Kiswahili becomes an official language in East Africa.

Kiswahili becomes an official language in East Africa

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has passed a resolution to make Kiswahili the official language of the East African community alongside English reports The Citizen.

Kiswahili was elevated to an official language from the current status of lingua franca after a heated debate by the lawmakers after three legislators from Tanzania and Kenya tabled the motion to recognize the language as one of the languages. Kiswahili will be used in all meetings, correspondences and discussions within the region.

“It is our conviction that the Heads of State of EAC will endorse this motion to enable amendment of the EAC Treaty which has only English as the official language,” said Ms Shy-Rose Bhanji from Tanzania

There is already lobbying for the issue to be brought up before the Extra-ordinary summit of the regional leaders early next month in Dar es Salaam.

According to the legislators who presented the motion, Kiswahili played a major role in bringing together the East African nations in the pre-independence days helping the nations to come together against the colonial administrators.

In Rwanda, only 50 percent of the population speaks in Kiswahili while in Burundi it is 70 percent.

“The Assembly also needs to be practical to acknowledge that there are some partner states like Uganda with large population that does not speak Kiswahili and in the Treaty there is the provision for development as a lingua franca,” Ms Bhanji said.

According to the Daily News there was a proposal for the establishment of Kiswahili Learning Centre to train, staff, members and all stakeholders involved in the integration process to fully comprehend the language. Kiswahili is the Bantu language and the first language of the Swahili people.
______
CCTV-Africa

Continue Reading..

Eid Mubarak - Twagiramungu Faustin

Twagiramungu Faustin's Message on Eid al-Fitr 2016

As Muslims in Rwanda and around the world meet with family, friends, and community to spot the end of Ramadan, I would like to extend my sincere wishes for a joyful holiday.


Let me take this chance to consider those Muslims around the world who are unable to enjoy a peaceful Eid with family, friends, community and loved ones.

On behalf of the RDI-Rwanda Rwiza Party. I have the desire to Send my best wishes to all those celebrating Eid al-Fitr in Rwanda and around the world; may your sacrifice and commitment delight Allah.


Twagiramungu Faustin
President of RDI-Rwanda Rwiza Party

_____
facebook.com/MyTwagiramunguFaustin

Twagiramungu Faustin

Continue Reading..

Watch Kagame and his Ugandan strategist Mwenda clash about Rwandan economic Performance.

Watch Kagame and his Ugandan strategist Mwenda clash about Rwandan economic Performance.

Continue Reading..

Watch Kagame swear in 2011 that he will never change the constitution to stay in power

Watch Kagame swear in 2011 that he will never change the constitution to stay in power

Continue Reading..

Kagame’s Singapore In Deep Economic Trouble

Paul Kagame

President Kagame’s Singapore needs urgent help from donors. As indicated in my book Kagame’s Economic Mirage, the already tiny export base has shrunk, tax base not expanding, foreign reserves almost depleted, and donor-dependency not declining — against massive imports.

Here is how the Kagame regime itself describes the crisis, in a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dated May 25, 2016:

As a result of this crisis, the IMF approved US$204 Million Stand-by Credit Facility for Rwanda —of which the first disbursement (about US$102 million) was made “available immediately” as of June 8, 2016.

So what will the US$204 million IMF credit achieve? According to the IMF, its credit to the Kagame regime “will help bolster reserves.” More importantly — says the IMF — the Rwandan authorities will accelerate “policies to diversify and promote higher value exports, which should help strengthen the country’s medium-term growth prospects and its resilience to future shocks.”

Will these these things happen in the Singapore of Africa? Dream on!

____
David Himbara

Continue Reading..

Rwanda to mechanize 50 per cent of agriculture land by 2020

In a bid to boost agriculture and fight hunger and poverty among poor rural farmers, Rwanda targets to adopt mechanization on 50 percent of agriculture land by 2020, according to the ministry of agriculture top official.

Rwandan agriculture remains substantially undercapitalized, with extremely low levels of mechanization contributing to agricultural productivity far below the level achieved in other parts of the developing world.

Tony Nsanganira, Rwanda state minister in charge of agriculture told reporters on Saturday that the idea of mechanization is to increase agriculture productivity.

“Agriculture contributes 35 percent of GDP of our national economy. Most industries depend on agriculture produce. Industries contribute 20 percent to the GDP. We need mechanized farming to reduce a trade deficit of 1 billion U.S. dollars incurred by the country while importing food stuffs,” he said.

Nsanganira urged all stakeholders in agriculture mechanization sub-sector to invest massively in agricultural machines because they play a key role in total factor productivity in farming.

“It is common knowledge that agricultural mechanization is a key and almost indispensable pillar for making farm operations efficient and productive.”

Currently, 18 percent of agriculture land in Rwanda is under mechanization, and plans are under way to increase it 25 percent by next year, according to the ministry of agriculture officials.

“Modern agriculture in Rwanda would be impossible without advanced machinery solutions along the entire agricultural value chain,” Nsanganira noted.

The ministry had taken the initiative to purchase several farm machines including tractors, combine harvesters, rice transplanters, and power tillers.

Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) says that agriculture mechanisation in the country has not yet been fully exploited by farmers and the private sector.

The initiative is, therefore, being viewed by sector analysts as a big step toward achieving the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II) objectives, besides boosting productivity and creating more 200,000 off-farms jobs.

EDPRS II gives priority to rural development, especially creating of more off-jobs to transform the country into a middle-income economy.

According to Louis Butare, director general RAB, the country needs more investors in the agriculture sector especially in the areas of mechanization.

“If agriculture remains dependent on primitive technologies and implements like the hoe, it will be difficult for our country feed the teeming population, and play a significant role in the international market for value-added agricultural products,” he said. – Xinhua

Continue Reading..

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words — Here Is Kagame's Primary Schools In Rwanda

Early schooling matters most for children;Attending a good pre-school and primary has more impact on children's academic progress than their gender or family background, researchers claimed today.
Every child should get quality education.

The future of our country depends upon the children of today. We must remember that the little child depends more on his teacher than the advanced student does on his professor. A teacher plays an important role in shaping the future of a student. We should have competent teachers who are interested in the education process. Unfortunately, in Kagame's Rwanda, is the opposite.

Take a look at St. Vincent de Paul Primary School that is located at Rugera in Nyabihu Rwanda.

Students of St. Vincent de Paul Primary School

Classrooms of St. Vincent de Paul Primary School

Over populated classrooms of St. Vincent de Paul Primary School

Dust coming into Classrooms at St. Vincent de Paul Primary School

Over populated class room with more than 140 students at St. Vincent de Paul Primary School

Therefore, Dear, Pro Paul Kagame Regime, Primary education is the basic and foremost right of every child.Its availability and provision is the responsibility of a state. Primary education brings awareness among the masses, opens avenues for opportunities as well self-advancement and improvement and reduces chronic and inter-generational poverty. As a first step in the creation of welfare and just society, universal primary education is an absolute pre-requisite for sustainable development.

Every single child that means girls as well as boys should be able to complete full course of primary education. The Pictures shows how the Current Governemnt of Rwanda has failed to offer primary school education to Rwandan Children. What do you see here Mr Kagame?

Continue Reading..

Rwanda: Africa's success story or authoritarian state?

Rwanda has been called Africa's post-conflict success story. More than two decades after a genocide that resulted in the deaths of at least 800,000 people, the country is seen as an example of economic growth and development.

But in recent years, Rwanda has also come under fire from human rights groups and other governments for alleged extrajudicial killings and crackdowns on the press. And with President Paul Kagame's decision last year to back a constitutional amendment that would allow him to run for a third term, some say the country has turned into an authoritarian state.

In this week's Headliner, Mehdi Hasan challenges Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo, who denies allegations of human rights abuses.

"Let me put it this way, Rwanda, as any other country that I know of, has its own way of doing things," Mushikiwabo says.

The foreign minister also comments on the alleged 2014 murder of an exiled Rwandan intelligence officer in South Africa. Mushikiwabo asserts that the officer threatened Rwanda.

"Why should I be unhappy about my enemies and people who threaten...," she adds.

Continue Reading..

Democracy in Rwanda Now a Nonpartisan Network of Rwandan Organizations

Rwanda has hardly ever existed without a dictatorship that ends in violence. Post-independence is indicative of this tragedy. The Gergoire Kayibanda regime was overthrown by General Juvénal Habyarimana in 1973. Most members of Kayibanda government were systematically killed by the new regime. Since then the army has been the most powerful force in Rwandan political life.

David Himbara The Author of Kagame’s Economic Mirage

Habyarimana power grab via a coup d’état can therefore be said to have set a future course in which authoritarian rulers build a façade of legitimacy—to obscure the true nature of dictatorship. The civil war in 1990-1994, the violent end of Habyarimana and his regime and genocide in 1994 ushered in a new dictatorship led by General Paul Kagame. The 2003 constitution written under Kagame supervision grants him absolutist powers which he uses to rule Rwanda with an iron-fist. Genuine opposition is either in prison, killed or in exile. Today's iron-fisted rule makes Habyarimana's dictatorship seem like a democratic dispensation. Is Rwanda doomed to remain a dictatorship? We don’t think so. Rwandans like other peoples demand and deserve democracy whose key characteristics include free and fair elections and the impartial enforcement of laws.

Most Rwandans would no doubt like to see Rwanda emerge someday as a prosperous, and democratic republic. To be sure, the near-term future looks unpromising. The things required for genuine and broad-based development—rule of law, a well-regulated financial system, transparency of wealth, a strong commitment to science and education—are in short supply. Even much of private sector activities are controlled by ruling elite, the Rwandan Patriotic Front. But we cannot accept the notion that the current state is a permanent one where a nation of 12 million people will continue to suffer forever....

• We reject the idea that post-independence political dictatorship is the way of life for Rwanda forever.
• We reject the idea that removal of a regime in Rwanda must plunge the country into chaos.
• We reject the idea that Rwandans will remain bystanders while our rulers determine our fate.

Join us in our nonpartisan network of Rwandan organizations and individuals to engage in genuine dialogue on the future of our country. We are not nor do we wish to become a political party nor do we seek any future office in Rwanda. We are a platform for engaging in constructive discussion of our future. Debate is extremely important to our survival as a people. Talking about issues and trying to figure out how to solve them, makes the World, including Rwanda, go round. Discussion clarifies, and makes it easier for people to handle issues when they arise. Debate has been used for millennia as a way of changing cultural norms, laws and even mindsets. We are not an exception to that rule.

David Himbara The Author of Kagame’s Economic Mirage

Continue Reading..

Kibeho - The Real Story of What Happened There in 1995

In April 1995, preparations were underway for the destruction of Kibeho, according to a third ICTR document citing testimony from an intelligence officer that attended preparatory meetings in neighboring Butare.

The meetings were convened by Colonel Jack Nziza, the officer claimed. Nziza was and remains a feared figure known as ‘the enforcer’ of special operations for Rwanda’s Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). “The mission was to prepare for the destruction of the Kibeho refugee camp,” the officer explained. “We were taken to Kibeho directly. There were many intelligence staff there. We surrounded the camp for three days, blocking all roads, especially those to Nyungwe forest where refugees might escape.

Only one path was left open through which they would have to go through roadblocks.” The RPA unleashed heavy fire on the camps; ‘there were a lot of victims.” Some were taken and burned in Butare. Some of the victims’ bones were put in bags brought by Colonel Jackson Rwahama—a notoriously cruel commander who used to work for Idi Amin in Uganda. The bags were buried in Kabutare, Save, in Senkoko in Ngoma, according to testimony.

 Another officer involved in operations targeting Hutus admitted he participated in the ‘Kibeho massacre.’ He said the attack was coordinated and led by brigade commander Colonel Fred Ibingira. Other military commanders responsible included Major Philbert Rwigamba, Patrick Nyamvumba, Emmnuel Gasana and Dan Munyuza, currently Rwanda’s deputy inspector general of police. The officer claimed that Kayumba Nyamwasa, then deputy head of the Gendarmerie, along with Jackson Rwahama and Jack Nziza joined them two days into the attacks.

In an interview with this journalist, a former DMI officer now in North America confirmed that the gendarmerie was involved in the Kibeho attack. “Yes meetings took place to discuss that. Both gendarmerie and DMI were implicated. The gendarmerie and the army worked together.” The officer described a system in which members of the gendarmerie and DMI, along with the military police acted contiguously and symbiotically. He said in theory they were separate entities, but in reality it was different.

“The gendarmerie, DMI, external intelligence and military police were really not different in essence. In many circumstances, the same people operated in all of them,” he added, citing his own personal experience. One of the UN documents reveals testimony of how Kibeho survivors were transported to Camp Huye, having been promised protection by the RPA. Instead these Hutus were put to death. “For three days, for 24 hours straight, we killed Kibeho survivors with ropes, hammers, and plastic bags,” the former DMI member said. An estimated 60 soldiers were stationed at Nyongwe taking bodies off trucks, digging graves and burying corpses, he added. He also went on to explain that from May 1993 until May 1995 while he was a member of DMI, an estimated 100,000 Hutus were killed in areas he was deployed. “The aim was to kill Hutus…men, women and children.

We killed many people, perhaps 100,000. Our group killed at least 150 to 200 people a day. They were murdered with ropes tied around their necks, smothered with plastic bags over their heads, killed with hammers, knives and traditional weapons. The bodies were then dumped in mass graves and burned,” he told investigators.

Continue Reading..