Weekly Review

Kagame awarded in Boston President Paul Kagame and the first lady Jeannette Kagame were this week given the US Fund for UNICEF Children’s Champion Award. The ceremony took place at a dinner hosted in their honour in Boston, Massachusetts for championing child rights in Rwanda. The dinner held at the Massachusetts State House, was attended by 200 guests that included Governor Deval Patrick and Diane Patrick, and numerous friends of Rwanda. In his speech at the dinner, Kagame spoke about his government’s commitment to work diligently in building a united and prosperous country that relies on the participation and innovative efforts of all Rwandans adding that improving the lives of Rwandan children has been central to Rwanda’s growth and development agenda. IMF offers hope to Rwanda The International Monetary Fund released a report this week saying the country will improve in several sectors despite an expected fall of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 5.3 percent this year from11.2 percent registered last year. The projection for Rwanda, caused by the current global financial crisis is slightly less than what the government expects according to press reports. In the 2009/10 budget framework paper, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning projected Rwanda’s growth rate to fall to 5.8 percent. Varsity lecturers targeted in fake “papers’ probe The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) revealed this week that some lecturers in private universities used forged academic papers to get recruited. Prof. Geoffrey Rugege, the NCHE Executive Director was quoted in the press saying that some ‘expatriates’ from neighbouring countries namely, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Uganda were the main culprits. MPs take SSFR to Task over Pensions Lawmakers this week expressed dismay over SSFR’s trading of pensioners’ contributions saying the dividends were not trickling down to its members. MP Henriette Sebera was quoted saying that “People contribute their money for quite some time when they are in service and upon retirement, they are only given the amount they contributed yet their money had been traded for greater interests and profits.” This was during the tabling of the bill to merge SSFR with RAMASSFR bought shares in Safaricom, a Kenya-based telecommunication company and is also involved in the development of the Kigali Central Business District. Call for more women in security jobs The Minister of Gender and Family promotion minister, Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamaria was quoted this week quoted saying that women presence should be felt in security jobs. According to press reports, she was commenting on the United Nations resolution 1325 that calls for a greater role of women in peace and security initiatives. She was also quoted saying that the plan of action which will be implemented with immediate effect will enable the women to bridge the gap between policy and gender in the areas of peace, security, and development. Senator Safari faces expulsion from house It was reported this week that members of the Senate have called fro the expulsion of senator Stanley Safari from the Hhosue for absconding from the House for over two weeks. His absence from duty for an extended period is reported to have drawn suspicion, as well as drawing a hot debate with some calling for his expulsion. However others said that expelling him would not be in line with the laws governing the senate. Ends