Women participation in leadership roles is one of the areas where Rwanda has been recognized at the international level with big numbers of women in parliament under the Paul Kagame leadership.

Though this initiative has faced some criticisms on the basis of filling up number, the recent legislative elections in September 2013, have seen yet another world record of 64 per cent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies taken by women compared to 56percent in the previous 2008 polls.

At least 51 out of the 80 seats in the Lower House will be occupied by women. Majority of the women elected in the September voting were from the ruling party Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) with 41 seats out of the 53 openly contested seats; meaning that RPF has 20 women representing a 49 percent.

Other parties that came in include the Social Democratic Party (PSD) with four women, and the Liberal Party (PL) snatched seats out of the candidates elected on each of the party tickets. Independents had two women on the campaign trial but none of the made it to the final race- however they conceded defeat and said they will run next time.

The Rwandan Constitution of 2003 provides enormous opportunity for both women and men to occupy not less than 30 percent of all decision-making organs. In addition, the current senate has 10 women out of the current 25 members (representing 40 per cent), and the overall number of women in both the lower and upper chamber of deputies now constitute 58 per cent.

Some world critics have said that Rwanda fills up numbers in parliament but they are not competent, however the Forum for Women Politicians (FFPR) believes that the women have a role in their country’s development and thus the policy of gender equality is deemed necessary to promote women on competence level.

Alphonsine  Mukarugema (RPF) who has been in the game for long says that the women in parliament, especially in the house of deputies (lower chamber of parliament), we find that during this tenure, there was something extra ordinary because it is the first time in history to have a big number of women in parliament. And this big numbers was vital in enabling us to attain tangible results so as to help the Rwandan family, especially women, to find solutions to their problems.

“Our great number [of women in parliament] helps a lot with pro-women legislation”, she explains. “We initiated a number of laws, namely to fight against gender-based violence, and made amendments of existing laws that had some injustice in them. So today, girls are able to inherit the property of their parents, including land,” she adds.

The Rwanda Diaspora in Darfur has elected a new leadership team including; Kalisa Sulaiman as chairman, Gatsinzi Jane as Secretary, Fravia Nantare as treasurer.

The new Diaspora leadership team was welcomed by Ambassador Joseph Mutaboba who wished them a fruitful term. Joseph Mutaboba recently appointed as Deputy Joint Special Representative for UNAMID at RWANBATT 37 super camp in El Fasher.

Rwandans in Darfur are composed of military, Police and Civilians who serve in the UN missions and a small percentage is now getting involved in the business activities.

The new leadership will be expected to coordinate social, political and economic activities in which Rwanda and Sudan are involved and also promote their country’s development, of which president Paul Kagame has continuously asked of all Rwandans living abroad.

Rwandans especially peacekeeping forces in Darfur have made tremendous contributions to restoring peace in the war torn region of Sudan and have also participated in various community development activities- social and economic- using the model example of Rwanda’s commitment to nation building after the 1994 genocide.

Rwandan peacekeepers, in Sudan’s Darfur region, have done more than just keeping peace. Their other socio-economic activities such as engagements in health, water and sanitation projects in order to improve the living conditions of the locals have left Darfur communities in awe.

Rwanda is the sixth major peacekeepers contributing country to the UN, with over 4,000 troops, 400 police (150 female officers), and 13 military observers serving in different countries like South Sudan, Sudan, Haiti, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast. The country is the second highest contributor of female police officers worldwide and the first highest contributor of female police officers in Africa.

Rwandan peacekeepers in Darfur have introduced aggressive peacekeeping and used women peacekeepers for protection of vulnerable women and girls in situations of conflict and engaged in activities aimed at fostering conflict resolution mechanisms which have directly impacted lives in Darfur.

An impromptu senate session has approved Richard Muhumuza as the new Prosecutor General. Muhumuza’s name was suggested by President Kagame during an earlier cabinet meeting this mid September

The session held on Wednesday September 18 also approved Agnes Mukagashugi as the new Deputy Prosecutor General.

Muhumuza replaces Martin Ngoga, while Mukagashugi takes over from Alphonse Hitiyaremye. Hitiyaremye’s recent Supreme Court Judge nomination was delayed by the session because he is away on official work.

Muhumuza faces a challenging task as he assumes office. Research on the justice sector in Rwanda, indicates that cases were delayed due to too much work piled on the prosecutors, however the prosecutors have been divided into cluster working groups as part of the solutions to have these cases finalized and ensuring that a good job is done in each case.

The prosecution office has early on assured Rwandans that it will ensure that there won’t be any more pending justice cases sitting on the shelves, now that all the awaiting cases from 2004 have been resolved.

Among other tasks, Muhumuza will continue pursuing cases genocide fugitives who are scattered all over the world especially in France, Belgium and the UK; and dealing with the UN residual court in Arusha to finalise with the cases that need to be transferred to Rwanda for trail

Both Muhumuza and Mukagashugi have been senior prosecutors at the National Public Prosecution Authority.

The Senate also approved the appointment of Charles Kaliwabo, formerly the spokesperson of the Judiciary, to the position of President of the High Court, a seat that has been vacant since Justice Minister Johnston Busingye moved to EAC principle judge a year ago.

Emmanuel Kamere was appointed president of the Commercial Court, with Fanfan Rwanyindo Kayirangwa as his deputy. Gakwaya Gatete Benoit and Gakwaya Justin were approved as Supreme Court Judge.

Rwanda will on October 18, 2013 host Transform Africa 2013’ summit themed “The Future Delivered Today” aimed at leveraging the potential of broadband in communities, governments and the private sectors across Africa.

The global technology forum will be hosted by Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), alongside Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.

According to ITU’s Regional Director for Africa Andrew Rugege, the Summit will primarily review the achievements of the 2007 Connect Africa, and discuss how broadband infrastructure and applications that followed the summit can be leveraged to help transform Africa.

Rugege explained that participants will be drawn together by the vision that leveraging the potential of broadband whose application extends from the village user on a hand-held device to the user on a super computer, will transform the lives of Rwandans as well as other Africans.

The summit comes after South Korea’s largest telecom company, Korea Telecom, entered into an agreement with Rwanda to deploy 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) broadband network across the country.

This agreement will put Rwanda among a few countries in Africa set to roll out a high-speed 4G broadband network that delivers download speed of up to 100 Megabytes per second.

The Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said the country is ready to host the summit and is looking forward to play its part in transforming people’s lives using the power of ICT.

“He added that Rwanda looking forward to get involved with a transformation agenda for Africa to achieve broadband growth that benefits every citizen,” he said.

During the summit awards will be presented to exemplary individuals and companies that are excelling in using technology to drive socio-economic transformation.

The summit will also include five key interactive sessions that include awards, leaders’ youth innovation extravaganza forum, exhibition and smart Africa conference.

The goals of the summit includes Connecting Africa’s capitals and major cities on broadband by 2012” and “Connecting African villages by 2015”. Rwanda has made major strides in both goals, including the eminent launch of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network throughout the country.”

Early 2013 Networked Readiness Index by World Economic Forum (Wef) and European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) ranked Rwanda among the top 10 countries in Africa that are in good position to benefit from new ICTs.

The Momo

Rwanda’s music industry continues unveil talent, the latest singer on the block is The Momo.

Born Maureen Mbabazi but known by many on stage as The Momo started singing way back in 2010 as a backup singer for many local artistes.

The promising diva revealed her music plans to Tukabyine.com and promised music fans.

“I have already established vital connections in music industry that will develop my career,” says The Momo.

The singer is working under Narrow road studio in Kicukiro.

The Momo boasts of songs like Ndamufite, Babimenye and Narakwiyeguriye.

Although she is new on music scene, singer The Momo has managed to attract lots of fans due to her vigorous dancing while she performs.

The number of female artistes in Rwanda is still low compared to the men. This is due to various challenges like sex exploitations in the industry.

Rwanda boasts various established female artistes like Miss Jojo, Miss Shannel, Paccy, Knowless, Queen Cha.

Dr. Jiji recently released a video to his song entitled Antere Ibuye and the public reaction was mostly that of outrage and criticism and rightly so. Never before had any Rwandan artist shot a video and gone to an extent of showing so many skimpily dressed women at the same time. The video shows the star together with Bruce Melodie and Ama G The Black romping with the girls freely, a feature that is mostly a hallmark of Western type of music videos. And it’s not that Jiji was oblivion of the fact Rwandans are so much culturally conservative or the fact that the video would provoke such reactions – far from that.

Undoubtedly the video will be classified as one of the best that has been produced this year, albeit the disparagements here and there. Without any doubt video production has gained much necessity as far as artists’ promotion is concerned. Here tukabyine.com looks at a few local musicians who have mastered the art of this vital tool.

Urban Boyz

Perhaps the first crew to discover this important secret, Urban Boyz are known not only to produce quality videos, but also to spend significantly on them as well. The group also scooped the best video award at this year’s Salax Awards with their song Bibaye.

Dr. Jiji

Only a few months in the country, and this artist has caught everyone by storm. Jiji’s adventure into music industry has surprised almost everyone including himself perhaps. Collabos with Ama G The Black, Bruce Melodie and other celebrities are among his achievements, but his noticeable quality is the way he invests heavily in his music videos.

Also the winner of Tusker Project Fame season 3, Alpha was almost heading for a downfall after he failed to make a mark on local scene. However his resurgence is clear for everyone to see. His videos are exquisite but the most outstanding is Heaven featuring Hollywood’s actress Meagan Good’s sister, Lamyia Good. The video was shot at the Manhattan Beach in California.

Amag Performing

Hip hop star Amagi the black released a new song, blasting Jay Polly,another rapper, and calling him a rival.

The song Umusaza speaks about established artistes who are afraid of competition and resort to naming themselves music legends.

“Competition is good in music though some artists consider staying on top, with no competitors at all,” says Amagi the black.

Amagi said the song would touch a nerve, though to many artists, it would help them improve.

Last year Jay Polly cleared the air that he is not afraid of upcoming rappers calling them kids who have just joined the business finding already hard core stars like him.

The song Umusaza has caused a lot of confusion among the music fans across the country and many of them believe that it’s directly speaking to Jay Polly.

Despite what is being said about the song Umusaza, rapper Jay Polly remains quiet about the issue.

 Farmers in Muhororo sector are being commended for making use productively of the cows provided to them by PAPSTA project. Farmers have used cows given by PAPSTA (the project that supports the agricultural transformation strategic plan) that operates in the Ministry of Agriculture productively by taking care of them, to reproduce and give to their neighbors.

 The 350 farmers in ‘Intwaramihigo za Muhororo’ cooperative in Muhororo sector say they have earned about Rwf7 million from the milk and manure got from the cows given by PAPSTA.

Jean Baptiste Ntirenganya the president of ‘Intwaramihigo za Muhororo’ cooperative who was also given a cow by PAPSTA says their objective is to make all residents into farmers by giving out cows to rear. This is in the promotion of the local program called “Girinka Ntunsige Turajyana”.

Mazimpaka says they have given cows to women in all 14 villages that PAPSTA operates in Ngororero district. PAPSTA operates in Nyange, Muhororo sectors and Bwira, Ndaro and Gatumba areas.

According to Séraphine Umurerwa who works with PAPSTA, though this project is almost ending its operations in this area, what people have achieved will remain as a legacy. “People’s achievements including working in teams, having health insurance of their cattle will remain as the legacy of PAPSTA long after it is gone.”

The committee that takes care of the livestock in Muhororo sector was commended. This is because of the state of animals being given to people that are worth the praise. So far, 55 cows were given from people back to the public as the appreciation of getting cows in the first place, goats and pigs are circulating among people.

In general, PAPSTA has distributed 264 cows which reproduced more 197 cows that are circulating around in the people; 635 goats and 165 pigs that are given to the neighbor when they reproduce.

Safi-Lead singer at Urban Boys Group

Local Afro beat group Urban Boyz released another hot video of their song featuring female rapper Oda Paccy.

The boys are known in the music industry for doing best videos and no doubt Urban Boys is clearly topping other local artistes when it comes to quality of the video.

While speaking to Rwandashow.com, lead singer Safi revealed the secret behind quality videos of their songs lately.

“Good videos need money and professional producers, we always hire producer Meddy, a professional from Uganda to direct the videos,” says Safi.

The song Touch my body is currently rocking local radio stations and its video is shared by many music fans across the country on social networks.

Urban Boys boasts of songs like Bibaye, Kelele, Wampoye Iki and many other songs with local musicians and regional artistes.

Anthony Mwangi better known as Anto Neosoul is going to join Uganda’s Julianna Kanyomozi and Kenya’s Ian Mbugua on the judging panel during Tusker Project Fame season six. The Kenyan star debuted his maiden album called StarBorn in mid-May,and has since been a force to reckon with in Kenya’s music industry.

He will be replacing Tanzania’s Hermes Bariki who has been sharing the judging table with Juliana and Ian during the five seasons.

Neosoul is not the only change that Tusker Project Fame 6 has brought, the show’s co-host, Sheila Mwanyigha has been replaced by Channel O presenter and radio personality, Joey Muthengi.

At the moment, each country produced around 15 contestants who are supposed to take on a stage of screening at which they will be reduced further to the number who will get into the final competition. The final contestants of the show shall be officially unveiled on October 3rd. Rwanda’s Elion Victory is among the wannabes and has been tipped to make it into the list.

Mani Martin has expressed his disappointment after four members of his Benegihanda band disappeared in France during the band’s tour in Paris. The band had immediately been awarded third position and bronze medals at Francophonie Festival, when it was discovered that they had run away. But Mani Martin, speaking on his return to the country, expressed his disappointment and said he had no news they were planning to run away.

He said, “We had just received our medals and then went to our hotel when we realized they were not there. We tried to call them several times but they never picked their phones. I had no idea they wanted to get away.”

Only Mani Martin and Ras Kayaga came back to the country, while Ntizatureka Didier, Christian Ngirinshuti, Ndengera Fabrice and Munyarugerero Gerard all decided to stay behind. The developments will have far reaching consequences on young artists who will want to represent Rwanda abroad, according to Makuza Laurent from the ministry of sports and culture, who said that it will now be difficult for young people to be allowed to leave the country even if they were on a mission to represent the country in such festivals.

The ruling Rwanda Patriotic Party (RPF) cruised to a resounding victory in this week’s parliamentary polls, sweeping 41 seats out of a possible 53, in a repeat of the 2008 show.

That represented an overwhelming 76.22 per cent of the total votes cast, according to the final results released by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) yesterday.  RPF, which stood alongside four smaller parties, will now dominate the lower House for another five years.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) which came a distant second polled 13.03, with the Liberal Party (PL) collecting 9.29 per cent, while PS-Imberakuri failed to garner the minimum five  per cent required for any political party or independent candidate to join the House, only scraping a paltry 0.56 per cent in the Monday poll.

Equally, none of the four independents   could reach the constitutional threshold.“I congratulate all Rwandans upon having a free and fair election; the process was noticeably peaceful. It solidifies our democratic process,” NEC chief, Prof. Kalisa Mbanda said, while announcing the results yesterday.The voter turnout was 98.8 per cent of the 5,953,531 registered voters, according to NEC. Most observers have already endorsed the polls, saying they were free and fair.

Sixty police officers from Burundi, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya and Rwanda yesterday completed United Nations Police Officers Course (UNPOC) at Gishari Police Training Centre.

The two-week UN pre-deployment course prepares police officers who are due to be deployed in different UN missions.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Emmanuel Gasana, who presided over the closing ceremony, said the course is part of multinational cooperation to enhance peace.

The IGP said there would be more courses to facilitate peace keeping operations.

“This centre aims at addressing modern security challenges like cyber crimes, terrorism, etc that tend to escalate into full violence. Law enforcers particularly the police,  participate in all sorts of conflict resolutions…the police thus need the expertise provided here,” he said.

The course was  supported by Eastern Africa Standby Force Coordination Mechanism (EASFCOM).

The IGP reiterated the government’s commitment to training police officers, adding that other regional countries should be encouraged to offer similar training.

He said that the regional security framework to end violence and conflicts should be supported maximally.

“Our experience after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is enormous… We learnt that if a nation is abandoned, it may suffer horrible things as we experienced during the Genocide. That is why our support to countries like Mali is on”.

Major Fadl Ahmed Muhammed, from Sudan, said that the knowledge and skills the participants acquired was crucial for peacekeeping globally.

“The time spent here has been fruitful in professional terms…We used one stone to kill two birds. The skills will help us during international missions and in our daily work back home,” she said.

Farmers in the Northern Province have been warned against planting a certain maize variety that is prone to diseases, and advised to uproot those that have shown symptoms of any disease.

The Minister for Agriculture, Dr Agnes Kalibata, issued the warning on Wednesday in Rulindo after her meeting with district officials in charge of economic affairs, district and sector agronomists and heads of cooperatives in the province.

She assured farmers supply of good seed varieties to replace those that have been attacked.

The maize brand in question is called Hybrid Pannar 691 which officials said will be replaced with Poll9A and ZM and Poll8.

The most affected districts are Gakenke where hybrid was planted in at least six sectors and Burera where the seed covers five sectors.

Other affected districts are Musanze and Rulindo while the only district that is not affected is Gicumbi.

Kalibata said the disease is no longer a threat as it was detected at the beginning of planting season and farmers will be either facilitated to replace them with others or plant other crops such as beans instead.

The disease is seed borne not a soil borne, uprooting them and plant new ones and avert potential losses, she added

“After distributing it we discovered through research that this type of maize is prone to disease. We are keen on following up where they have been planted, we have experts who will take samples for lab testing, farmers are advised to replace them whenever the disease manifests,” she said.

She said new seeds to replace the affected ones will be available and farmers would start replacing them by Friday (yesterday).

The affected variety, she said, is the same the government had imported since 2007 but the disease was clear this year.

The symptoms of the disease are detected in the initial stages after planting, officials said.

Early this week, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a directive through the media asking farmers to stop planting hybrid seeds and uproot what had been planted.

The warning raised concerns amongst the farmers complaining it was too late for the ministry to issue the warning because a lot had already been invested in planting this variety.

“We wish we had been warned before we started planting, we have used more energy and resources…we used our manure, we have no hope we will benefit from new seeds,” said one farmer in Rulindo, preferring anonymity.

But Kalibata said, “This year we wanted to have maize planted on a bigger area and ordered for more quantity, we got it when it was already planting season and we distributed before testing them, providers might have given us infected seeds.”

Aime Bosenibamwe, the governor of Northern Province, said though attacked hybrid was planted on a big area, there was still a hope that farmers will harvest a lot once they replaced it with available substitutes.

“We can’t say it is a major threat  and that it will affect farmers, the farming season started early last week and once farmers do their best to replace infected seeds with new ones, agronomists and local leaders and heads of cooperatives are encouraged to help farmers understand this for it is in their best interest,” said Bosenibamwe.

Officials said there would be direct collaboration with agriculture experts who will be doing sampling of suspected hybrid and examining it in laboratory and that results will be out within four days.

The projects selected in Hanga Umurimo Program supported by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) on Wednesday 18^th Sept 2013 was evaluated in Gicumbi district.

The 80 projects to be financed by the financial institutions are the projects that will provide more employment opportunities to people.

People who need financial backup in Hanga Umurimo program

 The evaluation session was attended by financial institutions like Bank of Kigali (BK) and Banque Populaire (BPR) that will provide the finances to develop the selected projects.

According to Elyse Ntabwoba the BPR Gicumbi branch, the bank is going to do all the paperwork needed to release the funding as soon as possible to support the project. “We will not give attention to how long the project owners have used the bank accounts or the activeness of their bank accounts; we will just act on the collateral guarantee and funding the projects.”

Peace Murungi who coordinates the Hanga Umurimo Program in the Northern Province of Rwanda promised support to people who need help to make better their projects and expertise their guarantee. “Those who need help in our expertise should just make us know and we will help them to present well researched projects to the financial institutions.”

People with collateral guarantees and well prepared and worth projects that will provide employment to the people were assured of the financial credit to realize these projects.

AS Kigali team

TKFL, Tuesday

AS Kigali vs Mukura (Stade de Kigali)

Musanze vs APR (Musanze)

SC Kiyovu vs Police (Mumena)

Etincelles vs Rayon Sports (Umuganda)

AS Muhanga vs Marines (Muhanga)

LEADERS AS Kigali looks to extend its lead at the top of the Turbo King Football League when they face Mukura in the ninth round of the season at Stade de Kigali on Tuesday.

Unbeaten in the past six matches, Coach Andre Gasambungo will all be out to register another win for his youthful side which has been in good form since the season started.

They have lost once and won seven matches consecutively and AS Kigali seems not to be in any stand of losing any point again.

“The team has picked up the league rhythm and we are set for our next assignment against Mukura. It is a good squad and though they have struggled this season, we will not underestimate them,

“We will give them the respect they deserve as we seek to win the game,” added Gasambungo.

Coach Cedric Kaze has seen Mukura struggle to make any impression in as far as the league is concerned. Standing ninth with nine points, Mukura has won three matches and lost five.

However, Kaze believe his team will bounce back after losing three consecutive league matches just in a space of 14 days. “Lack of concentration and inability to score goals despite creating many opportunities has been our sole problem,”

“We have to pick up ourselves and prepare for the next match. I believe we can work hard and be able to start picking points in the enxt matches,” said Kaze.

Kaze’s side lost 2-1 at home to Police on Saturday, which followed narrow identical 1-0 defeats to APR and Rayon Sports respectively ahead of the AS Kigali crucial tie.

Mukura, who finished fourth last season, are aiming at winning this season’s title but if they are to achieve their targets, they will need to win more than they lose or draw.

Yossa Betrand Ngandjeu is expected to sit out this match due to suspension.

In other matches due this afternoon, defending champions Rayon Sports plays away to Etincelles at Umuganda stadium. Both sides go into today’s game nursing a loss in their last fixture. Rayon Sports lost 1-0 to APR while Etincelles succumbed to a 0-2 loss to Gicumbi.

Both sides will miss services of their key players; Cedric Amissi and Isiaka Nahimana who are out with two accumulated yellow cards.

Another tight match today will pit SC Kiyovu against Police at Mumena turf. Coach Gilbert Kanyankole’s old giants have been in good form and are ranked fifth with 15 points, a point better than Sam Ssimbwa’s side while AS Muhanga hosts Marines in Muhanga.

A battle between the second and third will be hosted in Musanze as APR seeks to garner maximum points away to Musanze without skipper Ismail Nshutiyamagara whp is suspended for today’s clash.

Meanwhile, two matches which were expected to pit Amagaju against Gicumbi and Espoir against Esperance have been postponed to Saturday.

Students from universities and higher learning institutes in Rwanda have been tipped on the benefits East African Community (EAC) integration.

According to a capacity-building expert Wanyama Masinde, a number of people from the five EAC partner states (Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya) have not yet understood the benefits of EAC integration and still cling to their respective countries.

In a public lecture at the Kigali Institute of Management (KIM), Wanyama told students that since independence, African countries have always considered a united continent a key to development.

He said that the major challenge towards benefiting from integration is the fact that African leaders rushed to having integration blocks ahead of communities’ understanding of the whole concept.

“In the past countries merged their borders prior to identifying the opportunities that would come along with the merging of frontiers, simply because of little knowledge and a few means based on mindset,” expressed Wanyama,

He called on students to aid mindset change for the region, with a message that all people in the region would benefit from the EAC integration without discrimination.

Augustine Karangwa, a students’ representative at Kigali Institute of Management {KIM}, said the training helped students with mindset change.

Karangwa said that following the increasing number of university graduates in Rwanda, EAC is an ideal job market.

In an effort to increase the current statistics of literate adults, Rwanda’s Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) is targeting to establish 8,600 adult learning centers around the country by 2015, a move that will see each of the country’s 2,148 cells having at least four learning facilities.

“We intend to teach adults reading, writing and counting, across the country,” said Espérance Muziganyi, the official in charge of adult learning at MINEDUC.

According to Muziganyi, Rwanda currently boasts of 5,017 learning facilities for adult education – slightly over two learning facilities in every cell. And over 70 percent of all Rwandans now know how to read and write.

Together with partners, MINEDUC spends an estimated annual budget of Rwf 500,000,000 (about $735,294) on adult education.

This year, it’s expected that thousands of high school students on vacation, will be volunteering with the education of the old people. After receiving refresher training, they will be dispatched to different schools across the country.

And some churches have been also helping with teaching the old people.

According to Jean Paul Seneza, Secretary in the Pentecost Church of Rwanda, his church has been teaching old people how to read, write since 1999. The church now has 2,835 learning facilities, which supplement the government-owned ones.

But there are challenges still. 35-year-old Bernard Twiringiyimana says some illiterate people still don’t have the courage to go to school to learn how to read, write and count because of an apparent illiteracy stigma.

CHUK

The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) wants an investigation conducted on King Faisal Hospital and Kigali University Teaching Hospital (CHUK) after the Attorney General’s report indicated that over 70millions was lost through expired drugs and unused equipment.

The Chairman of the PAC committee, Honorable Juvenal Nkusi, said these losses incurred out of carelessness the institutions need to step up efforts to improve management of government funds.

The AG’s 2011/12 report indicates that King Faisal and CHUK failed to recover money owed to it by patients. At the same time, CHUK is owed over 1.2 billion Rwanda francs while King Faisal is owed 1.3 billion.

In the report, King Faisal hospital also has a long standing debt of a little over 1 billion Rwanda francs owed to Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and Rwanda Social Security Board, and also purchased medicine and equipment totaling to Rwf2 billion without a specific plan, leading to a loss of about 70 million Rwanda francs of expired drugs.

In the case of CHUK, the report indicated that the hospital sells some medicines to patients at a very high price, which has resulted to poor services and many patients not being able to afford medication.

Appearing before the PAC, the minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, expressed her disappointment over the management of hospitals and said that security and judicial organs ought to do their work because it is shameful to see some health institutions exhibit such serious financial management errors.

The PAC committee stated that an investigation shall be done to establish how the tendering process was conducted and why the hospital ordered such bulk medicine and equipment.

However, the hospital officials said that these problems would be resolved, especially the pricing on medicine which was brought about by a new computer program that was installed at the hospital which the staff was not familiar with.

Residents during EWSA open day in Nyagatare district

Electricity, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA) has called on customers in Nyagatare district to protect infrastructures and approach its offices for services.

The call was made on November 9^th 2013 during EWSA public accountability for water and electricity customers in Nyagatare district.

Themothe Kayumba the Manager of EWSA in Nyagatare asserts that this day was put in place to share ideas in order to improve service delivery.

Among the issues raised during the open day was that many residents have not yet accessed water and electricity and challenged EWSA to speed up the supply.

Stanley Muganwa, vice-mayor for economic affairs in Nyagatare district noted that apart from Kigali city, Nyagatare district tops other districts in electricity distribution.

The vice-mayor asked residents to protect infrastructures because it costs a lot to avail them to the residents. However he says that some residents complain of low electricity yet they don’t use it in the right way.

On the issue of power blackouts, EWSA officials told the residents that it’s caused by old machines that are undergoing maintenance services.

30 percent of Nyagatare District residents have access to electricity and 54 percent of people been supplied with water.