BY GEORGE KAGAME
As the end of 2008 approaches, small and medium scale investors in the country have expressed joy concerning reforms in the business sector which the government adopted in 2008 to reduce the cost and burden of investing in Rwanda.
A handful of small scale investors interviewed in a random survey carried out by The New Times since the beginning of December across selected suburbs in Kigali city revealed that the private sector investors were happy with continued effort by government in improving conditions of accessing capital, reducing non tariff barriers and "a reasonable tax policy".
According to Innocent Nsengiyumnva a wholesale shop owner in Remera, today he is capable to import his goods from Kenya and Uganda without much hassle from customs officials and as a result his turn over rates have also increased.
Claude Mupenzi an importer of fashion clothes in Kicukiro said that he was happy with the increased working hours of the customs boarder posts and the cooperation of Kenyan authorities since both countries have increased bilateral relations in the business sector. He said however that there were challenges in the transportation of the goods as fare costs are still very high.
The investors' remarks come at a time when government has embarked on a vigorous campaign to make its ambition of making Rwanda a regional investment hub a reality.
This started with President Paul Kagame authorizing the establishment of a national Doing Business Unit, a task force under the Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA), to identify and drive implementation of reforms to improve Rwanda’s business climate. The task force began its work in December 2007 and, within nine months had identified and successfully implemented 15 investment climate improvements, most of which were captured in the current survey causing Rwanda to move several notches up.
According to Kempeta Sayinzoga, a senior official in the Ministry of Finance and economic planning, the government reviewed 14 commercial laws in 2008, the laws are part of government's commitment to promote commercial courts to deal with business related issues between private investors and government authorities, they are also part of government's intention of building confidence in private and public sector partnerships.
Sayinzoga also says that her ministry has implemented four out of 10 reforms that are crucial in streamlining procedures and requirements needed to start up a business in the country. She adds that because of these reforms, Rwanda has been able to move up the ladder on the World Bank Doing Business Index from 148 in 2007 to 139 in 2008 out of 175 countries surveyed every year.
Sayinzoga further adds that the Rwanda Development Board was created to consolidate institutions geared towards increasing efficiency of service delivery to investors in the country. Some of the institutions introduced in the year include Business Registry Agency, Land Registry all geared towards reducing bureaucracy for investors.
The finance ministry has also since the beginning year held regular meetings between the Private Sector Federation and Rwanda Revenue Authority to discuss tax and private sector development.
The Rwanda Revenue Authority has also introduced a scheme to reward good compliers, as a result small scale investors in the country are now more cooperative in paying taxes on time.
Monday, 29 December 2008
Rwandans express mixed on Bagosora's life sentencing by the ICTR
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Across section of Rwandans interviewed by The New Times on Thursday for their reactions on the sentencing to life in jail for three individuals who have been identified as crucial in the planning and the implementation of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda with mixed reactions.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in what many observers say is their land mark trial so far sentenced to life imprisonment the Theoneste Bagosora a highly influential officer in the Rwandan national army prior to the Genocide in 1994, n the same judgement read by Norwegian judge Erik Mose, Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva; and Major Aloys Ntabakuze were also given life imprisonment sentences while General Gratien Kabiligi, a former director of operations in the same army and along with the three was in the same group jointly tried as Military Trail one was acquitted.
The majority of the interviewees picked randomly in Kigali said that Bagosora and his three co-accused in the Military Trial case deserved the life sentence he was given by the ICTR and that the trial took unnecessarily longer as there was not much research needed to ascertain the gravity of Bagosora's crimes in the Rwandan responsibility. Alphonse Bucyanayandi 39 and a resident of Gikondo and working in Kacyiru said the sentencing of Bagosora, Nsengiyumva; and Ntabakuze was long overdue; "the sentencing was expected and only because the ICTR does not a more harsh punishment. In my view, there's no possible punishment that Bagsora can be given to help the healing process of the country. But life sentence is better than anything else in the alternatives the ICTR have."
Robert Rwiyemeye 32, a survivor working in the city centre said he was disappointed that the trial took such a long time to come to an end; "we have endured much humiliation reading and listening to the radio about the proceedings in Arusha, the sentencing of these particular individuals should not have taken such a long while but am happy that Bagosora will hopefully spend the rest of his life in jail and i hope he stays long enough as the victims of his activities have endured for so long."
Maria Mukandoli 29 a kiosk owner in Nyabugogo said the judgement is crucial for its timing because it was one of the most important trials that the ICTR claims to have delayed in completing; "now that the biggest suspects have been sentenced, i hope that that ICTR does not ask for their mandate to be extended beyond 2009 as they asked the security council."
Stephen Muganga 45, who witnessed killings in Kanombe said he was disappointed by the acquittal of General Gratien Kabiligi; "Kabiligi was an influential commander in 1994, there's no chance that as director of military operations in the army he never participated in the killings." Kabiligi was one of the four former officers in the genocidal regime forces and was acquitted by the ICTR.
Bernoid Kaboyi the Executive Secretary of Ibuka a local organization charged with assisting the survivors of the genocide refused to give his opinion on the judgement when contacted by The New Times but Fracois Xavier Ngarambe the Spokesman of the Prosecutor's office said that the judgments were welcome but he objected to the acquittal of Kabiligi and the 20 years jail sentence given to Juvenal Habyarimana's in-law Protais Zigiranyirazo for his role in the genocide; "i have also been following the sentencing sessions in the news but anyone would have sentenced Bagosora to life in jail if you followed his responsibilities in the history of Rwanda. It is also good that the judgments are out of the way."
Across section of Rwandans interviewed by The New Times on Thursday for their reactions on the sentencing to life in jail for three individuals who have been identified as crucial in the planning and the implementation of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda with mixed reactions.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in what many observers say is their land mark trial so far sentenced to life imprisonment the Theoneste Bagosora a highly influential officer in the Rwandan national army prior to the Genocide in 1994, n the same judgement read by Norwegian judge Erik Mose, Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva; and Major Aloys Ntabakuze were also given life imprisonment sentences while General Gratien Kabiligi, a former director of operations in the same army and along with the three was in the same group jointly tried as Military Trail one was acquitted.
The majority of the interviewees picked randomly in Kigali said that Bagosora and his three co-accused in the Military Trial case deserved the life sentence he was given by the ICTR and that the trial took unnecessarily longer as there was not much research needed to ascertain the gravity of Bagosora's crimes in the Rwandan responsibility. Alphonse Bucyanayandi 39 and a resident of Gikondo and working in Kacyiru said the sentencing of Bagosora, Nsengiyumva; and Ntabakuze was long overdue; "the sentencing was expected and only because the ICTR does not a more harsh punishment. In my view, there's no possible punishment that Bagsora can be given to help the healing process of the country. But life sentence is better than anything else in the alternatives the ICTR have."
Robert Rwiyemeye 32, a survivor working in the city centre said he was disappointed that the trial took such a long time to come to an end; "we have endured much humiliation reading and listening to the radio about the proceedings in Arusha, the sentencing of these particular individuals should not have taken such a long while but am happy that Bagosora will hopefully spend the rest of his life in jail and i hope he stays long enough as the victims of his activities have endured for so long."
Maria Mukandoli 29 a kiosk owner in Nyabugogo said the judgement is crucial for its timing because it was one of the most important trials that the ICTR claims to have delayed in completing; "now that the biggest suspects have been sentenced, i hope that that ICTR does not ask for their mandate to be extended beyond 2009 as they asked the security council."
Stephen Muganga 45, who witnessed killings in Kanombe said he was disappointed by the acquittal of General Gratien Kabiligi; "Kabiligi was an influential commander in 1994, there's no chance that as director of military operations in the army he never participated in the killings." Kabiligi was one of the four former officers in the genocidal regime forces and was acquitted by the ICTR.
Bernoid Kaboyi the Executive Secretary of Ibuka a local organization charged with assisting the survivors of the genocide refused to give his opinion on the judgement when contacted by The New Times but Fracois Xavier Ngarambe the Spokesman of the Prosecutor's office said that the judgments were welcome but he objected to the acquittal of Kabiligi and the 20 years jail sentence given to Juvenal Habyarimana's in-law Protais Zigiranyirazo for his role in the genocide; "i have also been following the sentencing sessions in the news but anyone would have sentenced Bagosora to life in jail if you followed his responsibilities in the history of Rwanda. It is also good that the judgments are out of the way."
Thursday, 25 December 2008
The road to the shrine of the corrupt
Rwakitura tales
By GEORGE KAGAME
Jane Mbabazi got her first job at 19, by which time she had been done with a marriage and two children.
She could not afford to take care of the children so she left them with her husband who had a new wife. The new wife promptly advised her husband to take the children “somewhere else.”
The year was 1987 and Mbabazi was hired as a House Keeper at State House.
The Uganda State House was abuzz in 1987; it was one year after Museveni had captured power finally ridding the country from the grip of Idd Amin; the infamous dictator who brought you The Last King of Scotland.
Uganda was rebuilding and many Africa experts described Yoweri Museveni at the time as a rare and “New breed” of African leader.
Having got political liberation for Uganda in 1986, Museveni was faced with a much more dangerous enemy; HIV/Aids which was killing the emerging economy.
Museveni would be the first leader in the world to recognize the threat posed by HIV/Aids in the 1980s and to start a conceited fight back against the disease. It had intriguingly threatened that country’s and the entire sub continental economic set up wiping away villages swiftly as a war would.
For all, Uganda stood, as a shining star in tackling HIV/Aids and Museveni was the poster boy of initial global campaigns to find prevention of Aids as well as dealing with the stigma faced by people living with HIV/Aids. Donors eagerly supported him.
His State House in 1987 and the people working there were highly regarded. It was grand; it sat atop a hill and its windows opened out to the scenic horizons of L. Victoria in Entebbe.
“I was blessed,” Mbabazi said of her first job. She kept the job until she was diagnosed with HIV/Aids in 1999, by which time she was the Head House Keeper of Rwakitura; the private residence of President Museveni’s family in Western Uganda.
She had indeed proved herself reliable because in her career she kept house for important and permanent private visitors to President Museveni like Jean-Baptiste Bagaza the former president of Burundi and Ms. Farah Aideed wife of a dead Somali warlord with the same name.
Her posting to the president’s private residence was coveted, Rwakitura is a Mecca of sorts for all people of note including Presidents of the US and German. As part of her tasks, Mbabazi’s immediate and only boss was the first lady Janet Museveni with whom she dealt regularly.
Janet Museveni was highly regarded as a conservative Born Again Christian otherwise known as Mulokole in Uganda; the same people who insisted on abstinence as the only effective tool against HIV/Aids.
Rwakitura; on top of being the Mecca for all the people involved in fighting HIV/Aids was also amongst the most battered places in the country by the Aids epidemic.
The soldiers guarding the presidential home as well as the intelligence hub they created were the main channels through which Aids spreads. The disease steadily ate away Rwakitura’s landscape and exposed Ugandans to a worse reality; thriving corruption.
The grand house castle sits on a hill and the long winding drive leading to the main gate takes one through more glamorous residences owned by close confidants of the Musevenis. It is a classic “Its Our Time to Eat,” legend.
By 2006 Uganda had lost billions of donor dollars in corruption, most of it going to relatives of the First Lady Jim Muhwezi, the Minister of Health at the time, as well as two of his deputies. Muhwezi alone is said to have to diverted hundreds of millions in US dollars into a personal fortune.
He was a regular at Rwakitura.
Upon being diagnosed with the disease, Mbabazi was immediately fired from Rwakitura was informed never to step near state house again. Her friends shunned her till she died in loneliness.
Janet Museveni who had spoken with her at least once a week shut her out, the house keeper never had any insurance on health or any other scheme.
By 2001 when she was diagnosed with Aids Mbabazi had five children, the youngest aged seven.
On her termination letter; security rather than medical reasons were mentioned as the cause of her dismissal and this designated her as a security threat, even her friends were scared of her.
She survived on her savings until her death in 2006 when Kyambadde offered to take Mbabazi’s youngest child into her family.
Rwakitura was a paradox, it was a symbol of the new Uganda in its adolescent grandiose and yet it also bore the bitter scars of Aids and its industry. Rwakitura in those days was like a shrine for the corrupt.
ENDS.
By GEORGE KAGAME
Jane Mbabazi got her first job at 19, by which time she had been done with a marriage and two children.
She could not afford to take care of the children so she left them with her husband who had a new wife. The new wife promptly advised her husband to take the children “somewhere else.”
The year was 1987 and Mbabazi was hired as a House Keeper at State House.
The Uganda State House was abuzz in 1987; it was one year after Museveni had captured power finally ridding the country from the grip of Idd Amin; the infamous dictator who brought you The Last King of Scotland.
Uganda was rebuilding and many Africa experts described Yoweri Museveni at the time as a rare and “New breed” of African leader.
Having got political liberation for Uganda in 1986, Museveni was faced with a much more dangerous enemy; HIV/Aids which was killing the emerging economy.
Museveni would be the first leader in the world to recognize the threat posed by HIV/Aids in the 1980s and to start a conceited fight back against the disease. It had intriguingly threatened that country’s and the entire sub continental economic set up wiping away villages swiftly as a war would.
For all, Uganda stood, as a shining star in tackling HIV/Aids and Museveni was the poster boy of initial global campaigns to find prevention of Aids as well as dealing with the stigma faced by people living with HIV/Aids. Donors eagerly supported him.
His State House in 1987 and the people working there were highly regarded. It was grand; it sat atop a hill and its windows opened out to the scenic horizons of L. Victoria in Entebbe.
“I was blessed,” Mbabazi said of her first job. She kept the job until she was diagnosed with HIV/Aids in 1999, by which time she was the Head House Keeper of Rwakitura; the private residence of President Museveni’s family in Western Uganda.
She had indeed proved herself reliable because in her career she kept house for important and permanent private visitors to President Museveni like Jean-Baptiste Bagaza the former president of Burundi and Ms. Farah Aideed wife of a dead Somali warlord with the same name.
Her posting to the president’s private residence was coveted, Rwakitura is a Mecca of sorts for all people of note including Presidents of the US and German. As part of her tasks, Mbabazi’s immediate and only boss was the first lady Janet Museveni with whom she dealt regularly.
Janet Museveni was highly regarded as a conservative Born Again Christian otherwise known as Mulokole in Uganda; the same people who insisted on abstinence as the only effective tool against HIV/Aids.
Rwakitura; on top of being the Mecca for all the people involved in fighting HIV/Aids was also amongst the most battered places in the country by the Aids epidemic.
The soldiers guarding the presidential home as well as the intelligence hub they created were the main channels through which Aids spreads. The disease steadily ate away Rwakitura’s landscape and exposed Ugandans to a worse reality; thriving corruption.
The grand house castle sits on a hill and the long winding drive leading to the main gate takes one through more glamorous residences owned by close confidants of the Musevenis. It is a classic “Its Our Time to Eat,” legend.
By 2006 Uganda had lost billions of donor dollars in corruption, most of it going to relatives of the First Lady Jim Muhwezi, the Minister of Health at the time, as well as two of his deputies. Muhwezi alone is said to have to diverted hundreds of millions in US dollars into a personal fortune.
He was a regular at Rwakitura.
Upon being diagnosed with the disease, Mbabazi was immediately fired from Rwakitura was informed never to step near state house again. Her friends shunned her till she died in loneliness.
Janet Museveni who had spoken with her at least once a week shut her out, the house keeper never had any insurance on health or any other scheme.
By 2001 when she was diagnosed with Aids Mbabazi had five children, the youngest aged seven.
On her termination letter; security rather than medical reasons were mentioned as the cause of her dismissal and this designated her as a security threat, even her friends were scared of her.
She survived on her savings until her death in 2006 when Kyambadde offered to take Mbabazi’s youngest child into her family.
Rwakitura was a paradox, it was a symbol of the new Uganda in its adolescent grandiose and yet it also bore the bitter scars of Aids and its industry. Rwakitura in those days was like a shrine for the corrupt.
ENDS.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Experts report will not determine ongoing talks between Rwanda and Congo; Museminari
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The government of Rwanda will not deter from normalizing diplomatic relations with DR Congo despite the highly controversial and criticized report released earlier in the week by a group of UN Experts on DR Congo.
Speaking to Journalists in Kigali on Tuesday the Minister of Foreign Affairs Rosemary Museminari said Rwanda would not be disrupted by the report from discussions with DR Congo regarding resuming diplomatic relations between the two neighbours after ten years of hostility. Museminari however stated that although the report would have an impact on the discussions it will not determine the direction of the discussions which are currently on going. The report accused Rwanda of recruiting children among other things which the government has insisted are false.
"It may have an effect but for us in Rwanda, we are determined to continue with the talks without any interruptions," said Museminari, she added that even if the report was very biased against Rwanda the meetings would continue.
The negotiations between Rwanda and Congo have in recent months been in full gear after being in a state of hostility since 1998. Since then the two countries have accused each other of supporting proxy wars against their respective governments. Opponents of Rwanda's government who are believed to have been the militias and forces interconnected with the Genocide in 1994 are suspected to be supported by the DR Congo government in massacring Congolese ethnic Tutsi tribesmen, these groups are now classified as negative forces and are mainly operating in Eastern Congo.
The negative forces are a combination of the Interahamwe, EX-Far, and mainly Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda-FDLR are believed to have camps based in Eastern Congo where Congolese minority Tutsi ethnic Tutsi are settled. The negotiations to renew relations between Rwanda and Congo come months after these ethnic Tutsi resumed their rebellion in Eastern Congo against the Kinshasa government in late August.
In mid November, DR Congo Foreign Minister Thambwe Muamba visiting Kigali said that his country was set to send an ambassador to Rwanda soon and was also evacuating people that were residing in the Rwandan Embassy in Kinshasa so as to welcome the Rwandan ambassador there. Museminari said that to underliner Rwanda's commitment to good relations with Congo, "we appointed our ambassador to Congo" but the deployment waits for formal agreements to be endorsed between the two countries.
She added that DR Congo has promised to send their ambassador to Kigali early next before the end of April. Commenting on the rejuvenated efforts to revive the diplomatic relations DR Congo President Joseph Kabila said in a televised state address last Saturday that; "we are increasing political and diplomatic actions to end war and misery."
The talks between the two countries are now in due process and are code-named as "four plus four" high level bilateral framework in which Rwandan officials are meeting with their Congolese counterparts to resolve the problem of the FDLR-Interahamwe. The framework is also handling a comprehensive operational plan against the negative forces.
The efforts also comes at a time when DR Congo is currently negotiating a peace deal with the minority tribes political party in Eastern Congo under the leadership of renegade General Laurent Nkunda in Nairobi under the mediation of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. The also come when both Rwanda Burundi and DR Congo are trying to rejuvenate the economic community of the Great Lakes states-CEPEGL.
The government of Rwanda will not deter from normalizing diplomatic relations with DR Congo despite the highly controversial and criticized report released earlier in the week by a group of UN Experts on DR Congo.
Speaking to Journalists in Kigali on Tuesday the Minister of Foreign Affairs Rosemary Museminari said Rwanda would not be disrupted by the report from discussions with DR Congo regarding resuming diplomatic relations between the two neighbours after ten years of hostility. Museminari however stated that although the report would have an impact on the discussions it will not determine the direction of the discussions which are currently on going. The report accused Rwanda of recruiting children among other things which the government has insisted are false.
"It may have an effect but for us in Rwanda, we are determined to continue with the talks without any interruptions," said Museminari, she added that even if the report was very biased against Rwanda the meetings would continue.
The negotiations between Rwanda and Congo have in recent months been in full gear after being in a state of hostility since 1998. Since then the two countries have accused each other of supporting proxy wars against their respective governments. Opponents of Rwanda's government who are believed to have been the militias and forces interconnected with the Genocide in 1994 are suspected to be supported by the DR Congo government in massacring Congolese ethnic Tutsi tribesmen, these groups are now classified as negative forces and are mainly operating in Eastern Congo.
The negative forces are a combination of the Interahamwe, EX-Far, and mainly Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda-FDLR are believed to have camps based in Eastern Congo where Congolese minority Tutsi ethnic Tutsi are settled. The negotiations to renew relations between Rwanda and Congo come months after these ethnic Tutsi resumed their rebellion in Eastern Congo against the Kinshasa government in late August.
In mid November, DR Congo Foreign Minister Thambwe Muamba visiting Kigali said that his country was set to send an ambassador to Rwanda soon and was also evacuating people that were residing in the Rwandan Embassy in Kinshasa so as to welcome the Rwandan ambassador there. Museminari said that to underliner Rwanda's commitment to good relations with Congo, "we appointed our ambassador to Congo" but the deployment waits for formal agreements to be endorsed between the two countries.
She added that DR Congo has promised to send their ambassador to Kigali early next before the end of April. Commenting on the rejuvenated efforts to revive the diplomatic relations DR Congo President Joseph Kabila said in a televised state address last Saturday that; "we are increasing political and diplomatic actions to end war and misery."
The talks between the two countries are now in due process and are code-named as "four plus four" high level bilateral framework in which Rwandan officials are meeting with their Congolese counterparts to resolve the problem of the FDLR-Interahamwe. The framework is also handling a comprehensive operational plan against the negative forces.
The efforts also comes at a time when DR Congo is currently negotiating a peace deal with the minority tribes political party in Eastern Congo under the leadership of renegade General Laurent Nkunda in Nairobi under the mediation of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. The also come when both Rwanda Burundi and DR Congo are trying to rejuvenate the economic community of the Great Lakes states-CEPEGL.
Media crucial in preventing genocide ideology; Mucyo
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The Executive Secretary of the National Commission charged with preventing genocide ideology in Rwanda Jean de Dieu Mucyo has called for increasing the capacity of the media in the country so as to eliminate the "still prevalent" genocide ideoelogy in Rwanda 14 years after over one million people were killed in what experts say is Africa's worst human catastrophe.
Speaking to the press in his Kacyiru based office Mucyo said; "the media is crucial. It was used by the Genocidal regime prior to 1994 in a campgain to promote genocide ideology. We need to increase its capacity today to fight the ideology."
Mucyo's appeal comes exactly a year after a parliamentary investigation found alarming cases in the country's formative education system where students were divided according to their ethnic groupings. The report released by a six man commission headed by Donatille Mukabalisa in December 2007 found schools especially in the Northern Province allegedly promoting genocide ideology "registering 97 percent cases of the ideology."
In Gakenke one secondary school was said to have lists of Tutsi students to be killed drawn up. However school administrators say no one has so far been killed on the said lists. In this same school students were made to wear different uniforms according to their ethnic group, books and poems inciting hatred. The headmaster of the school then said the uniforms were supplied by the Fund for Genocide Survivors'-FARG a charge that students at the school denied.
At the release of the report, members of Parliament in the previous term put the then minister of Education Dr. Jean D'arc Mujawamariya under alot of pressure, she was questioned by the house along with her deputy Joseph Murekeraho. Both were accused for doing little to stop the spread of the ideology. The report disclosed that" genocide ideology" was detected in 84 of the 637 secondary schools in Rwanda IN 2007.
Mucyo said today the media was essential in promoting an open and frank society were citizens discussed freely issues relating to the Genocide; "we need to promote an open society culture among Rwandans where people talk freely instead of going to their homes to indoctrinate their children with the evil ideologies of genocide."
He said that government has since set up a national framework covering all layers of the local government structure to help in sensitizing Rwandans against the ideology saying that all institutions in the country were responsible for fighting genocide ideology; "its our duty but all institutions in the country must work hard. There's a national advisory council to fight genocide ideology in the country headed by the President Paul Kagame, the council has a wide outreach to the grassroots administrations."
Mucyo said that it was now important to sensitize local administrations to advise the citizens so that they can tour local Genocide memorials as the current norm of coming to Gisozi was not necessary; "there should be literature written by locals about hat happened in their localities. This way children will be discouraged from the ideology at an early age if they knew that he genocide was organized even in their (children) areas." He added that places of social interaction were the leading centres for the dissemination of Genocide ideology and only the media could contribute to ending this hate propaganda.
Stephen Rangira a veteran teacher in Kigali said; "Most journalists in the country are young, they are not very familiar with the country's geopolitical and socio-econmic history. Many need much training in covering issues such as genocide ideology and its multi faceted manifestations,"
The Executive Secretary of the National Commission charged with preventing genocide ideology in Rwanda Jean de Dieu Mucyo has called for increasing the capacity of the media in the country so as to eliminate the "still prevalent" genocide ideoelogy in Rwanda 14 years after over one million people were killed in what experts say is Africa's worst human catastrophe.
Speaking to the press in his Kacyiru based office Mucyo said; "the media is crucial. It was used by the Genocidal regime prior to 1994 in a campgain to promote genocide ideology. We need to increase its capacity today to fight the ideology."
Mucyo's appeal comes exactly a year after a parliamentary investigation found alarming cases in the country's formative education system where students were divided according to their ethnic groupings. The report released by a six man commission headed by Donatille Mukabalisa in December 2007 found schools especially in the Northern Province allegedly promoting genocide ideology "registering 97 percent cases of the ideology."
In Gakenke one secondary school was said to have lists of Tutsi students to be killed drawn up. However school administrators say no one has so far been killed on the said lists. In this same school students were made to wear different uniforms according to their ethnic group, books and poems inciting hatred. The headmaster of the school then said the uniforms were supplied by the Fund for Genocide Survivors'-FARG a charge that students at the school denied.
At the release of the report, members of Parliament in the previous term put the then minister of Education Dr. Jean D'arc Mujawamariya under alot of pressure, she was questioned by the house along with her deputy Joseph Murekeraho. Both were accused for doing little to stop the spread of the ideology. The report disclosed that" genocide ideology" was detected in 84 of the 637 secondary schools in Rwanda IN 2007.
Mucyo said today the media was essential in promoting an open and frank society were citizens discussed freely issues relating to the Genocide; "we need to promote an open society culture among Rwandans where people talk freely instead of going to their homes to indoctrinate their children with the evil ideologies of genocide."
He said that government has since set up a national framework covering all layers of the local government structure to help in sensitizing Rwandans against the ideology saying that all institutions in the country were responsible for fighting genocide ideology; "its our duty but all institutions in the country must work hard. There's a national advisory council to fight genocide ideology in the country headed by the President Paul Kagame, the council has a wide outreach to the grassroots administrations."
Mucyo said that it was now important to sensitize local administrations to advise the citizens so that they can tour local Genocide memorials as the current norm of coming to Gisozi was not necessary; "there should be literature written by locals about hat happened in their localities. This way children will be discouraged from the ideology at an early age if they knew that he genocide was organized even in their (children) areas." He added that places of social interaction were the leading centres for the dissemination of Genocide ideology and only the media could contribute to ending this hate propaganda.
Stephen Rangira a veteran teacher in Kigali said; "Most journalists in the country are young, they are not very familiar with the country's geopolitical and socio-econmic history. Many need much training in covering issues such as genocide ideology and its multi faceted manifestations,"
KCC comes good on its promise to reward top performing schools
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Kigali City Council on Friday rewarded six top primary and secondary schools in the city with brand new HP computers for their exceptional performance in last year's national examinations released at the beginning of 2008.
Speaking at the awarding of the gifts at KCC offices in the city centre Ms Martha Yakurije the city's Education Officer said that the computers were part of KCC's response to government Information and Information Technology policy. "this KCC's way of supporting school going children to boost their performance, we have also rewarded the best performing students every year with cash, tuition and other scholastic materials."
Yakurije said KCC has embarked on a vigorous campgain to raise education standards in the city, "we continue to monitor the performance of schools by constantly inspecting their facilities." Back in May, KCC rewarded students that came top of their peer in national exams in Kigali, the gifts included tuition subsidies for top students proceeding to tertiary institutions and other materials." She revealed that KCC was in the final stages of organizing academic competition for students in Kigali, the students would sit similar exam tests organized by KCC.
With Kenya recently scrapping working permits for Rwandans seeking employment there, Yakurije said KCC was set to introduce a "rigorous" campaign to teach school going children regional languages like Swahili and English such that they can compete for jobs regionally. "Early next year we are organizing an oral competition for pupils and we will reward the winners handsomely."
She added that Kigali was also set to begin start the acclaimed One Lap Top per child programme launched recently by President Paul Kagame. The programme seeks to introduce ICT and its related functionaries to school children while they are in their early education career so as to grow and master the information age. So 50,000 laptops have been supplied in the three district pilot project reaching Kigali y January 2009. Yakurije said KCC is currently sensitizing parents on how they help the success of the laptop project.
Among the schools that benefitted from the KCC gifts include ApeperCyahafi, Petit Seminaire Ndera, Fawe Girls School and Notre Dame. Reverand Jean Bosco Ntagungira the Headmaster of Petit Seminaire said his school would use the computer to boost its ICT department, " we are happy that in our endeavors to raise the standard of education in the country we have the support of KCC. This culture will encourage other schools to increase their performance and the school going children will benefit more from the competition among schools."
Kigali City Council on Friday rewarded six top primary and secondary schools in the city with brand new HP computers for their exceptional performance in last year's national examinations released at the beginning of 2008.
Speaking at the awarding of the gifts at KCC offices in the city centre Ms Martha Yakurije the city's Education Officer said that the computers were part of KCC's response to government Information and Information Technology policy. "this KCC's way of supporting school going children to boost their performance, we have also rewarded the best performing students every year with cash, tuition and other scholastic materials."
Yakurije said KCC has embarked on a vigorous campgain to raise education standards in the city, "we continue to monitor the performance of schools by constantly inspecting their facilities." Back in May, KCC rewarded students that came top of their peer in national exams in Kigali, the gifts included tuition subsidies for top students proceeding to tertiary institutions and other materials." She revealed that KCC was in the final stages of organizing academic competition for students in Kigali, the students would sit similar exam tests organized by KCC.
With Kenya recently scrapping working permits for Rwandans seeking employment there, Yakurije said KCC was set to introduce a "rigorous" campaign to teach school going children regional languages like Swahili and English such that they can compete for jobs regionally. "Early next year we are organizing an oral competition for pupils and we will reward the winners handsomely."
She added that Kigali was also set to begin start the acclaimed One Lap Top per child programme launched recently by President Paul Kagame. The programme seeks to introduce ICT and its related functionaries to school children while they are in their early education career so as to grow and master the information age. So 50,000 laptops have been supplied in the three district pilot project reaching Kigali y January 2009. Yakurije said KCC is currently sensitizing parents on how they help the success of the laptop project.
Among the schools that benefitted from the KCC gifts include ApeperCyahafi, Petit Seminaire Ndera, Fawe Girls School and Notre Dame. Reverand Jean Bosco Ntagungira the Headmaster of Petit Seminaire said his school would use the computer to boost its ICT department, " we are happy that in our endeavors to raise the standard of education in the country we have the support of KCC. This culture will encourage other schools to increase their performance and the school going children will benefit more from the competition among schools."
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