Igihe

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  • Mu gususurutsa Abanyarwanda baba muri USA, Kizito Mihigo abashyiriye indirimbo nshya yahimbiye Diaspora

  • RSE market highlights as of 6 June 2011

    Today, the market continued to go up as the BRALIRWA share price closed at Rwf 233, an increase of Rwf 3 from last

    week’s closing price of Rwf 230. A total turnover of Rwf 18,701,300 was recorded from 80,300 BRALIRWA shares traded
    at Rwf 231 and Rwf 233 in 3 transactions.

    At the end of business, there were outstanding bids of 1,678,000 BRALIRWA shares at various prices ranging between
    Rwf 233 and Rwf 225 and no outstanding offers.

    The BRALIRWA shares are trading cum dividend up to 13 June 2011.
    The KCB and NMG counters did not record any activity today and their share prices remained unchanged from last week’s closing prices of Rwf 175 and Rwf 1200 respectively.

  • Use of irrigation and machines would improve agricultural production


    Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources is promoting the use of irrigation and mechanization in farming to raise production.

    Irrigation is use of water in farming in a regulated way while mechanization is the use of machinery in agricultural activities.
    The Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ms. Agnes Kalibata, says proper use of irrigation and mechanization leads to increased food production.

    She says the use of machines in agriculture reduces the cost farmers incur and loss of their produce. It also reduces time farmers spend while working on farms and they can use it for other activities like marketing their produce.

    Increased production can lead to better returns on the money invested in farming activities if the price is stable.

    Currently, the majority of Rwandan farmers engage in traditional ways of farming such as the use of hoes with little irrigation.

    Irrigation in Rwanda is essential because of the unpredictable rainfall patterns.

    The minister says farmers have started appreciating the use of irrigation although more efforts are still needed to create awareness.

    The use of irrigation is also being promoted in large-scale rice farming projects, according to Kalibata. This is geared towards reducing rice imports and boosting food supply. Rwanda is a net rice importer.

    Mechanization is encouraged to ensure reduction of resources farmers spend on farming.

    It is also encouraged to help small-scale farmers, who are the majority in Rwanda to increase production and boost their livelihoods.

    The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Mr. Ernest Ruzindaza, says no taxes are imposed on agricultural machines.

    For farmers to access loans in the banks to buy machines, they get a 25% loan guarantee from a World Bank supported Guarantee fund dubbed Rural Investment Fund (RIF).

    The machines will be distributed to rural areas where farmers especially those in cooperatives would get them through hiring.

    Rwanda, like most countries in the south of Sahara, highly depend on agriculture. The sector employs more than 80% of Rwanda’s active population and contributes more than 30% to the national economy.

    However, it is among the least funded sectors, because of its high-risk perception whereby banks feel recovery rates could be low.
    Meanwhile, a local insurance firm recently launched livestock insurance cover and weather insurance is underway, according to Mr. Ruzindaza.

    This story was first published by the EastAfrican Business week

  • Government aims faster growth, less poverty in its $1.825bn budget

    Rwanda’s annual budget is expected to increase by 14 per cent in the 2011/2012 financial year as the government increases development spending to accelerate growth and reduce poverty.

    In 2011, the economy is projected to grow at about 7 per cent, showing a slight slow-down from 2010, due to the expected adverse impact of rising food and fuel prices.

    Higher food and transports costs pushed up the inflation rate in Rwandan urban centers for the sixth conservative month in April to 4.98 per cent.
    Overall inflation rate, which has a higher weighting on food, surged more than five percentage points to 3.05 per cent in April from minus 2.03 per cent in March.

    According to a draft budget framework presented to Parliament late last month, the budget will increase from Rwf984.0 billion ($1.65 billion) last year to Rwf1,116.9 trillion ($1.825 billion).

    The framework highlights four pillars of expenditure: Infrastructure rollout; maintaining growth in productive sectors; development of human capital; and promotion of good governance.

    The government will be seeking to raise resources for completion of strategic projects that will stimulate growth of other sectors.
    These projects include expansion of national carrier RwandAir, construction of Kigali Convention Centre with a five-star hotel, increasing broadband access through the 2,300km fibre-optic cable project and increasing energy access from six per cent to 16 per cent by 2013.

    It also includes road construction and rehabilitation, rural electrification, energy generation and distribution projects and ICT development. Completion of these projects will also assist in increasing exports and broadening the revenue base to generate more tax revenues.

    Spending will also focus on the country’s productive capacities, which include key sectors like agriculture, trade, industry and finance.
    This is expected to facilitate rural transformation of the economy by enhancing agriculture supply and agribusiness, scaling up land registration and promoting value addition for exports.

    “By spending money on productive sectors you are not only meeting short-term goals but you also investing in sustainability. Investing in productive sectors creates opportunities for future growth and economic development,” said Maurice Toroitich, the managing director of KCB.

    The budget projections indicate that the allocation to productive capacities is at 17.9 per cent.

    However, human development and social sectors — health, education, social protection, youth, culture and sports — continue to receive the lion’s share of government resources, at an estimated 30.5 per cent, according to the draft.

    The focus will be on improving the quality of life, with an emphasis on implementing the nine-year basic education programme, skills development through vocational training colleges, promotion of ICT in education and strategic support to higher education. This story was first published by The EastAfrican newspaper.

  • Rwandan rebellious took advantage of UK’s incompetent metropolitan police

    Recently, sections of the press in UK published a story about the British Police warning two Rwandan exiles that they were at risk of being assassinated by the Rwandan government sparked more questions than answers as to the motive behind handling such kind of unsubstantiated serious allegation on another state through the media.

    Secondly, though there is no account of evidence indicated by the British Police, the mention of a possible assassin being stopped and later let free by the UK Police at the Eurotunnel terminal on England’s South Coast is another hair rising allegation.

    What kind of ammunition was this person carrying to execute his assassination plan, and what was the evidence that he was on the government of Rwanda assassination mission? Nothing!

    Common sense tells me that if the alleged assassin had any of the above incriminating evidences, he would not be left free to go back where he had come from, but he would be kept to aid police get more information on the assassination plot and also be questioned to name his associates.

    Plot by Rwandan dissidents

    Early May, a political organization of Rwandan dissidents called Rwandan National Congress (RNC) circulated a document in Europe and North America asking Rwandans in Diaspora in those regions, to do all they can to deny the Rwandan government the existing good relations with outside countries more especially the UK and USA considered to be giving Rwanda considerable aid.

    The document written in the local language by the defacto leader of RNC, Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa also called on elements opposed to the Rwandan government in the Diaspora, to report to the Police allegations of assassination attempts and harassment.

    The UK police I am sure cannot fail to trace copies of the letter I am talking about which is enough evidence to show a systematically calculated build up of the alleged assassination attempt by the Rwandan government that never was.

    An online newspaper known as Umuvugizi which was banned in Rwanda and now operating from Sweden and a mouth piece of RNC has persistently fed its readers falsehoods that the Rwandan government dispatched hit squads around the world to kill President Kagame’s opponents.

    Last month, the paper specifically mentioned UK as one of the countries where hit squads were sent. It is therefore very likely that the UK police fell victim to such malicious propaganda manufactured intentionally by Rwandan dissidents and genocide fugitives with the sole intention of tarnishing the image of Rwanda and that of President Kagame.

    The paper further mentioned names of Rwanda Government officials who were allegedly in London and held meetings to implement the plot of assassination. I am sure the UK police can easily verify if this is true, and my take is that again, such accumulated and consistent romours were eventually believed by the police.

    Who are the alleged assassination targets and why?

    The two individuals mentioned namely Rene Mugenzi and Jonathan Musonera are hardly known individuals both in the UK and in Rwanda, leave alone qualifying as Rwandan dissidents or critics.

    What is known is that the duo arrived in the UK in search of green pastures but as most people from the African continent, do, they claimed to be asylum seekers which usually permits them to be granted legal stay given that they hailed from a country that had just come out of war and genocide.

    Musonera served in the Rwandan army and by the time he left, he was a non-commissioned officer contrary to media reports that he had the rank of Captain. He served in the anti-smuggling unit as a driver, a job that cannot be assigned to a military Captain.

    What threat can such a simple being cause to any government on earth? The UK police can easily establish that while in the UK, Musonera frequently visited Rwanda, where if the assassination allegation was anything to be believed could probably be executed there, rather than spending time and money dispatching a hit man to a friendly country with good bilateral relations.

    In his interview on Aljazeera Rene Mugenzi claimed that he is convinced he is targeted by the Rwandan government simply because he has been working with Rwandan opposition groups, and, “…I asked questions to Kagame on BBC World Service, asking him if what’s happening in North Africa can happen in Rwanda”. What a naïve statement! Can we then assume that the British journalist Ian Birrell who recently while enjoying the privilege of twitting with President Kagame and called him names is on a wanted list?

    Media stories unashamedly also portrayed Mugenzi as a CEO of a non-existent think tank. People who know him in London testify that he is a character associated with lots of forgeries and one of such is that he has in the past forged a marriage certificate for his associate Jonathan Musonera.

    Rwandan Diaspora in UK know very well how Musonera shamelessly disowned his family and ran away from his official wife and children with whom they lived together in London and arranged to invite a ‘new wife’.

    Because he could not be married to two wives at the same time, his friend Mugenzi helped him to forge a marriage certificate. The UK authorities were then duped that Musonera was reuniting with his family! This is the real business a man portrayed by the UK media as a CEO of an unknown think tank is actually engaged in.

    On another occasion, Mugenzi authored a document that he gave to a journalist by the names of Keith Herman Snow with false claims that the Rwandan Embassy in London had plans to assassinate refugees.
    Keith Harmon Snow is well known to be a disciple of the genocidaires’ narrative denying and trivializing genocide. This is a clear indication that both Mugenzi and Musonera are men of witty characters who cannot be relied on for any least kind of truth.

    The UK police issued letters of alleged assassination plot to Musonera and Mugenzi which I am informed under the British law is a constitutional obligation; granted. However, mentioning the involvement of a foreign state, by name, without tangible evidence and the courtesy of cross checking the ‘relied on evidence’, indeed raises more questions than answers.

    There seem to be no sense of logic in the entire assassination claim. The whole thing simply looks like a fiction–movie set up scenario by the Rwandan dissidents and fugitives to give Rwanda a bad image abroad.
    If the UK police cared to dig out the evidences, I am sure they have the required expertise to do so rather than sliding their feet in a Rwandan dissidents trap.

    The author is a Rwandan analyst based in Kigali, and he filed this report as part of his response to the recent UK’s media reports about the alleged plans to kill the so called Rwandan dissidents living in England. some parts were borrowed from UK’s Guardian

  • Kobagaya trial: Jurors unanimously rejected genocide

    Jurors in the trial of Lazare Kobagaya accused of ordering atrocities during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide revealed to the media the panel agreed unanimously that he had nothing to do with the mass killings.

    In their first public comment since the trial ended earlier this week, two jurors also said that some questioned the amount of money spent to prosecute 84-year-old Kobagaya.

    The jury convicted Kobagaya of visa fraud for lying about his whereabouts during the Rwandan genocide, but deadlocked on a count over his citizenship paperwork.

    The two jurors said prosecutors failed to prove that Kobagaya incited others in Rwanda to kill members of another ethnic group. They also said some jurors felt the government failed to show criminal intent on the paperwork charge.

  • Conclude genocide law review – Amnesty urges Rwanda

    Amnesty International has asked the Government to conclude a review of its genocide ideology laws which were created to silence critics, it said on Friday.

    In a new report titled “Unsafe to speak out: Restrictions on freedom of expression in Rwanda”, Amnesty said ‘genocide ideology’ and ‘sectarianism’ laws were being used to suppress political dissent and stifle freedom of speech. However, Government quickly rebuffed the claims in a media statement.

    According to International Business Times, Amnesty said it urged supporters to call on the Rwandan authorities “to allow opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others to express their views, including legitimate criticism of government policies, without fear for their safety.”

    It said they should also urge the authorities “to accelerate the review of the ‘genocide ideology’ law and the 2009 media law to bring them in line with Rwanda’s obligations under international human rights law.”

    The Government rejected the human rights group’s report.

    “Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution of Rwanda,” the government said in a statement.

    “We have a vibrant and growing media community and varied political discourse but once again, Amnesty International has chosen to misrepresent reality in an inaccurate and highly partisan report.”

    President Paul Kagame has won praise for restoring stability after the 1994 genocide and promoting economic growth through reforms encouraging investment. But critics say his government is intolerant of dissent.

    Earlier this year another rights group, Human Rights Watch, also said the Rwandan government was using the judicial system to stifle criticism.

    Amnesty said in its report that the ‘genocide ideology’ laws contravene Rwanda’s regional and international human rights obligations and commitments.

    “Even judges, the professionals charged with applying the law, noted that the law was broad and abstract,” it said

  • Rwandan suspect denies British assassination claims

    With his Belgian passport and job as a Brussels bus driver, Norbert Rukimbira would not have stood out as a suspected international assassin as he sat on board the Eurolines coach that pulled into the passport control building at Folkestone’s Eurotunnel terminal three weeks ago.

    According to British newspaper The Independent, within moments of his arrival on British soil, the 43-year-old teaching graduate found himself surrounded and being quietly taken aside by counter-terrorism officers, and questioned about his suspected involvement in an assassination squad allegedly sent to London by the Rwandan government to kill two critics of the government of Rwanda.

    Acting on information supplied by Scotland Yard, the Kent Police detectives knew that while Mr Rukimbira is now a public transport worker in a glittering European capital, he was until 2001 an officer in Rwanda’s intelligence services with 20 years of experience in Rwanda’s military and police.

    After six hours of questioning during which his baggage was searched and a mobile phone SIM card confiscated, Mr Rukimbira was sent back whence he came – put on a late-night coach back through the Channel Tunnel. Yesterday, he spoke for the first time to strongly deny any role in the alleged plot, saying it was an “insult” to his knowledge of the shadowy world of national security.

    The interception at Folkestone had its roots in a six-month investigation which last month led the Yard to serve extraordinary notices to two Rwandans living in the UK, stating that police had “reliable intelligence” that the Rwandan government posed an “imminent threat” to their lives.

    Rene Mugenzi, a 35-year-old community worker, and Jonathan Musonera, an opposition political activist, were warned to improve security at their homes, change their daily routines and never walk unaccompanied.

    Mr Rukimbira, who was travelling to London he says to attend a conference for the Rwandan National Conference, a new political party co-founded by Mr Musonera, was removed from the coach taking him from his home in the Belgian capital at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone by Kent Police officers on 13 May – the same day that Scotland Yard officers visited Mr Mugenzi and Mr Musonera to warn their lives were in danger.

    The disclosure of the alleged assassination plot on British soil is the latest incident that threatens to cool the hitherto close relationship between Rwanda and Britain, which is the single largest aid donor to Kigali with an annual package worth £82m.

    The Independent revealed in April that the High Commissioner to London, Ernest Rwamucyo, had been warned by MI5 to halt a claimed campaign of harassment against critics of Mr Kagame among Rwandan expats and MPs called for Britain to review its relationship with Kigali in the light of the Yard’s latest investigations.

    Police sources told The Independent that Mr Rukimbira, a former investigator in a special intelligence unit of the Rwandan police who fled the country in 2001 and now works as a driver for the Brussels bus service, was stopped under counter-terrorism legislation because of a suspected link with the alleged assassination plot. He was served with a document, known as a Schedule 7 notice, stating that he was being questioned to determine whether he “is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.

    In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “At approximately 7pm on 13 May, a 43-year-old man was stopped by Kent Police. He was not arrested and subsequently left the UK.”

    Mr Rukimbira, who is currently sitting exams to become a taxi driver, insists that he was the victim of misinformation about the purpose of his visit London, where he had been due to stay in the home of Mr Musonera, a childhood friend and former comrade in the Rwandan Patriotic Front – the army led by Mr Kagame which stopped the 1994 genocide.

    Speaking in a Brussels tea salon after insisting that he wanted to clear his name, Mr Rukimbira dismissed the idea that he had been sent to assassinate Mr Musonera, describing him as a “brother” because “we grew up together and served in the same army”.

    In a remarkable statement, the tall, balding former police inspector said: “I wasn’t going to carry a weapon and risk being searched on entry to the UK. As a former member of Rwandan intelligence, that would be an insult to my 20 years of career experience.

    “When you’re planning an operation like that, I would have taken all the precautions, not leaving anything. I wouldn’t have used my own mobile number, [I] would have used a public telephone. I’m not an idiot, I am a cop, and you can imagine I wouldn’t have brought my contacts with me.”

    While working as a lieutenant in the Rwandan intelligence services, Mr Rukimbira was named by relatives of Assiel Kabera – a former ally of Mr Kagame shot dead in 2000 – as a suspect in the killing. Mr Rukimbira strongly denies the allegation and insists that he fled the country a year later after refusing money to investigate the defection of eight colleagues.

    He said: “Since leaving Africa, the way I see life has changed. Here I am free man, I love music and do other things. What I do is drive a bus, I work in a public company, I am known. I cannot do anything bad.”

    The image of hit squads roaming London was denounced by the Rwandan government, which has now asked the Metropolitan Police to provide details of its allegations. In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Kagame said: “Never does the Government of Rwanda threaten the lives of its citizens, nor use violence against its people wherever they live.”

    Mr Musonera said he had no view on the reasons why Mr Rukimbira had been stopped by police. He added: “I’ve faced death a million times.”

    For his part, the bus driver said he was dedicated to finding a peaceful solution to Rwanda’s political problems. He said: “My motivation is that I am a person who hates persecution. And I love peace because I know its price. And even here, I will try to make sure that among all the people they have peace because I like it. There can be problems but these need to be solved through dialogue.”

    Yoletta Nyange is a Rwandan-born freelance journalist.

  • Ease restrictions on free speech-Rights body tells Govt

    American based human rights body Amnesty International is calling on Rwanda to ease restrictions on free speech.

    According to several news sources including AFP and Reuters, the rights group says the months leading up to last year’s presidential election were marked by a crack down on freedom of expression.

    Amnesty is calling on Rwanda to allow opposition politicians, journalists and human rights activists to express their views without fear for their safety.

    Amnesty, which has often been accused by the Government of unfair criticism, also wants Rwanda to revise laws on genocide ideology and divisionism, which it says Rwanda uses to curb free speech.

    The laws were put in place after the 1994 genocide, when extremist Hutus killed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

    Amnesty says the laws prohibit hate speech but are so broad they criminal other expression, including criticism of the government.

  • Mountain Gorilla gives birth to twins

    As plans to host the annual Kwita Izina ceremony gather steam, a mountain gorilla has given birth to twins, a rare occurrence for an endangered species whose numbers have dwindled to less than 800, the Rwanda Development Board-Tourism announced Friday.

    “The two babies, one male and one female, were born May 27,” said Rica Rwigamba, head of tourism and conservation at the Rwanda Development Board.

    “The two new-borns and their mother Ruvumu are well,” she said.
    It is only the seventh time in the last 40 years that a gorilla has given birth to twins. Twin gorillas were last born in February.

    Twenty-two baby mountain gorillas will be “baptised” in a name-giving ceremony on June 18 in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park.

    The twins born in February will be among those baptised but the latest two will only be named at next year’s ceremony.

    According to a 2010 census, the total number of mountain gorillas has increased by a quarter over the past seven years to reach more than 780 individuals.

    Two-thirds of them are found in the Virunga chain that straddles Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were brought to the attention of the outside world by the renowned US primatologist, the late Dian Fossey.