the revenues would be used to support developmental activities in the same area.

    Implementation of Rwanda OVOP program will begin with 4 target districts which are Huye, Musanze, Nyagatare and Rubavu. It will expand countrywide and around 5000 business groups are to be nurtured through the program by 2014, impacting on poverty reduction through increased volume of export products and development of small and medium scale industries.

    “This is not a new concept it was first implemented in Japan over two decades ago and became and its success was mostly seen in economy growth,” said Kunio Hantanaka, Japan ambassador in Rwanda.

    Moreover, the program is expected to contribute the private sector-led economy set as one of the pillars in Vision 2020, through boosting local based business, creating employment and generating exports. It is designed as a practical, operational, sustainable and self assessing scheme providing capitalization and accumulation of economic advantages and business development services to empower communities through systematic nurturing of business initiatives and activities.

    As a result, there will be a reduction of the country’s deficit which is staggering at Rwf 1 billion; this will be achieved through formation of Small and Medium Enterprises. OVOP Program in Rwanda has three key pillars which justify its suitability to the Rwandan context: Focus on value addition for products and services; streamlining of business extension services and branding of certified and unique quality.

    “These SME’s are a vital engine to our socio economic progress,” said PSF, Chief Executive Officer Roger Munyampenda adding that, “we’re trying to promote a strong SME sector in order to increase employment at the same time widen our tax base.”

    He however remarked that among the challenges of sustaining the SME’S was due to lack of credit access. In this respect the PSF established a Business Development Fund (BDF) which totals to Rwf 8.4 Billion,” he remarked.

    OVOP is a regional development program originated in Oita prefecture, Japan in the early 1980s. A village produces value-added products made from local materials for both domestic and global markets. JICA assists many developing countries to adopt the program to boost local business.

  • Traffic week aims to discourage reckless driving

    The annual road safety week conducted by Rwanda’s traffic police will emphasize on discouraging reckless driving. The campaign is themed make every journey home a safe one.

    speaking at the awareness launch in Nyamirabo, traffic commander Chief Superintendent Vincent Sano explained that the aim was to ensure orderly traffic to all as way of reducing road accidents.

    Certainly, drivers are advised to avoid reckless driving especially those who drive under the influence of alcohol, a habit which causes the majority of road accidents.

    The police Inspector General Emmanuel Gasana was quick to support Sano by further warning that out of 365 deaths and over 30,000 serious injuries from road accidents each year are caused by uncalculated maneuvers, ridding without helmets and pedestrians carelessness while crossing roads.

    In this respect, the weeklong campaign will sensitize drivers on some of the road signs which are repeatedly ignored by some drivers, among the overlooked signs are zebra crossing, sharp corners and speed limits.

    In order to address the issue of negligence, traffic police will issue flyers to drivers showing causes of accidents. What is more there will be a reward for best drivers especially those who work in public service vehicles (PSV).

    “Road accidents have affected our economy through loss of productivity and infrastructure such as road lights and destroyed city gardens,” said the mayor of Kigali Fidel Ndayisaba.

    The mayor further encourages PSV drivers to ensure etiquette while transporting passengers. “Playing music in your taxis for instance is ok but avoid loud volumes since not everyone is comfortable,” Ndayisaba warned.

    Ndayisaba was backed by James Musoni the minister of local government who encouraged passengers to stop a vehicle once there not comfortable with the driving situation. “It is your right to stop the bus which is over speeding or inform the police,” Musoni remarked. He further assured drivers that the government has plans to provide good road networks in the country.

  • construction of primary schools receive a US$ 1m boost from a Chinese conglomerate

    A visiting team representing a Chinese business community has donated US$ 1million to support the construction of primary school classes; members of the conglomerate will use the tour to examine Rwanda’s investment opportunities.

    Prime Minister Bernard Makuza said the initiative was timely with the country’s activities in improving access to education especially in rural areas. He further encouraged the Chinese business community to take advantage of Rwanda’s investment opportunities which range from mining, tourism, construction amongst others.

    In this respect, Makuza applauded the country’s bilateral ties with china which has seen several joint operations in areas including education, health and energy.

    The fund will be used in the first phase of construction which will take place in five districts namely Kirehe, Nyagatare, Kamonyi, Nyaruguru and Ngororero.

    Junqing Lu, the chairperson World Eminence Chinese Business Association (WECBA) explained that they have a plan to build several classrooms in Africa and Rwanda was an ideal country to benefit from the initiative. “We have a 20 year project of building hope primary schools in Africa and we intend to build more and more here,” he remarked.

    In addition, the program will support the curriculum by offering scholastic materials such as computers and laboratory equipment.
    Juqing Lu further pointed out that out of five countries selected; Rwanda is a favorable beneficiary due its good entrepreneurial climate which requires an educated population in order to sustain the progress.

    WECBA is among Chinese largest business network organizations which provides services in the areas of finance and investments, management, human resources, corporate branding among others. The organization also aims to improve the welfare of vulnerable people and the construction of schools which are currently taking place in four other countries namely Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi seeks to provide education to all.