Weekly Review

Kagame urges RPF cadres to be proactive The week started with President Paul Kagame calling upon the members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) to be at the fore front of the country’s development efforts. This was during his recent meeting with the RPF cadres from the various parts of the country. At the same meeting, he welcomed the commendable ranking in the World Bank’s 2010 Doing Business report. Rwanda’s Commonwealth bid on course Reports also revealed that Rwanda’s bid to join the Commonwealth or not joining depends on the fourth coming CHOGM meeting, as the country finalizes all the necessary steps a head of the meeting. It was revealed that the informal assessment has already been done by the group and member steps have also been consulted, mid this week parliament also endorsed the common wealth bid, adding to the readiness of the country to join the bloc. Rubavu mayor defies directive to reappoint workers In a bold move which can be misinterpreted for defiance or insubordination, the Rubavu Mayor, Pierre Twagirayezu, stood his ground and refused to reappoint the previously sacked district employees. The former employees were sacked on grounds of incompetence after failing to raise the required marks in a competence test which was carried out to test their competence. The mayor pointed out that reappointing the sacked employees is impossible since their positions have been filled with new workers and others are yet to be replaced. Gov’t earmarks 140 bn Rwf in energy rollout Government announced a package of 140 billion Rwf it has earmarked for a four year energy rollout in a plan to increase countrywide connections from 13000 to 350000. This rollout is undertaken through the Rwanda Energy Corporation and it comes at a time when another rollout plan to extend water in Kigali City and the country is ongoing. Presidential election date set Cabinet has named August 9, 2010 as the date for the presidential elections. It was consequently announced that the campaigns shall begin on July 20 and close on August at 6a.m. In a related development the National Electoral Commission (NEC) revealed that over 5.2 million Rwandans are expected to turn up for the forthcoming presidential polls. Cabinet scraps skyrocketing city land rates Cabinet which was chaired by the President also froze current land prices in Kigali City which had skyrocketed, the prices which were set by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources had led to a rise in contention and speculations, some plots shooting up by as much as ten times their actual value. Nyagatare mayor arrested Police in Nyagatare are holding the mayor of Nyagatare district Robert Kashemeza and two other district officials plus a university dean on charges of misuse of public funds. This is part of the fight against graft and corruption in the country. Rwanda imposes ban on leaking condoms Days after Kenya and other countries banned the condom brand known as “Hot”, this comes after realizing that the condoms were leaking. Ends