Kagame rallies Musanze on devt

President Kagame talks to Musanze Mayor Winifrida Mpembyemungu (L), Northern Province Governor Aime Bosenibamwe (R) and the Minister for Local Government James Musoni during his visit to the district, yesterday. 

President Paul Kagame has congratulated residents of Musanze District for peace and development they have achieved, urging them to maintain the momentum through hard work and cooperation with other Rwandans.

Kagame made the call, yesterday, while meeting thousands of the residents at Ubworoherane Stadium, the district’s main ground, as he wrapped up a two-day visit in the area.

While Musanze and most of Northern Province used to experience insecurity because of fighting between the Interahamwe militia and the government in the late 1990s, it has since become a symbol of peace and development as residents reap from booming agriculture and mountain gorillas tourism.

“Entrepreneurship has become a habit and we are all benefiting,” the President told the residents who had also outlined different business activities that they are engaged in and how they are benefiting.

Some started from scratch and ended up with business empires in activities that range from growing Irish potatoes and fruits, dairy farming, building hospitality infrastructure such as hostels, to procurement and guiding tourists.

The residents praised Kagame  for his exemplary leadership, saying he prioritises the wellbeing of the ordinary citizen,  leading to security and development.

Judith Mukamusoni, a high school student who recited a poem for the President, urged support for Kagame, saying it would boost businesses and better livelihood.
 
Security challenges

Kagame encouraged the residents in Musanze and other parts of Northern Province to keep working hard and ensuring that they maintain the good security situation in their area and work alongside other Rwandans because unity and security is vital for continuity of their development.

He assured that security threats from the likes of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda can never succeed in destabilising the country if everyone works with others to maintain security and for economic development.

“We have to live together, we need to work together to achieve our goal,” the President told the cheering crowd, emphasising that unity is the only way to overcome challenges of insecurity and poverty.

The President’s interaction with residents was about solving problems as the residents told him cases of conflicts and injustice which were mostly related to land as well as needs of infrastructure such as roads and electricity in certain areas.

He promised quick solutions for most of the concerns and encouraged the leaders to ensure that the people get appropriate solutions. He said access to electricity must cease being a dream, but reality.

Kagame pledged to expand on the road network so that the residents can achieve the productivity targets expected of them. 

District officials said they intend to exceed the average national economic growth target of 11.5 per cent in the next five years.

President Kagame, on a regular basis, embarks on countrywide tours where he reaches out to the citizens and interacts with them on various issues of concern.

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Women economic status improving, officials say

Women engaged in tailoring, one of the small scale enterprises that helps uplift their economic status. 

As the country marked the end of a month dedicated to women and girls, yesterday, several officials said the performance of women in managing business and accessing financial facilities at banks is steadily growing. 

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Oda Gasinzigwa, said with the collaboration of partner-agencies, women were empowered financially in different ways. 

“In this just concluded month, we focus more on debates and talk shows about women empowerment. Since the biggest percentage of the Rwandan population is women, the more they are empowered, the more they contribute to the welfare of their family and intimately the national economy,” said Gasizingwa. 

She added that government is currently putting more emphasis on girl-child education as a forward-looking strategy for women empowerment. 

Regarding monitoring of women performance in the economic field, the minister said that the National Institution of Statistics of Rwanda frequently conducts women-centred surveys on which government bases to plan. 

Business Development Fund chief executive Innocent Bulindi said his fund has secured Rwf15 billion, and as a special provision for women, they will finance projects whose owners have raised 25 per cent of the required capital—implying that the fund will finance the remaining 75 per cent.

For other applicants for grants, the fund requires prospective entrepreneurs to come up with 50 percent of the capital and top it up with the same amount. 

“Women are catching up in acquiring financial services although they are very conscious which result to most of them going for averagely small loans ranging between around Rwf500,000 to one million,” said Bulindi.

The gender month was launched by the First Lady Jeanette Kagame in Musanze District during the celebration of International Women’s Day, where she graced the launch of Umugoroba 

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Gen. Kazura to head Mali UN mission

Maj. Gen. Jean Bosco Kazura

Maj. Gen. Jean Bosco Kazura has been appointed to lead a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, a mission that seeks to pacify the north of the West African country.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma) was established by Security Council resolution 2100 in April to support political processes in that country and carry out a number of security-related tasks.

Gen. Kazura (pictured) was appointed after making a strong impression during an interview with a UN panel, and was described by the global organ as a “military genius with immense experience in peace-keeping,” according to reports.

Another officer from Chad who was contesting for the same position did not convince the panel.

Gen. Kazura has hitherto been the Commandant of Gabiro School of Infantry for Rwanda Defence Forces. He has previously served as Deputy Force 

Commander of the African Union Mission in Darfur before the deployment of the Hybrid Mission of AU and UN.

Confirming the appointment, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Louise Mushikiwabo said on her Twitter handle: “General J.B. Kazura will head the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Mali, Minusma. Proud of my Brothers of Rwanda Defence Force!” 

Multi-faceted 

The multi-faceted military General previously headed the Federation of Rwanda Football Associations. During his tenure, Rwanda successfully hosted the 2009 African Youth Championship. He resigned in 2011, after more than five years at the helm of the soccer organ.

Rwanda has been on the forefront in contributing toward world peacekeeping missions. 

Currently, the RDF deploys 3,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, where the immediate Force Commander until last week was another Rwandan, Lt. Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba.   

Other missions to which the country has committed a significant number of troops is the UN peace keeping mission in South Sudan where at least 850 Rwandans are deployed as peacekeepers.

More peacekeepers are engaged in missions in other countries such as Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leon, and Ivory Coast.

About the Mali conflict 

Series of insurgencies in Mali have led to the death of civilians and government forces, a conflict mainly engineered by Islamist forces in the north struggling to secede from the country.

The conflict led to the overthrow of President Amadou Toumani Touré,  who was ousted in a coup d’état by government soldiers who were not happy with the way he handled the crisis.

During the recent African Union Summit in Ethiopia, African leaders pledged more support in terms of providing military and financial support to end the conflicts in Northern Mali.

Meanwhile, official negotiations between the government and National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad began in Burkina Faso, last weekend. 

The talks followed two weeks of informal discussions between the two sides on the situation in Kidal that fell to rebels in January 2013. 

Other countries such as Norway, Sweden, Ireland and Germany are also in talks to participate in the UN peacekeeping force in Mali. 

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Universities blacklist woman for forging academic transcript to get job

Students at SFB. Uwigase has been blacklisted for forging a transcript to get a job.

When she forged an academic transcript to secure a job in a non-government organisation, Bebey Ugirase had no idea she was knocking at a jail door.

Ugirase, who was last month convicted of forging academic transcripts from the School of Finance and Banking (SFB), will now not be allowed to study in any other institution of higher learning in the country, officials said.

The former People and Culture Manager (ostensibly, in charge of human resources) at Plan-Rwanda, an international NGO, was sentenced to a year in prison, after Gasabo Intermediate Court found her guilty of forging a bachelor’s degree from SFB.

After learning of the court decision, the school management told this paper that Ugirase’s case was referred to the school senate.

Elias Kiyaga, the director of communication at SFB, said when a student commits a serious offence in a public school, other public universities are notified so that they cannot admit the student again.

Basically, they blacklist the student.  

“We notified all the schools since we gave a copy to the National Council for Higher Education and the Ministry of Education,” he said.

A May 9 letter from SFB Rector to Kicukiro District Police Commander, a copy of which The New Times has seen, says Ugirase was a student of Kigali Institute of Science and Technology and Management (Kist) from 2003-2005.

Ugirase, like her coursemates in the Department of Human Resources Management, was transferred to SFB when government relocated the faculty of management to this school, starting with the academic year 2006.

“After that academic year (2006), Bebey Ugirase dropped out of her studies yet she still had the courses she failed to be cleared.”

Ugirase would wait until December 2009, when she wrote to SFB, a copy of the letter we have, saying that she had been sick. In the letter, she further said Plan-Rwanda had offered her a job to cater for her family.

Therefore, she asked to be allowed to repeat the courses she had failed, so that she can be able to graduate.

However, SFB maintains that after this letter, the student didn’t follow up; she simply disappeared.

How she got caught
Sources from Plan-Rwanda speaking on condition of anonymity to save their jobs, told this paper that since 2007, when Ugirase was employed, the organisation was characterised by an era of frequent dismissals of staff, which they allege, as a human resource manager, she was behind.

Most dismissals, they say, were unfair. Thus, our source disclosed, suspicion over her qualifications was raised, most especially in 2012, when an audit committee carried out an exercise in the company, coinciding with a reportedly ongoing harassment of some staff members.

The staff suggested to the regional office to commission an investigation into Ugirase’s qualifications, after what they called a string of professional mistakes that went on for years.

In the May 9 letter, Plan-Rwanda Country Director asked SFB for the official certification of Ugirase’s degree in Human Resources Management.

In response, SFB acting Rector told Plan-Rwanda that Ugirase dropped out of school in 2006, having failed some courses.

Yet, the academic transcript, a copy of which this paper has obtained, indicates that Ugirase graduated from SFB in 2007.

A part from the confusion on dates of graduation, four factors indicated to the school that their student forged a degree.

First was that, according to the letter, SFB did not hold any graduation in 2007 since students had to wait for master’s graduates, which was the following year.

Secondly, it was indicated that the format of her transcript started being issued from year 2010 onwards, meaning by 2007, a different format was in use.

Thirdly, the transcript bears a registration number which is different from the registration number she was admitted to Kist with in 2003.

Keeping mum

Several efforts to contact Plan-Rwanda were futile. However, an official who preferred anonymity because they are not authorised to speak on behalf of the organisation, said the matter is confidential.

“We are worried how someone could work here for five years in a senior position and no one would know about it, yet she used to push for some alarming decisions against staff; she pushed for several dismissals here,” said a source.

The source added that after the incident, there was no meeting called to warn the staff about forgery “a part from asking us to never talk about the case.”

The source said there is still suspicion of forged academic papers in the institution and they would wish the management to carry a general investigation exercise amongst all the staff.

Reliable sources tell this paper that the prosecution in Gasabo Intermediate Court has appealed against the one-year sentence against Ugirase.

However, SFB maintains that the verdict “will have a positive impact since it sends a strong warning and it will deter others who thought they could forge SFB transcripts and get away with it.”

Rare case 

The National Council for Higher Education (NHCE) maintains that cases of forging academic transcripts from local universities were “very rare.”

Antoinette Mbanzamuheto, the principal foreign credentials officer in the Council, said: “Once, last year, we learnt about one case from Kigali Institute of Education and the case was referred to Police to handle.”

The official said since December, last year, they dealt with 19 cases of the equivalence, a document that is given to the students bringing to the Rwandan field foreign degrees to confirm its validity and value to the local field.

The applicant always submits this document alongside their foreign degrees.

“Most of the documents that were found not to be authentic were certificates in nursing fromDR Congo,” she said, adding that these cases are currently before court.

“We have now taken serious measures; when we issue the equivalence, we publish it on our web site. During application, the employers check to make sure the candidate has got the document from us. The candidate can also come and complain if they see that we did not publish their equivalence if any,” said Mbanzamuheto.

Without mentioning the number, the police spokesman for the central region, Superintendent Albert N. Gakara, said they receive many cases of forgery in cheques, contracts between parties and even, academic papers.

He commends the ministry of health that has been discovering some cases during an investigation among the staff.

“Some had forged degrees from neighbouring countries and they were caught while applying for their equivalence in our medical field,” he said, warning defaulters that “punishments are awaiting them” and warned the public, not to take for granted all documents presented to them.

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Burera: Government to help relocating 552 households from high risk zone

Samuel Sembagare, mayor of Burera District has revealed that 552 homes will be shifted from high risk zone before the end of September 2013 to avoid disasters.

This was said during the unusual community work that was held on June 8th 2013 in Ndongozi cell, Kinyababa sector in Burera district.

The community work that gathered residents, local leaders and security officials was meant to help prepare where houses of residents affected by floods in high risk zone will be built.

The mayor highlights: “Whether poor or capable, everybody in this risk zone will relocate before September 2013 ends. Houses should be ready in July and occupied in August so that September rains do not find them in high risk zone.”

He said that poor residents in high risk zone will be assisted through community work and given iron sheets by the government.

Dr. Vincent Biruta, Minister of education who attended the community work asked residents to cooperate with the district administration so that people are shifted from High risk zones.

Minister Biruta denotes: “We have to come back in September when people in high risk zones throughout the district have shifted and occupied their new houses.”

Floods are common in Burera district due to hills and soft soil.

It’s because of this that recent rains destroyed over 21 houses, washed away different crop fields and claimed a life.

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Nyabihu people increasing awareness on HIV/AIDS

New strategies have been set in Nyabihu District aiming to reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS spread and prevent new infections through sensitizing people to voluntary test for the pandemic.

According to the coordinator of the commission that fights for eradication of AIDS in Nyabihu District Sostene Nzitonda, more than 1700 people in the district are infected with HIV/AIDS ; a reason to why people need to know their status as well as give counseling to the already infected.

Pierre Dusenge the health official in Nyabihu district says it is a great sign to see many people voluntarily testing for HIV/AIDS to learn of their statuses.

The district had vowed to sensitize people and to have about 130000 people test voluntarily for AIDS in the performing contracts and about 160304 have already tested.

This performing contract was achieved at 123.3% and all thanks to different sponsors that helped with the sensitization program.

With the campaign to voluntarily test for HIV/AIDS, people are being sensitized about abstinence, faithfulness and condom use as the basics in having an HIV/AIDS free life.

People are always reminded that AIDS is a scourge that cannot be treated or be vaccinated against. Those already infected are counseled to protect themselves as well as other people by abstaining from sex or having protected sexual intercourse.

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Rwanda wooing Italian investors

Milan city where the symposium is being held

An investment symposium opens this Thursday (June 13) in the Italian city of Milan at which Rwandan officials will showcase the country’s business opportunities.

Organized by Rwanda’s Consulate in Milan and the Rwanda Development Board, the symposium will host Italian business leaders at the Milan Chamber of Commerce. The event was organized in collaboration with Promos, an agency of the Milan Chamber of Commerce in charge of promoting international trade.

“With about 11 million inhabitants with a high literacy level, Rwanda is experiencing a time of great socio-cultural and economic expansion (economic growth among the highest 7-8% per annum),” said Enrico Morra Lalia, the Honorary Consul of Rwanda in Milan, in a statement.

“The level of social development, culture and infrastructure is far superior to all the countries of sub-Saharan region of reference”.

The organisers of the symposium will display the country’s opportunities in Infrastructure, Trade, Tourism and Investment in general.

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