Igihe

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  • Global Fund supports health initiatives

    The ministry of health has signed a grant worth US$ 23million from Global Fund; the amount will strengthen health initiatives related to HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.

    The sub- recipients of this grant include CAMERWA (a medical research institute) with 27%, health centers and district hospitals will take 32% while others include Malaria Unit RBC/TRAC Plus among other health initiatives.

    Commenting on how the fund will be used, the health minister Agnes Binagwaho explained that the fund was timely since it will be used to finance the last phase of malaria prevention activities which its targets should be met before 2013.

    She further pointed out there has been progress in fighting malaria given the drop in prevalence rate which now stands at 2.1% yet the target is to decrease malaria infant fatality rate from 13% to 0.1% by 2013. Binagwaho attributed the progress to support offered by stakeholders such as Global Fund.

    A representative from Global Fund , Caty Fall Sow who is also the senior fund portfolio manager commended Rwanda’s health initiatives and better management of funds.

    The minister of finance and economic planning, John Rwangombwa, noted that he was overwhelmed because when his ministry brokered the grant it had an objective to improve the health situation in the country.

    The Global Fund is an international financing institution that invests money to support countries in the prevention and treatment of AIDS, malaria, and Tuberculosis, so far it has committed US$ 21.7 billion in 150 countries.

  • Students walk raises awareness on environmental protection

    Students from Green Hills Academy have led an environment protection walk meant to encourage both the society and students to engage in activities that keep their surroundings green.

    Gaspard Kageza, Green hill’s deputy principle noted that the wakeup call was in line with celebrating the global environmental week starting 5 may this year. “We intend to form a club which will be in charge of conserving environment in the compound and we expect students to replicate this in their homes,” he remarked.

    In attendance was Juliette Kabera the director of environment and pollution at the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA). Students from other schools like Hacky school New York City and Duba Complex School from eastern province participated too.

    Kageza further pointed out that their school joined efforts with other students in order to have a bigger voice in exclaiming the role of students in environmental protection. The event was graced by activities such as drama plays and songs talking about the importance of environmental conservation.

  • Rwanda expects Japan to recover from tsunami

    Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Louise Mushikiwabo, who is presently on a visit to Japan, has expressed hope that Japan will balance its efforts to rebuild from the devastating quake and tsunami and keep supporting the world’s poor.

    The minister, who came to Japan for a two-day international meeting on poverty reduction through Friday, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News that she appreciates Tokyo for hosting the conference as scheduled, despite the massive disaster.

    “I applaud Japan for making sure that some of its important commitments are maintained,” Mushikiwabo said.

    “That does not take away from the necessity for Japan to pay close attention to investing into this reconstruction,” she said. “But in this global world, it is also to the benefit of Japan, as a country that is quite well-positioned globally, to keep its commitments.”

    The minister said Rwanda respects Japan’s sovereign decision to cut its official development assistance by around 10 percent for fiscal 2011 from the initial plan to raise funds for recovery efforts from the March calamities.

    “I have no doubt that this reconstruction is going to cost money, and it’s quite normal that the Japanese people want to rebuild their own nation,” Mushikiwabo said. She added that the Central African country, not foreign donors, is responsible for the well-being of its own nationals.

    “So long as the spirit of support and help for other nations remains, I think this is just a time that has brought that necessity,” the minister said.

    At the ministerial meeting to explore effective ways to implement the eight-point U.N. Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction, Rwanda expects to learn lessons from other countries in its endeavor to fulfill the targets set in 2000 to be achieved by 2015, Mushikiwabo said.

    The MDG include halving abject poverty by 2015 from 1990 levels, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, reducing child mortality and ensuring primary education is made available to all.

    The minister said Rwanda, whose economy has been expanding at a fast pace, has “done very well” with many of the targets and is set to achieve all of the MDG by 2015. But she noted that the level of poverty “don’t necessary come down quickly,” if the wealth is not shared properly.

    She said Rwanda counts on technical and vocational training from Japan, as the country has “a number of retired, very skilled people.”

  • Genocide survivor named recipient of American Award

    The St. Thomas Aquinas High School Lux in Tenebris (“Light in Darkness”) Award was established in 2006 to honour members of the St. Thomas Aquinas High School community who have made significant and enduring contributions to humanity. Humanitarian acts aimed at alleviating suffering and helping to build a just world lie at the heart of this award.

    This year’s recipient is Beata Umugwangwali, parent of three St. Thomas Aquinas graduates, Roger ’99, Gloria ’02 and Doris ’08. A native of Rwanda, Beata and her children fled their homeland during the genocide of 1994. Her husband had been killed on his way to the hospital; he had been transporting his father who had suffered a heart attack. After a year in Burundi and Kenya, Beata and her children and her sister — with no more than the clothes on their backs — came to New Hampshire in March 1995. Their arrival was made possible by Catholic Charities and the parish of St. Thomas More in Durham.

    Almost alone, Beata knew she simply had to start over. But starting over was not easy — she didn’t speak English and her nurse’s credentials were not recognized here; she kept her family together by cleaning rooms in hotels.

    Understanding the importance of education, Beata went back to school, learned English, earned her LPN license and made a life for herself and her family in the United States.

    However, Beata’s story is not merely one of survival, nor even of overcoming the odds her accomplishments are far more than that. In 2005, she returned to Butare, Rwanda to show her children where she grew up. She was devastated to see the condition of the school she attended as a child, and at that moment, she committed herself to restoring the school to its previous glory.

    Through Habitat for Humanity, Beata and friends raised nearly $100,000 in two years. They repaired abandoned and destroyed school buildings, creating new classrooms, fixing bathrooms and equipping some schools with a computer lab to teach English using the Rosetta Stone computer program.

    Even after the graduation of her children, Beata has continued to share her experiences with the students of St. Thomas Aquinas. A few years ago, STA Social Studies teacher Jennifer Duprat asked Beata to give a presentation to one of her classes.

    “She is such a compassionate person,” said Jennifer. “She never focused on placing blame for the genocide, but instead her focus was on moving forward and helping people rebuild. She first worked incredibility hard to give her family a new life here in the United States. She faced incredible adversity, but new gave up. Then she set about helping to rebuild in her home country, Rwanda.”

    These days, Beata is a nurse in the Endoscopy Department at Wentworth Douglass Hospital, and in 2009, she was honored with WDH’s President’s Award for her contributions to the hospital and to others. Her three children all graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School and have since gone on to college. Beata made great sacrifices to send her children to St. Thomas Aquinas; she wanted her children to grow in their Catholic faith, and the continuity of a Catholic education was important to the lives of her children — children who themselves had suffered the great tragedy of the Rwandan genocide.

    Beata’s children have inherited more than their mother’s courage. They, too, have also committed themselves to aiding the schoolchildren of their mother’s home. Over the years, they have raised money for school renovations, uniforms and school supplies in Rwanda.

    Principal Kevin Collins spoke of Beata’s passion for serving others.

    “There have been few tragedies as overwhelming as the Rwandan conflict, certainly in my lifetime — indeed in the history of humankind. For someone to have survived the horrors of that event is evidence of courage; to have returned to help rebuild is evidence of compassion. The world has too little of either¿and to possess both is proof positive of God’s goodness in the world,” said Collins.

    The Lux in Tenebris Award will be presented at the St. Thomas Aquinas High School graduation ceremony on June 5 at noon.

  • Contraceptives likely to cause low sexual urge

    Research indicates that some women using contraceptive pills have
    lesser libido and decreased symbols of sexual arousal as well as less
    vaginal lubrication.

    Women often use the pills as way of birth control; the medication
    reacts by holding back a woman’s natural cycle of ovulation.

    Alphonse Butoyi, a gynaecologist at Kigali’s la Croix du Sud hospital, explains the effects of contraceptives. “There two types; oral combined pills (OCP) and progestin oral pills (POP) which if used for a long time are likely to reduce a woman’s sexual urge,” he says.

    However, women using OCP have less risks of losing their sexual urge
    since the pill doesn’t affect their virginal lubrication during sex,” Butoyi advises.

    He further advises women to consult physicians before they use
    contraceptives since high cases of side effects hail from patients who
    didn’t have a doctor’s prescription. “The effects are even worse to
    those who use POP without a doctor’s guidance and the majority are
    young girls who take the pills out of panic of getting pregnant after
    having sex,” he remarks.

    POP based pills are considered harmful since they contain chemical substances. “The progestin virginal epithelium, for instance, interferes with the woman’s hormones which leads to swelling in the vagina, the effects include vaginal pain during sex and later blood discharge if the symptoms persist.” explains the doctor.

    Even those who have prescribed contraceptive pills from a doctor are also advised to report cases of side effects since some pills might either be counterfeit or the woman might develop some allergy at a later stage while using the pills.

    He further explains that a woman using POP for quite some time is likely to face similar problems.

    Gloria Uwase is among the women who suffered from the effects of contraceptives use. She discloses that she first experienced vaginal pain while having sex, the signs followed by signs of depression. “As soon as I gave birth to my first son, I switched to contraceptives but after using the pills for weeks I had to consult my doctor after the appearance of the weird symptoms I was experiencing and he prescribed another type of medication which I’m now comfortable with,” she remarks.

  • HRW Report questions whether gacaca should have tried rape cases

    The Human Rights Watch report continues to spark debate. This time, it queries whether the Rwandan government “betrayed” women who were raped during the 1994 genocide by letting the gacaca courts process their cases.

    The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report marks one of the first attempts by an advocacy group to assess how the gacaca handled rape cases, which were transferred from conventional courts in 2008. (Gacaca means “grass” in Kinyarwanda, symbolizing a gathering place and referring to a system of public conflict resolution once reserved for minor civil disputes.)

    Because of the community-based nature of gacaca, HRW says the privacy of rape survivors was “seriously compromised” by the transfer. The government, however, argues that appropriate safeguards were put in place to keep testimony confidential, and stresses that gacaca was the only means of administering justice in a timely fashion. Some Rwandan civil society groups share this view.

    Philip Clark, political scientist and author of The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Justice without Lawyers (2010), said the resource constraints placed on conventional courts, which, before 2008 had failed to take action on genocide-related rape cases, made gacaca “the most obvious process to deal with those particular crimes”. Still, he conceded that some problems had emerged.

    More than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus perished in the genocide. The resulting arrests saw dramatic prison overcrowding: by 1998, 130,000 detainees were being held in a system designed for just 12,000.

    The government in 2002 formally launched trials by gacaca, which were to be adjudicated by ordinary citizens. The cases of so-called “category 1” suspects, including rapists, as well as organizers and leaders of the genocide, remained in conventional courts until 2008. (Those deemed “most responsible” for the genocide were processed by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.)

    By 2008, gacaca had tried hundreds of thousands of genocide cases, moving at a much faster pace than conventional courts, which tried just 222 between January 2005 and March 2008. In May that year, parliament transferred most remaining “category 1” genocide cases to gacaca, including at least 8,000 rape or sexual violence cases.

    One official told HRW this decision was made in response to pleas from rape victims, who said they were dying of HIV/AIDS and wanted to see their assailants brought to trial.

    Denis Bikesha, director of training, mobilization and sensitization in the National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, also stressed the relative speed of gacaca. “This was done in a bid to render timely justice to many, as before 2008 the rape cases were mostly pending in the Prosecution Authority,” he told IRIN. Fear of exposure

    Rape survivors feared their identities would be revealed to their communities despite the fact that testimony in rape cases was to be heard behind closed doorsBut Leslie Haskell, author of the HRW report, noted that of the more than 20 rape survivors interviewed for the report, only one expressed a preference for gacaca over conventional courts. For others, who said they had been reluctant to come forward and file complaints but had done so because they believed conventional courts would protect their privacy, the transfer to gacaca “took them by surprise and left some feeling betrayed”, the report states.

    Rape survivors feared their identities would be revealed to their communities despite the fact that testimony in rape cases was to be heard behind closed doors, Haskell said. Because trials were held near administrative offices or schools in many cases, third parties would still be able to see a complainant enter a room with a judge and her alleged assailant. “You’d still know it was a rape case, but if all went well you wouldn’t know what the details were,” Haskell said.

    The report states that “a few” of the women – some of whom had not told their families about the rape and did not want the community to know – decided to drop their cases after they were transferred to gacaca.

    However, the report also notes that provisions were put in place to make it easier for rape survivors to testify: they were able to challenge judges they believed were biased or would not respect their privacy; and they could write letters detailing their allegations rather than appearing in person.

    Bikesha highlighted these “safeguards” in claiming that the rape cases had been “really successful”, adding that “whoever dares to reveal secrets” could be subject to “punishment”. (He did not specify what that punishment might be.)

    Privacy compromised

    According to the report, the process of bringing rape cases before gacaca ended up being “less traumatic” than many survivors expected. “For most women, the experience of appearing in gacaca was emotionally difficult, and more difficult than they believed a conventional court trial would have been, but their cases proceeded relatively smoothly,” the report states.

    However, the report does cite some cases in which privacy appeared to have been compromised, with reports of intimidation and accusations of false testimony.

    Clark, who observed many gacaca trials as part of his research, said “maintaining privacy was a real problem. A lot of this has to do with the closeness of Rwandan communities. It’s almost impossible for any legal process to hide people’s identities. People know each other. They’re very aware when people are summoned to give testimony.”
    Despite reports of intimidation, Jane Abatoni Gatete, former executive secretary of the Rwandan Association of Trauma Counsellors, who now works independently with trauma victims, including some who have brought rape cases before gacaca, said she believed the system had generally served survivors well.

    “Steps were put in place by the government, and they were acting to make sure those women were protected and maybe counselled and advised to come forward and give the testimony,” she said. “If they didn’t then maybe their cases would not have been heard.”

    Fair trial rights

    Beyond the privacy rights of rape survivors, the HRW report also raises concerns about the fair trial rights of the accused.

    Because gacaca does not involve lawyers, the process has long been open to criticism that suspects are unable to prepare an adequate defence. One of the government’s justifications for not involving lawyers – in addition to the fact that there simply were not enough – is that community participation negated the need for them. If a witness lied, for instance, community members could speak out.

    With rape cases being held in camera, however, the community cannot participate at all, Haskell noted.

    “It was sort of a Catch-22, right? The gacaca system was built on this idea of public participation to call out prejudicial partiality or lies on account of any of the parties who were testifying,” Haskell said. “The problem with that is because they are behind closed doors, because there’s no public participation, because there’s no monitoring by rights groups, it could’ve been easier to manipulate.”

    Clark said Rwandans had been taken aback by this feature of the rape cases. “There was a great deal of frustration at the community level that people had had very public hearings for all of the previous crimes, and then suddenly these very contentious rape cases were being held behind close doors where the community couldn’t hear and couldn’t participate,” he said.

    But he added that, in light of HRW’s concerns about privacy, this criticism struck him as “a bit rich. I have to say on that particular point it does look like Human Rights Watch are having their cake and eating it, too,” he said. “They can hardly criticize open rape cases and then turn around and criticize the fact that they’re being held behind closed doors.”

    The Rwandan government has said that there are no more than 100 gacaca cases remaining, and Clark said he expected the government, which has missed previous deadlines, to stick to the current plan of shutting down the system by December.

    If gacaca does end this year, Clark said its record on sexual violence cases would be decidedly mixed, but that the decision to transfer them from conventional courts would also be remembered as “inevitable. I really don’t think there was any other way the government could have done it,” he said.

  • Rwandans react to human rights body’s report

    Rwandans from different walks of life have denounced the Human Rights Watch recent criticism of the country’s Gacaca traditional courts terming the courts a massive success story that ought to be modeled across board.

    The report released on 31 May 2011 was titled “Justice Compromised: The Legacy of Rwanda’s community-based Gacaca Courts.”

    “The Gacaca was conducted in our own traditional way regardless of the challenges it faced,” said Emmy Arsonval Maniriho, a student at the National University of Rwanda.

    “Rwanda could not solve everything in a single day. The timing of HRW report is not appropriate as the government has promised to evaluate the Gacaca courts and review cases that did not go well,” said Maniriho.

    A Remera resident, Steven Gatete said that the quoted cases were few in comparison to the over one million cases the traditional courts handled. “The 350 cases they quoted are a drop in the ocean,” he emphasised, terming the report “abusive and partial.”

    “They are content to continue talking ill about our country without any basis,” Gatete lamented.

    Rukira Wa Muhizi, 45, a resident of Huye district and a former judge with the Gacaca in Rwaniro and Simbi sectors of the district, said that Gacaca was a role model since it had provided rapid justice to genocide victims and lent a hand to families to easily locate genocide victims and accord them decent burials.

    “Gacaca accorded everyone an equal platform and no one felt intimidated,” Muhizi observed.

    “Why did HRW ignore the justice rendered by the courts,” he wondered.

    He noted that the Gacaca courts had brought together families and managed to identify Genocide suspects wherever they were hiding, which the human rights watchdog completely overlooked in their report.

  • IFC sinks US$2.5m to facilitate rural financial access through UOB

    International Finance Cooperation (IFC), a member of Word Bank Group, has offered a US$2.5 million loan to Rwanda’s Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB), which is also the first regulated microfinance bank.

    The investment, according to Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC director for East and Southern Africa aims at complimenting the government and German Development Cooperation (DFID) Access to finance Rwanda program which aspires to increase access to formal financial services from 21 percent to 30 percent by 2014.

    “Supporting the growth of microfinance options for small and medium enterprises in rural areas is a strategic priority for IFC in Africa,” Prosper further said, “While Rwanda is making big strides in business reforms, more work needs to be done to increase opportunities for Rwandan people. The partnership with UOB is an important step toward towards creating jobs and income for entrepreneurs in rural areas where economic growth is most needed” he said.

    Prosper, during a joint press brief with the bank’s management said that IFC’s local currency loan, arranged though unique swap agreement with the National Bank of Rwanda will help UOB manage risks more effectively by limiting foreign currency exposure.

    He added that the swap facilitates access to long-term local currency funding in the financial system.

    “IFC’s investment will allow us to provide longer term financing to support portfolio growth, and fund longer tenor products,” said Jeffery Lee, president of Urwego Opportunity Bank.

    Lee stressed that UOB will use the finances to support its existing lending facilities, while expanding into rural areas.

    He also pointed out that, “UOB aims to increase financing options for micro, small and medium enterprises in rural areas. We believe that a regulated approach to microfinance is most effective to maximize outreach and support entrepreneurial activities amongst poor.”

  • Govt rebuffs Amnesty International’s claims

    The government has denounced a report by Amnesty International criticising freedom of speech in the country, according to a statement by the ministry of justice.

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

    Also missing is the fact that Rwanda has more than 35 privately registered newspapers and 12 privately owned radio stations. Four international radio stations – VOA, BBC, Radio France International and Deutsche Welle all based in the country and free to air their views.

    Justice minister Tharcisse Karugarama underscored, “Amnesty International refuses to acknowledge the significant developments that directly addresses some of its own recommendations, preferring instead to make unsubstantiated claims about Rwanda,” the statement read.

    Karugarama also affirmed that “the rule of law, free and fair elections and freedom of speech are the hallmark of politics in Rwanda today. We welcome constructive partnerships with different groups as we endeavour to best serve the very people who elected us; however these partnerships must be based on facts and mutual respect.”

    Concerning freedom of the press which the report says is censured, the minister was quick to denounce the allegations adding that soon the media would be given the right to regulate itself. he added that the state broadcaster has been transformed to a public one yet new media law grants the right to access to information, despite all this progress unmentioned in the report.

    The minister also noted that like many other countries around the world, Rwanda has genocide ideology laws to ensure that the country never returns to the hatred and divisionism of the past.

    “However, as we continue to rebuild our country and develop our justice system we are amending all our statutes. Accordingly, the laws on genocide ideology and divisionism are currently under review and we will amend them as is best for Rwanda and our people,” the statement said.

    “Amnesty International is choosing either to ignore the progress Rwanda is making or is unaware of the reality on the ground, but we will continue in our efforts to transform our society, including the legal system, for the benefit of all Rwandans.”

  • IFC invests US$7.2m for SME development

    The International Finance Corporation an arm of the World Bank, is investing US$1.6 million in equity in Business Partners Rwanda SME Fund (BPI Rwanda). The fund aims to provide financing and management support for up to 70 SMEs, increasing employment and local entrepreneurship in Rwanda.

    IFC’s investment comprises about 20% of the fund’s total committed capital of $7.2 million. The target size for the fund is $8.0 million. Other key investors include the Rwanda Enterprise Investment Company (REIC) and DOEN, a Dutch NGO. The Business Partners private equity fund responds to a growing need for risk capital and quality management advice in Rwanda.

    Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC Director for East and Southern Africa, said “Business Partners’ Rwanda chapter provides a much-needed option for socially responsible financing. By supporting small and medium enterprises, the fund will help Rwandan entrepreneurs build businesses and create jobs across the country. IFC and Business Partners share a commitment to responsible business models, which should increase focus on social and environmental performance standards in Rwanda.”

    Business Partners International is a South Africa based financier of SMEs, established in 2004 as a joint venture between IFC and Business Partners. The BPI Rwanda fund will be managed by a local team, under the oversight of Business Partners International. The fund will tap into the expertise of locally based managers and combine financing with business advisory services.

    Nazeem Martin, BPI CEO, said “The partnership with IFC will enable BPI to provide comprehensive technical services to Rwandan SMEs. This includes the installation of management information systems, market research and product development; quality assurance; process efficiency improvements; and staff training and skill development. With this wide range of services, BPI aims to improve corporate governance with an eye towards social and environmental returns.”

    BPI Rwanda is IFC’s fourth investment in a local investment fund managed by Business Partners International. To date, IFC has invested $5.0 million in BPI Kenya, $3.7 million in BPI Madagascar and $2 million in BPI Mozambique.
    The International Finance Corporation (IFC) promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries. IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, DC. It shares the primary objective of all World Bank Group institutions: to improve the quality of the lives of people in its developing member countries.