Rains fall on praise for Umuganda, KIST triumph and an imprisoned murderer

Early this week, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), was reported to have commended Umuganda (community work). This came about after they had participated in Umuganda at Miyove Sector of Gicumbi District in Northern Province. The speaker of EALA, Abdirahin Haithar Abdi, said that other members of the East African Community should consider adopting it. Award winning Imbuto Foundation, an initiative under the first lady, was reported to have held a students business essay competition. The competition, which required students to write business proposals, brought together students from different universities across the country. Still talking business, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology’s Technology (KIST) and Business Incubation Facility, won the InfoDev award from World Bank amounting to $50,000 for promoting business incubation in Rwanda. News had it that the Nigerian award winning journalist Dele Olojede was considering buying land in Rwanda and building a home in the country. The Pulitzer winner said that he loves Rwanda and would want to spend a lot of time here with his family. Marginalised life It was reported early in the week, that many women who are victims of gender-based violence keep quiet because they are economically dependent on their husbands, who inflict harm on them. This was contained in a report released by the United Nations Fund for Women and done by the department of Applied Statistics at the National University of Rwanda. Many people were this week reported to have been left homeless by heavy rains and storms in several parts of the country. In Rubavu western province, 35people were admitted at Gisenyi hospital. 2340 houses are reported to have been destroyed in the rains. Education matters It emerged this week that several quarters were questioning a proposal to introduce a seventh year to the medical school program at the national University of Rwanda. It was reported that the proposal originated from the Dean of the Medical School Prof. Hubert Nsanze. If passed, this will imply that studying medicine in Rwanda will take longer than in other East African Community countries. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was reported to have extended lab services to Rwanda. Students and educators in Rwanda will as a result be able to access course materials from MIT through its OpenCourseWare hosted online by the National University of Rwanda (NUR). It was also reported in the week, that some thirty Rwandans have been trained by the Capital Markets Advisory Board (CMAB), in a bid to increase capacity in the capital markets. The President was reported saying that enabling all primary school children to own computers was the government’s ultimate goal. This was during the official launch of the One Laptop per Child initiative at Jali club. NUR rector Prof Silas Rwakabamba was this week appointed to co-chair the Africa-US Higher Education Initiative Advisory Board. He will co-chair the board with the President of Cornell University David J. Skorton. The initiative is supported by USAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Long hand of the law The good news in the week was when security organs arrested the gunman who last week went on a rampage and killed six people in Kimisagara suburb of Kigali and later fled into hiding. Jean Baptiste Muhoza an army deserter who had gone AWOL, with an SMG rifle was netted in Bugesera Eastern province hiding in Cyoho swamp. The case involving an escort to the security minister Musa Harelimana was forwarded to the high court this week. The escort Sergeant Innocent Gatete is accused of killing Lt. Francois Munyemana last Thursday in Kicukiro. Money talk The Hotel des Mille Collines also embarked on a US$5 million renovation program which will see the hotel change its face in nine months time. Investors from Belgium and their Rwandan counterparts this week held a meeting to explore investment opportunities. Rwandan investors were urged to take advantage of the Rwanda’s new membership in the East African Community by investing more. It was reported Thursday that President Paul Kagame called upon stakeholders in the East African Community not to take the ongoing integration for granted if fruits are to be reaped from the initiative. The visiting German Minister for Environmental Affairs and Renewable Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, this week, vowed to Attract European businessmen to come and invest in the Rwandan energy sector. He made these comments shortly after meeting President Paul Kagame. This week also saw an end of an aerial survey of possible oil deposits in the country, Friday. Specialists of New Resolution Geophysics, have been conducting an airborne ‘gravity and aeromagnetic’ survey for some time on behalf of Vangold Resources ltd of Canada. Peace threatened A US based NGO Enough, has warned Tuesday, that the peace process in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is on the verge of collapse because of resumed hostilities between government forces and rebels loyal to Congolese General Laurent Nkunda. Further a field On the international scene, after American presidential candidates Barack Obama debated with John McCain last week, it was their running mates turn to debate this week. Senator Joseph Biden Obama’s running mate faced off with Sarah Palin, in a televised debate Thursday. In international news the American senate finally approved the $700 million bailout for Wall Street after many financial institutions went under as a result of the current financial crisis facing. Ends