Why have we let Kigali Car-Free Zone become Kigali Dead Zone?
I have a love-love relationship with the Kigali Car-Free zone. As I wrote almost three years ago, a car-free zone would ‘reduce pollution in the city centre, encourage public transport use and reduce the creeping incidences of adult obesity due to the free ‘gym tonic’ people would...Monday, June 25, 2018 - 8:43am
Editorial: SACCOs challenges are fixable
The local media has been awash with reports of poor management practices within SACCOs. Savings by members have disappeared and several of the managers now have cases to answer. These savings schemes are key to the development of the country, especially the rural populations. We cannot let them...Monday, June 25, 2018 - 8:13am
EACJ: Sensitization must be stepped up
Last week, I attended a workshop themed: “Role of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) in advancement of the EAC integration” whose purpose was to increase the sensitization of the EACJ’s role in bolstering the rule of law, observance of democratic principles, and good...Monday, June 25, 2018 - 12:28am
Cultural and musical festivals tick the right tourism boxes
As most of us were basking in the joy of a victorious Nigeria against the much loved Iceland, my friend Tusiime Samson (fondly known as Samwiri) sent out an interesting tweet. He tweeted; “Let Nigeria’s win not blind you from the fact that high end and mid-tier hotels are all...Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 11:47pm
Justice is abstract but its outcomes are tangible
This week, Erich, a communication expert with an international development organisation asked me a fascinating question; “it is easier to design a communication strategy for tangible products such as a vehicle loan, but how can you effectively do the same for justice which is abstract...Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 11:40pm
“Africa Rising”, How relevant is this narrative?
There have been a lot of thoughts, discussions, and observations regarding the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative. Some people argue that Africa as a continent is rising, others say that it is not rising, or that it is not growing collectively. I do not aim at finding who is wrong or right,...Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 11:35pm
Editorial: Skills transfer from the Diaspora a sound idea
The government has announced plans to recruit members of the Diaspora with particular skills to help transfer them to TVET schools. The exercise will be done in conjunction with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) which will help track and recruit skilled trainers. This is not the first...Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 11:34pm
When TEDx brought home the refugee message
Many will be familiar with the TED Talks online forum, and particularly with the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s acclaimed and thought-provoking 2009 talk on ‘The danger of a single story.’ The single story creates stereotypes, she explains in the talk, and the problem...Friday, June 22, 2018 - 11:36pm
Confronting the migrant threat to the EU
MADRID – The European Union loves giving itself ultimatums, whether it is the two-year deadline for Brexit negotiations or European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s declaration, upon taking office, that his was a “last-chance commission.” Unfortunately, European...Friday, June 22, 2018 - 11:30pm
Nationalism will go bankrupt
ROME – Nationalism versus globalism, not populism versus elitism, appears to be this decade’s defining political conflict. Almost wherever we look – at the United States or Italy or Germany or Britain, not to mention China, Russia, and India – an upsurge of national feeling...Friday, June 22, 2018 - 11:21pm
By now cases of stunting should have been history
Stunting has become such a talking point that it was one of the major focus in this year’s World Bank Rwanda Economic Outlook report. Stunting case is more acute in the Southern Province which recorded 41 percent prevalence. What is most surprising is that it is not simply a case of poverty...Friday, June 22, 2018 - 9:44pm
Peddlers of alternative truths; time you got off your high horse
So, where has this Wild West ‘cowboy’ sprung from, guns blazing, to aptly come to our rescue? Were we not beginning to miss these passionate protectors of ours, no tongue-in-cheek? For information, ‘cowboy’ is in inverted commas because Rwandan civility forbids calling...Friday, June 22, 2018 - 12:17pm
Editorial: Renewable energy gets a lifeline, but are there takers?
Rwanda and Sweden this week signed a loan guarantee agreement to extend Development Bank of Rwanda’s capacity to extend lending to SMEs involved in the renewable energy sector. Energy generation has long been seen as a prerogative of the government with hardly a footprint of the...Thursday, June 21, 2018 - 11:25pm
Reorganisation of a sustainable media
The relevance of media will be always here and those who see it as unsustainable might be the same who see the glass as half full. But for economists, they always tell us how they see the world with hidden social patterns that become evident only when one focuses on the essential underlying...Thursday, June 21, 2018 - 11:18pm
The epidemic we must stop ignoring
PARIS – A primary-school student is diagnosed with tuberculosis in a leafy neighborhood outside Washington, DC. An infant with TB meningitis is transported by helicopter to a hospital in Eastern Canada. A preschool student in Smarves, France, is showing symptoms of TB a year after a classmate...Thursday, June 21, 2018 - 11:07pm
Last call, please! Anybody clinging to the greetings of yore, let go
Reader of this greying column, have you survived the night, waraye, wararmutse, bwacyeye, wabonye (imyugaririro) ivamo, wabonye bucya? With the latter literally asking if you miraculously saw the sun rise! Or, depending on where you are on this globe, if it’s afternoon or evening, have...Thursday, June 21, 2018 - 12:19pm
AU reforms require political will to bear fruits
The African Union has embarked on a potentially transformative process of institutional reform that, if implemented, will make it leaner and more efficient and increase its financial self-sufficiency. It is notable that very little achievements have been made by the continental body in the social...Thursday, June 21, 2018 - 8:48am
Water: A real game changer for our sustenance
No natural resource is infinitive! One single common characteristic of all natural resources is that they are limited and deplete over time. Hence it is necessary to always understand the natural resource’s potential; how it could be conserved, protected, re-generated, rationalized and...Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 9:03pm
African countries have more to gain by ratifying the CFTA
“We have to run where others walk” President Kagame, on many occasions, has made that statement that really put into perspective why Rwanda seems obsessed with speeding up development. The country lost a lot of precious time in petty politicking that brought the country to its knees....Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 6:25pm
With the economy on the right footing, something good is in store
The country’s financial institutions have reasons to smile after it was reported that the economy had rebounded after starting very poorly in 2017. This first quarter it has registered a double-figure growth of 10.6 percent thus continuing the growth pace of 10.5 percent in the last quarter...Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 9:59am
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