TIG Post

Tag: Kigali

  • Ghanaian representatives gear up for AfCFTA in Kigali

    Ghanaian representatives gear up for AfCFTA in Kigali

    The National AfCFTA Coordination Office organized a pre-exhibition orientation session for selected Ghanaian companies in preparation for the upcoming Biashara Afrika 2024 Forum, which is set to occur from October 9th to 11th in Kigali, Rwanda.

    Conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), GIZ, and MasterCard on September 27, 2024, the orientation aimed to provide participants with practical tools to enhance their engagement at the international forum and exhibition.

    The Biashara Afrika 2024 Forum will unite African businesses from 35 countries along with global enterprises to explore business development and market opportunities across the continent.

    For representatives from Ghana, the forum presents a valuable opportunity for exposure, networking, and the exploration of new business partnerships within the African marketplace.

    Dr. Fareed Kwesi Arthur, National AfCFTA Coordinator, highlighted the importance of the event, stating, “This is the second time the AfCFTA Secretariat is hosting the African business forum. The first was in South Africa, and this year, it will be held in Rwanda.

    “We have selected companies, primarily from the small and medium enterprise sector, to participate. The goal is to build their capacity, enabling them to negotiate effectively, network, and promote Ghana on the African stage.”

    According to Divine Kutortse, Programme Officer at the NCO, “The businesses selected were largely women and youth-owned,” Kutortse explained.

    “This is a deliberate effort by the NCO to ensure that these groups are not left behind in the AfCFTA framework. We want to provide them with the tools and opportunities to thrive in this new trade environment.”

    This initiative highlights Ghana’s dedication to fostering inclusive trade within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

    In the months preceding this mission, entrepreneurs participated in intensive training to understand the complexities of trading under the AfCFTA.

    The upcoming trip to Rwanda will serve as a litmus test for the skills they have developed, providing them with real-world opportunities to engage in cross-border trade within the continent’s evolving economic landscape.

    “The African Business Forum (Biashara Afrika 2024) is their chance to put into practice everything they’ve learned,” Kutortse added. “It’s not just about theoretical knowledge anymore, it’s time to test actual trade under AfCFTA in reality”.

    The Ghanaian delegation comprises 12 businesses, all enthusiastic about discovering new market opportunities at the forum.

    One of the participants is Victor Gollop, a representative from the construction materials industry. His company produces GFRP rebar, an innovative alternative to traditional iron rods. Regarding his expectations, he stated, “We expect to boost our growth, find reliable business partners, and open new markets in Rwanda.”

    Another participant, Araba, the Strategic Alliance and Partnership Manager at World Shoe Limited, expressed similar optimism. Her company focuses on producing eco-friendly and biodegradable footwear designed to promote health.

    “We are looking to network with the right stakeholders, sell our product, and change the narrative that nothing good comes from Africa. We are presenting Africa to the world in a completely different light,” she remarked.

  • Kigali cautions Catholics in Rwanda about ‘cult-like’ practises

    Kigali cautions Catholics in Rwanda about ‘cult-like’ practises

    Rwandan President Paul Kagame has told Catholic followers not to do things that make poverty look good. A government spokesperson called these actions “cult-like. He talked about a Catholic pilgrimage that took place in June, as reported by the New Times newspaper.

    Rwandan President Mr. Kagame is upset with the idea of people traveling to worship poverty. He says that if he hears about it again, he will bring trucks to gather those people and put them in prison. They will only be released when they stop thinking in a poverty mindset. Kagame made these comments to a group of young people at a conference in the capital city, Kigali.

    We should not admire or worship being poor. “He said don’t do it again. ”

    The government explained that Mr. Kagame was not talking about the well-known Catholic site in Kibeho where people believe the Virgin Mary appeared, as previously reported.

    “President Kagame never mentioned any particular place for a pilgrimage, and definitely not Kibeho,” said spokesperson Yolande Makolo to the AFP news agency.

    Ms Makolo explained that the president was probably talking about a casual journey-like event that happens in Rutsiro district.

    According to Rwanda’s New Times, during this event, devoted people go on a three-day journey to a hill called Our Lady of the Poor.

  • Kigali signs contract to serve as home of African Medicines Agency

    Kigali signs contract to serve as home of African Medicines Agency

    The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Rwandan government reached an agreement on Saturday to construct the first African Medicines Agency’s headquarters in Kigali.

    On 10 June, Rwanda signed an agreement with the African Union to host the headquarters of the African Medicines Agency in Kigali.

    The signing comes just a few days after the Rwandan authorities officially agreed to host the AMA’s headquarters on their territory.

    In 2019, the African countries adopted the treaty establishing the Agency, which came into force in 2021.

    Its creation is part of the African Union’s strategy to reduce the continent’s dependence on pharmaceutical products supplied by foreign countries.

    Africa imports 97% of the pharmaceutical products it needs.

    The agency should regulate and harmonize this market on the continent, encourage production in Africa and counter the traffic in counterfeit medicines.

    For Minata Samaté Cessouma, AU Commissioner for Health, Africa must prepare for other pandemics after Covid-19, and the agency’s objective will be to propose “African solutions”.

    More than four years after the adoption in 2019 of the treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency, this is a first step towards making this new African Union body operational, according to the Rwandan Minister of Health, Sabin Nsanzimana.

    Staff recruitment will be discussed in ten days’ time, again in Kigali, during the second extraordinary session of the 23 States that have ratified the treaty establishing the agency.

  • Uganda: 1,000 troops to be sent to regional force against M23,DRC

    Uganda will be the third country to send troops to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, following contingents from Kenya and Burundi.

    Uganda’s army announced on Monday that it will send 1,000 troops to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by the end of the month to join a regional force tasked with ending decades of instability.

    The seven East African Community (EAC) countries, which DRC joined this year, agreed in April to form a force to combat militia groups in the country’s east.

    Uganda will be the third country to deploy troops, following contingents from Kenya and Burundi, according to Uganda’s army spokesman Felix Kulayigye.

    In September, Uganda paid Congo $65m, the first installment of reparations amounting to $325m for losses caused by Ugandan troops occupying Congolese territory in the 1990s.

    Eastern DRC already hosts hundreds of Ugandan troops, deployed nearly a year ago under a separate bilateral arrangement to help hunt down the ISIL-allied group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

    Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 armed groups continue to operate across large swathes of eastern Congo, including M23 rebels, which Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting. Kigali denies the claims.

    The UN says it found evidence contrary to Kigali’s claims.

    The M23 have staged a major offensive this year, seizing territory, forcing thousands of people from their homes, and sparking a diplomatic row between Congo and Rwanda.

    On Friday, the EAC said Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame had agreed on the need for M23 rebels to cease fire and withdraw from captured territory.

  • AU urges immediate ceasefire amid DR Congo fighting

    The African Union has called for an immediate cessation of fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo where rebels have been advancing towards a provincial capital in the east of the country.

    DR Congo has expelled the Rwandan ambassador, accusing Kigali of supporting the M23 rebels who are now threatening the city of Goma.

    It follows the take-over by the rebels of a key transit town in the east of the country.

    Rwanda has repeatedly denied the allegation that it supports the rebels.

    The town of Kiwandja fell to rebel hands on Saturday, potentially cutting off the regional capital, Goma, from the north of mineral-rich North Kivu province.

    The AU has urged all the parties to engage in a constructive dialogue and is calling them to peace talks in Kenya next month.

    A UN peacekeeping force in the region has placed its troops on high alert.

  • DR Congo expels Rwandan ambassador as M23 rebels seize towns

    Kinshasa orders Ambassador Vincent Karega to leave the country within 48 hours after accusing Kigali of supporting M23 rebels.

    The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s government has ordered Rwandan Ambassador Vincent Karega to leave the country within 48 hours after accusing Kigali of supporting M23 rebels, who have seized two towns in the DRC’s east, raising tensions between the two countries.

    Saturday’s announcement by government spokesman Patrick Muyaya came after a meeting of the defence council, presided over by President Felix Tshisekedi, in the wake of rebels seizing control of Kiwanja and Rutshuru in the province of North Kivu.

    DR Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the rebels, an allegation Rwanda has repeatedly denied. The decision to expel Karega is expected to further ratchet up tensions between the two countries whose relations have been fraught for decades.

    Muyaya said that in recent days “a massive arrival of elements of the Rwandan element to support the M23 terrorists” against DR Congo’s troops had been observed.

    “This criminal and terrorist adventure” had forced thousands of people to flee their homes, he added.

    Rebel advance

    The latest advance by rebel fighters prompted the UN peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, to increase its “troop alert level” and boost support for the army.

    Fierce fighting erupted on Saturday morning between the Congolese army and M23 rebels in Kiwanja, which is 70km (43 miles) from the North Kivu capital, Goma.

    John Banyene, a local civil society leader, later told The Associated Press that the rebels now controlled both Kiwanja and Rutshuru Centre. AFP, quoting unnamed officials, said the rebels had seized control of the towns.

    “As we speak, we confirm that the M23 rebels and their allies control the town of Kiwanja, but the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo are not giving up,” Banyene told journalists in Goma.

    There was no immediate confirmation from Congolese authorities or the military on the reported seizure of the two towns.

    Ongoing fighting

    The M23 was formed in 2012, claiming to defend the interests of Congolese Tutsis, a group sharing the ethnicity of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, against Hutu armed groups, seizing Goma, the largest city in DR Congo’s east, the same year. After a peace deal in 2013, many M23 fighters were integrated into the national military.

    The group resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years, accusing the government of having failed to honour an agreement over the demobilisation of its fighters.

    It has since captured swathes of territory in North Kivu, including the key town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border in June.

    Since May, M23 has waged its most sustained offensive in years, killing dozens and forcing at least 40,000 people to flee in only a week’s time. Nearly 200,000 people had already been displaced over the past year even before the latest surge in violence.

    The M23’s resurgence has inflamed regional tensions and spurred deadly protests against the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, which civilians accuse of failing to protect them.

    Rwanda denies the charges and counters that DR Congo works with the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a notorious Hutu rebel movement involved in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis, which Kinshasa also denies.

    In August, a report by UN experts said they had “solid evidence” that members of Rwanda’s armed forces were conducting operations in eastern DR Congo in support of the M23 rebel group.

    Rwanda, though, has repeatedly denied the allegations and has accused Congolese forces of injuring several civilians in cross-border shelling.

    Source: Aljazeera.com

     

  • Prosecutors seek 20-year sentence for Rwanda ex-minister

    A former Rwandan state minister in charge of culture is being prosecuted on charges of corruption and abusing his position for personal gain.

    The prosecution is asking for a 20-year prison sentence.

    The two prosecutors also requested Edouard Bamporiki be fined 200 million Rwandan francs ($188,000; £165,000).

    Mr Bamporiki, 39, has pleaded guilty to the charges in the Nyarugenge intermediate court in the capital Kigali.

    He also apologised, saying he had only acted as a go-between in a case involving his friend whose beer company had been suspended.

    Rwandan President Paul Kagame suspended Mr Bamporiki in May and ordered an investigation. Mr Bamporiki has since been placed under house arrest.

    Just a day after his suspension, he took to Twitter to apologise to Mr Kagame, admitting to receiving a bribe.

    At the time, Mr Kagame responded to a user who commented on Mr Bamporiki’s message on Twitter by saying “being punished also helps”.

    Mr Kagame alleged Mr Bamporiki had been involved in similar wrongdoing before.

    Source: BBC

  • Ghanaian Professor appointed acting Vice-Chancellor of University of Kigali

    A chartered marketer, Professor Robert Ebo Hinson has been appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kigali in Rwanda,

    His appointment took effect from Wednesday, January 19, 2022.

    Prof Hinson replaces Professor Gustave Tombola, the immediate past Vice-Chancellor until a substantive Vice-Chancellor is appointed.

    As a skilled University Administrator, Professor Hinson started his academic career in the year 2003.

    He was also ranked the leading Marketing Scholar in Africa in 2021.

    Until his appointment, he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at the University of Kigali and served as external examiner to several notable Universities in Africa and Europe.

    He has acted as Director of Institutional Advancement at the University of Ghana, Head of Department, Head of Hall and Coordinator of the MSc. International Business Degree Programme in the same University.

    He also had the privilege to serve as Rector of the Perez University College in Ghana in 2018.

    The appointee holds a doctorate degree in Marketing from the University of Ghana and a second in International Business from the Aalborg University Business School in Denmark and a Chartered Marketing qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.

    Source: MyJoyOnline.com

  • Rwanda bans charcoal for cooking in Kigali

    Rwanda is banning the use of charcoal for cooking in the capital, Kigali, and restricting supplies to the city from rural areas.

    The ban is aimed at protecting forests by clamping down on the illegal trade in charcoal. In future people will be encouraged to use gas.

    Rwanda follows Kenya and Uganda in taking action to discourage the use of charcoal, which is blamed for causing breathing problems for tens of thousands of people every year.

    The trade is also damaging forests and causing carbon emissions, which are blamed for global warming.

    Of the 1.4 million people living in Kigali, 85% rely on wood fuel for cooking.

    Most of this is charcoal produced illicitly in and around the protected Virunga wildlife reserve, an area shared with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

    In DR Congo the production is controlled by militias, which means the Rwandan and Ugandan authorities can only intercept supplies after they are transported across the border.

    Rwanda’s government will encourage people to use gas, by offering it at affordable rates for poor people, who can also use a hire-purchase scheme to buy a gas cooker.

    In 2018, Uganda banned exports of charcoal to curb demand, while Kenya stopped transportation of the commodity from some areas.

    Source: bbc.com