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A slim 22 year old Irene Muhikira has been crowned Miss Adventist University- Universite des Laïques Adventistes de Kigali (UNILAK).

The chocolate brown second year management student beat other five beauties in a beauty pageant that took place at the University’s auditorium in Kicukiro District.

According to her, Muhikira desires to be exemplary in the society and advocate for peace.

“I like to be exemplary to others and advocate for peace because where there is peace and unity, everything is possible,” Muhikira said after being crowned on Sunday.

Raised in Bujumbura, Burundi, the new beauty queen for UNILAK loves reading and hates hypocrisy.

Muhikira was crowned at the University’s maiden beauty event since it opened in 1997, will be representing all the branch campuses.

New UNILAK went home with Rwf 100,000 and air ticket courtesy of Ethiopian Airline, a mobile phone worth Rwf 150, 000 by MTN, and a dress worth US $ 1000 equivalent to Rwf 593,000 current rate by Deal Ltd while The Manor Hotel promised to keep her figure using their gym for the whole year.

The panel of Judges also announced Miss Popularity named Henriette Cyuzuzo , second run- up being Solange Uwitonze, and first run up Tania Gasasira Umutoni who was also Miss Photogenic

First run- up Tania Gasasira Umutoni was given Rwf 50,000, a cell phone worth Rwf 120, 000 by MTN and air ticket to Dubai, while Solange Uwitonze got Frw 40,000, MTN airtime worth 10,000 and other presents by Sulfo Industries -Rwanda.

Out of 15 beauty queens in the pre-selection, only six contestants were confirmed to race for the Universities beauty queen.

In his speech, the Rector of INILAK, expressed gratitude to all contestants who managed to model and represent the institution saying it was Culture Promotion.

During the event, different artists like Jay Polly, Dream Boys, Allioni, The Brothers, Prince Kid, Kamishi, Uncle Austin and Kitoko entertained the audience.

INILAK has three campuses, notably the Head Office located at the heart of Kigali City, Gasabo District, and its branches in Nyanza District, Southern Province and Rwamagana in Eastern province.

The long awaited senatorial elections have finally reached the climax taking off today in all Districts across the country.

The elections which will take two days, all sectors from each District came together at a selected polling station to elect their senator.

The results are expected to be announced on Wednesday.

Tomorrow Tuesday, elections will proceed as five candidates race for public institutions of higher education seat while only Laurent Nkusi will be determined whether he is suitable for private institutions of higher education.

Observers from the region and elsewhere have been dispersed in different polling stations.

Unconfirmed reports from our scoops have indicated that Jeanne D’Arc Gakuba may win Kigali City senate seat.

Of those who registered, 16 vied for the Southern Province slot, 15 in the Eastern, 11 in the Western, nine in Kigali city and five in the Northern Province.

The 26 members of the Senate, only 14 will be elected. The President of the Republic of Rwanda will nominate eight others while the Consultative Forum for Political Parties will nominate four.

Two people will be elected in the Northern Province, one in Kigali City while three people will be elected in each of the other provinces.

The number of Senators representing provinces is based on the number of registered voters in the constituencies, meaning a province with the highest number of voters gets highest number of seats in the Senate.

The electoral colleges at the provincial level today were composed of district and sector councils while those representing higher institutions of learning will be composed of only permanent lecturers, who are Rwandan nationals and registered in their respective institutions.

“As Rwandans, we should continue to be patriotic by showing capacity and capability in strengthening Democratization process in our country,” Prof. Dr Karangwa Chrysologue the Chairman of Electoral Commission says in his welcoming remarks on the commission’s official website.

“The post–genocide election period, is one of the proof which can justify our levels of understanding democracy, Good Governance and sustainable development. We already understand that elections are a strong pillar which connects Good Governance and sustainable development in Rwanda,” Karangwa added.

There are 55 polling stations country wide including 30 in all districts and 25 in higher institutions of learning.

Rwanda’s minister of infrastructure Albert Nsengiyumva has revealed that all relevant studies have been completed towards the proposed railway from Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

While chairing the inter-ministerial consultative meeting on the progress of the railway activities, Nsengiyumva insisted that plans to get funds are still underway. “We need around 5.1 billion for the whole project and we’re encouraging Private-Public-Partnership (PPP),” he remarked.

He explained that the PPP will be in terms of ‘Build-Operate-Transfer’ (BOT) but the period of transfer from the investor hasn’t been decided yet. “We intend to negotiate the concession period once we get an interested investor,” he remarked.

Currently, BAOBAB, UK’s railway construction company has shown interests but the committee has declined its offer due to a number of issues, among them according to the minister of transport in Tanzania Omar Nundu, their proposal didn’t abide with African Development Bank (AFDB) studies on the project.

“You see AFDB is funding the studies and if someone wants to bring something different from what they have to negotiate with our donors, it becomes hard, but we hope to get more investors onboard given the number of interests we’re getting from various people,” said Nundu.

Nsengiyumva seconded him adding that there was no need of panic since the project was vague and needed ample time to verify all the required needs before its inception.

“This is a very large railway, we’re talking of 1,500 kilometer railway I think it’s the largest in Africa, but I can assure you all relevant measures have been to speed up the project,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile the overall idea of the railway is to connect Rwanda and Burundi to the sea port, reducing the amount spent in transporting particularly heavy cargo. It is also believed that the railway will improve trade and lower prices since only transport contributes 40% of commodity prices.

Burundi, though close to Tanganyika Lake, most of their imported goods are picked at Tanzania’s port but the road network is poor. “The railway will benefit my country since it will reduce time spent through road and water transport,” he remarked.

The project which is nine years old was first initiated by both Tanzania and Rwanda, then later Burundi joined in. “All we want is to connect countries in the region, especially landlocked ones and we hope soon the Democratic Republic of Congo will join us,” says Rwanda’s minister of infrastructure.

After decades of accommodation shortages at NUR, a sustainable solution is yet to be reached as the university in collaboration with Social Security Fund and Real Constractors is building new hostels with a capacity to accommodate 1200 students.

These three new buildings are situated next to the new ICT laboratory that was recently inaugurated by president Kagame and each bloc will have capacity to accommodate 400 students.

“These hostels have come at the right time owing to the fact that the University is accommodating beyond its capacity and students are sharing a bed. But once the new hostels are in place we hope the pressure to reduce on both students and the university,” MUHIMA Christopher the NUR guild president said.

He further said that the facilities will help students improve on their research as they will be staying near the library, classrooms and laboratories.

“It is projected education performance will improve as students who have been staying outside the campus will now be on campus near all academic facilities like the ICT laboratory, classrooms- Batima central, the NUR library and other recreation facilities on campus”.

Nambajimana Marien a final year student in the faculty of Arts, Media and Social Science expressed appreciation to the university management, government and donors for their efforts in putting up the complex saying:

“These hostels have come as a solution to the problem that has for years been experienced by the university community.

“Accommodation costs outside the campus are expensive ranging from Frw10, 000-Frw60, 000 which most of us can’t afford. We hope that the cost will be fair and moderate for all students to afford.”

She told our reporter that these hostels will at large end the insecurity problems encountered by students who stay outside the campus, “Theft is rampant outside the university as thieves regularly break into students “Ghetto” during class hours and in the night when students are in the auditorium or in the library.

“ Also for the girls who stay outside are always at a security risk when living the campus late in the night from their study and these hostels will solve all these inconveniencies” he observed.

The difference these hostels have is that they will have supermarkets, a medium entertainment hall, and cafeterias as told by Mr. Sinzi Tharcisse NUR director of estates at the university.

“According to plans, these hotels should be handed to the NUR by the constructors on 15th October this year to be availed to students this coming academic year due to start on 31st October.”

“Negotiations are underway between NUR and SSFR to equip the complex with all necessary beddings and furniture in the rooms,” Sinzi told our reporter in a telephone interview.

Rwandan government will this week host a national roundtable workshop to discuss the main findings that were raised during the Country Program that was conducted by the International Fund Agriculture Development( IFAD.

The workshop is scheduled on Sept. 29, at Lemigo Hotel with MINAGRI as the main organizer. It is preceded by a field visit on Sept. 27 and 28, in all provinces.

Foste Uwumuremyi, a Finance Management Specialist in MINAGRI told igihe.com that the workshop is intended to validate the report compiled by CPE and devise the way forward thereafter.

Prior to the workshop, there will be the signing of an agreement between MINICOFIN and IFAD

Since 1981, IFAD has financed 13 rural development programs and projects in Rwanda for a total amount of US$149.9 million.

The financing provided by IFAD consists of loans on highly concessional terms and since 2008, full grant funding has been based on the Debt Sustainability Framework.

There are currently two generations of IFAD-financed programs and projects. The first, designed during the 1980s and 1990s, included integrated rural development programs and projects.

The programs and projects’ aim to develop the agricultural sector in specific parts of the country by identifying all related elements and linking them together.

Among others, the project that is still active in this regard is the Umutara Community Resource and Infrastructure Development Project (PDRCIU).

Projects of the second generation, in place since the mid-1990s, call for activities that have an impact beyond the local level.

They focus on a single aspect of rural development, such as market access or agricultural production and its relation to government policy-setting or other national initiatives already in place, to favor their replication in the rural environment.

According to Uwumuremyi, the IFAD also supports different Rwandan initiatives including Support Project for the Strategic Transformation of Agriculture (PAPSTA), and Kirehe Community Based Watershed Management Project (KWAMP) among others.

IFAD is also hosting the Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair that set off today Sept. 26, in Rome.

This is intended to provide a forum for participants to learn and share knowledge, experience and innovations on emerging trends relating to agriculture, climate change, food security, mobile technology, social media and influence future rural development activities.

It attracted the UN food and agriculture agencies and other partners and will run up to Sept. 29.

The Indian-based telecommunication company that were earlier this month granted license to launch 2G and 3G mobile services in Rwand September 23 announced the appointment of the Country Manager, Marcellin Paluku.

Paluka, with over 15 years field familiarity at FMCG and telecom companies including Coca-Cola and Celtel, worked across the continent, has been the Commercial Director at Airtel DR Congo where he played a role in ensuring Airtel’s position in send largest country in Africa.

Jayant Khosla, CEO Anglophone Africa said of Paluka’s appointment: “Rwanda is a market with great growth potential. As with all our operations, the leadership team in Airtel Rwanda will be made up of passionate and experienced Rwandans who are committed to our goal of providing world class mobile broadband services.”

The Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel Limited Sunil Mittal had previously observed that Rwanda is a key telecom market in the Region.
He said that Rwanda’s market has immense growth potential noting that it will strengthen Bharti airtel’s footprint in East Africa.

“We are pleased to be part of the vision of the government of Rwanda to take telecommunications forward as a priority,” Mittal told the press after being awarded the license in Kigali.

Bharti Airtel becomes the third mobile telecommunication operator after MTN Rwanda, said to be with 2,824,874 subscribers and TIGO Rwanda with 1,300,159 subscribers in an over 10 million population.

One of the top world’s telecommunication services provider acquired Kuwait-based Zain Telecom for about US $10.7 billion.

Approximately Frw 59Bn is up to be invested for operations to set off.

This comes soon after commercial court of Nyarugenge ruled that Rwandatel should liquidate its assets in order to pay debts amounting to US$ 88.9 million.

This came after Rwanda’s Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) withdrew Rwandatel’s GSM Mobile license in April this year, where within weeks, the Office of the Registrar General had instituted insolvency proceedings against the company.

Theobald Mporanyi, the chairman of parliamentary commission in-charge of fighting HIV/AIDS has started a campaign to equip all schools with condoms including primary schools.

“As far as we’re targeting those in high school the awareness should also be spread to those in primary level since there are some who have reached their puberty stage and might be tempted to engage in unsafe sex,” the MP insisted.

He adds that, despite the fact that some are against his idea, the awareness should be harnessed in religious institutions and households.

In this campaign he’s not alone, a few NGO’s in charge of teaching the youth sexual and reproductive education are supportive, and they include Health Development Initiative-Rwanda (HDI), Amir Ihorere Munyarwanda and Rwanda’s NGO’s Forum on AIDS.

Christine Calouro from HDI noted that the teachings will focus more on abstinence, how to avoid unwanted pregnancies as well as Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD’s).

“All these impediments can be avoided by the use of condoms and there’s no shame in encouraging the youth to take the precautions, and since most of them start having sex at a younger age, it’s a high time we stand as a community to emphasize the use of condoms”.

Mporanyi was also quick to point out that, children ought to be taught the importance of a condom at a younger age, even those who have not reached their puberty since it will improve their understanding on unsafe sex.

“Primary teachers who mostly are objective to the idea should include the use of condoms in their curriculum, like all my kids, some in primary school are aware of it and sometimes I give them the packets of condom to educate their peers,” he pointed out.

The team intends to meet with various leaders and policy makers, especially in the education sector to find relevant mechanisms to implement their agenda.

This follows the high rate of secondary students and a few in primary pupils contracting HIV while some drop out of school due to unwanted pregnancies.

“Statistics of 2005 show that only 13% of young women and 10% of young men aged 15-19 reported condom use, but now the figures have worsen due to inaccessibility of condoms.

Subject to provisions of the Rwandan Constitution, Article 82 of the 2003 Constitution, former heads of state are permitted to be members of the senate for a term of 8years however this is not in favor of the 5th Rwandan president Pasteur Bizimungu who lead the country from 19th July 1994 to 23rd march 2000 when he resigned.

Shortly after his resignation, Pasteur Bizimungu was convicted of serious crimes that threatened National Security and in July 2004 was sentenced to 15years in jail by the Supreme Court.

These crimes are what striped off his rights to join the Rwandan senate any time as told by the chairman of the Rwandan Electro Commission Prof.

Karangwa Chrysologue who said that Bizimungu was charged with serious offenses to the extent that he cannot be allowed a sit in the senate.

In a press conference with journalists this Friday Prof. Karangwa said “Our National Constitution permits former presidents to sit in the senate only if their term in office is not accused of grievances. But it’s not a guarantee that they will serve in the senate because they have to publicly request for it.”

Our constitution obliges former presidents who wish to join the senate to submit his candidature to the Supreme Court which will then decide on whether to give a green light to the candidate.

In 2007 Pasteur Bizimungu was released on presidential pardon after serving 3years.

On the other side, the commission noted that the campaigns for the senatorial aspirants in general went as planned and well with 58 candidates contesting for the 14 seats in the senate.

The election event is scheduled today Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th September 2011 with 12 candidates from their respective Provinces and the rest from public and private universities.

The Ugandan born initiative, Inspire Africa, that recently launched its operations in Rwanda and Burundi Sunday September 25, visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Center-Gisozi paying tribute to victims of the 1994 Tutsi genocide.

The initiative after the visit called for the African states to draw from Rwandan genocide and ensure that genocide never explodes elsewhere.

The co-founder and Chief Executive officer of Inspire Africa Nelson Tugume that led the youth delegation noted, “Personally what I have seen is groaning only and I don’t know the reason behind the cause because as Africans we are one.”

“As Africans I don’t see why genocide should be inevitable. We have to stand up together, stop riots like those in Tripoli and the rest as the root cause to genocide,” he added.

Tugume also said that all are caused by the poor leadership and that as Africans there is a need for good leadership that won’t take people back to the worst history.

The Inspire Africa principally targets young and successful entrepreneurs in Africa, whose desire is to enthuse other young people willing to make it to the summit of the business world.

Inspire Africa is a human capital development organization with the sole goal of engineering successful entrepreneurship in Africa through identifying the best business minds and supporting their entrepreneurial cause.