President Uhuru Kenyatta has retained six Cabinet Secretaries under his second term.

The six include Fred Matiangi (Education) Henry Rotich (Treasury) and Najib Balala (Tourism).

Others who have been retained are James Macharia (Transport), Joe Mucheru (ICT) and Charles Keter (Energy).

Those who have been retained have had significant impact in their ministries.

Matiangi has swept through the education sector like a hurricane. He has in the last five years reorganized the school calendar and introduced changes that include an earlier release of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam results.

It is also under his tenure that the proposed 2-6-3-3-3 education system will be introduced to phase out the 8-4-4 system.

Balala on the other hand has been recognized for his efforts in reviving the Tourism sector which crumbled to its feet beginning 2012 after spats of terror activities. Under his tenure, Kenya has won several tourism awards, and hosted international conferences which have helped in reviving the sector.

Mucheru has also been instrumental in promoting ICT in Kenya. For instance, under his tenure, Kenya has further used technology to create more jobs through ventures such as the Ajira Digital Program and the Digital Learning Materials which were one of the Jubilee Government’s flagship programmes.

Macharia has been instrumental in major projects in the country which includes the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway, the approval of Kenya’s direct flights to the United States and the upgrading of airports in the country that include expansion of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the opening of the Isiolo Airport.

Rotich’s most remarkable works include floating the Eurobond which Kenyatta’s government says was the biggest financier of some of its biggest infrastructure projects.

On the other hand, Energy’s Keter has been on the front line of rural electrification programme where according to government statistics, more than two million homes were connected to the electrical grid in the last four years.

President Kenyatta is expected to name the rest of his new Cabinet in due course.src: capital FM

Rwandan students who want to pursue their studies abroad will have to provide medical certificate from an accredited physician testifying that they are drug free.

According to the announcement by Rwanda Education Board (REB), the board, in collaboration with Rwandan embassies, is to establish an updated database for mainly students from Rwanda who pursue their studies abroad with the target to regularly support and enhance education for all Rwandan Students.
The Board seeks to alleviate challenges of high repetition rates, use of drugs and excessive use of alcohol, expulsion from University and potential deportation among other challenges facing students.

In line with this policy, students who plan to pursue their studies abroad will be required to register their full identity using the online form available on the website of various Rwandan Embassies, to provide a medical certificate from a recognized physician/hospital to testify that they have not been under the influence of drugs, and more to those points above a one day orientation program will be provided for such students so as to keep them in the loop on challenges that they are likely to face such as high repetition rates, use of drugs and excessive alcohol, expulsion from their Institutions and potential deportation.

The decision does not only concern government sponsored students but also students who are under cooperation scholarships with no exception of private sponsored students.
The prevailing problem of using drug which has nowadays taken another level among Rwandan youth is of concern such that President Kagame took his time, during 15th Umushyikirano Council whereby he called for every concerned entity to take their part in preventing its worsening

The primary court of Nyarugunga has ,on Wednesday 3rd of January, postponed the case of Gacinya Denis, the Vice-President of Rayon Sport Association and the Managing Director of MICON due to bad internet connection.

The ruling of the case of Gacinya Denis was for the court to decide whether the defendant should be granted a bail or held on remand while waiting the trial to begin in its ground. Gacinya Denis is accused of deceiving in a contract, a crime condemnable by article 320 of the penal code of the Republic of Rwanda, his contractors “Rusizi District” whereby according to the provisions of the contract entered between MICON and Rusizi District, MICON was responsible for the supply of 830 electricity poles with the whole contract worth Frw 636 million.
In this case where the prosecution accuses MICON, the prosecution states that a total amount of Rwf 495 was paid in advance whereas Gacinya accepts to have been paid only Frw 460. However, according to REG assessment of the value of the work in the contract proved to be Frw 253 million.
As MICON failed to complete the work in the contract the District contracted another Company in the contract which cost Frw 338 million.

The Prosecution has, last week, requested to the court a 30 days detention for Gacinya Denis as he does not present convincing proofs.
The court has postponed the ruling until Thursday 4th January 2018.
Once convicted, Gacinya may be liable for to a term of imprisonment of six (6) months to one (1) year and a fine of two hundred thousand (200,000) to five million (5,000,000) Rwandan francs or one of these penalties as stipulated by the article 320 of the Penal Code.

General Security was proved to have been peaceful throughout the year 2017, according to the statistics from National Police whereby a decrease of 5.4 of crimes were recorded comparing to the previous year along with a decrease of 32 percent of the road accidents compared to the previous year of 2016.

The figures were given in remarks made by ACP Theos Badege ,the spokesperson of Rwanda National Police, commending every entity which partnered to ensure security throughout the year.
ACP Badege commended the general public and sister security institutions like Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF), partners including local leaders, administrative security organ – DASSO – for their played part and partnership throughout the year, which further improved the homeland security.

The spokesperson said further that it went on with the festive season which was peaceful and that every entity generally complied with laws as for musical and entertainment show organizers to churches and road users.
Though the festive season was overall peaceful, two accidents that cost lives of people were recorded with one in Kigali resulting from drink-driving.
As for the general status of security throughout the year 2017.
Crimes have reduced by 5.4 percent i.e. 16800 in 2017 compared to the year 2016 where a total of 17600 crimes were reported.
The statistics goes on to show that fatal accidents on the roads also went down considerably by a total percentage of 32.
The figures resulting from the decrease of fatal road accidents are believed to have gone down thanks to introduction of speed governors in public transport buses.

Uganda’s President Museveni has signed into law the controversial age limit Bill that dominated the political space in 2017, paving the way for him to contest for a sixth term in office.

The development was confirmed by the president’s press office, saying Museveni appended his signature on December 27 before forwarding it to the parliament as required.

“He assented to the bill after the speaker wrote to him. It’s now law,” Don Wanyama, Senior Presidential Private secretary said.
On December 20, parliament finally passed the age limit bill in which a total of 317 MPs voted in favour of the motion to lift the age limit whereas 97 members were against.

While delivering his end of year address, President Museveni commended the legislators who voted in favor of the age limit amendment, calling them ‘liberators of Uganda’.

“I salute the 317 MPs who defied intimidation, alignment, and blackmail and opted for a flexible Constitution to deal with destiny issues of Africa,”Museveni said.

Opposition politicians have described the amendment as ‘unconstitutional’ and have vowed to challenge the process in courts of law.

One of the more vocal opposition lawmakers had earlier threatened to resign if the president signed the age limit bill into law.

An ingenious drone delivery service known as “Uber for blood” has slashed the delivery time of life-saving medicine to remote regions of Rwanda from four hours to an average of half an hour.

A partnership between Zipline, a Silicon Valley robotics company, and the country’s health ministry has delivered more than 5,500 units of blood over the past year, often in life-saving situations. Never before have patients in the country received blood so quickly and efficiently.

While commercial drone delivery in wealthier countries is still at the testing stage, hampered by busy skies and strict regulations on airspace, Zipline is delivering blood to 12 regional hospitals from a base in the east of Rwanda. Each hospital serves about half a million people.

The use of drones is helping to reduce maternal deaths – a quarter of which are the result of blood loss during childbirth – and high incidences of malaria-induced anaemia, which is common in children.

Drone delivery also means hospitals can store less blood, which means less waste as blood spoils quickly.

Olivier Nduhungirehe, the State Minister for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Cooperation and East African Community has ruled out security threats could face the country following new visa regime only acknowledging the move as a proof of good relationship between Rwanda on international scene and that fears of potential insecurity are not grounded as Rwanda will always maintain its ways of insuring security.

Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe has insisted in ,a press interview, that the move of new visa regime of the Republic of Rwanda is aimed at strengthening the existing relationship with other countries and opening its borders to all people around the world and that in this way investors are no exceptions. He admitted the move will let in the influx of more people around the world something which is beneficial to the country.

Nduhungirehe speaking about fears of potential insecurity that could face the country following the new visa regime, he scotches threat could arise following that move as Rwanda ,though, have opened wide its borders has not left them unsecured and that the country will remain firm in its ways of insuring security.
Starting January 1, 2018 the Republic of Rwanda has put into effect the new Visa Regime by which visa will be issue issued upon arrival i.e. without need for prior application before travel.
The move for new Visa Regime by the Republic of Rwanda will let citizens of some countries enjoy visa waiver such as EAC citizens, Mauritius, Seychelles and Singapore.

His inauguration speech, Zimbabwe’s new President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, largely touched on policy direction, much welcomed far and wide but was scant on detail. At least he did not promise paradise, such as Mugabe’s and ZANU-PF’s bold assertion of delivering 2,25 million jobs by 2018.

Emmerson Mnangagwa has been sworn in as the third president of Zimbabwe since the country gained independence in 1980, taking the oath of office in front of 70,000 people in Harare’s main sports stadium.

Mnangagwa raised a loud cheer when he pledged that “free and fair elections” would be held next year as scheduled and that the “people’s voice would be heard”.

On the inauguration day he said:”

Some countries have managed to emerge from far worse circumstances than we are in.Take Rwanda for instance. When Paul Kagame took over east African country in 1994, it was a shell of a nation decimated by war. The people of Rwanda were hugely divided and demoralized after more than 1 million people had been killed in one of the most brutal genocides on record.

Fast forward to today, and Rwanda has managed to get over its dark past and it is in a different space altogether. It is ranked amongst the powerhouses of the continent. Rwanda’s economy is largely based on agriculture (tea and coffee). More than four-fifths of the population is involved in small-scale farming but with the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, Rwanda has been able to make important economic and structural reforms which have seen its economy grow at an average of 8 percent over the last decade.

On the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report, Rwanda is ranked 56 out of 190 countries. It is considered the second easiest place to start a business after Mauritius. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is flowing into Rwanda reaching some $410 million in 2016. In contrast, Zimbabwe received $319 million during the same year.

Zimbabwe is in a better place today than where Rwanda was 22 years ago. It is endowed with enviable natural resources and minerals. We have a highly skilled labour force and a young, vibrant and creative population eager to make up for lost time. The potential is immense . Since 2013, Zimbabwe has completed three Staff Monitored Programmes (SMP) under the IMF. Such an SMP, while it is an informal arrangement where IMF staff assess a country’s economic situation, make recommendations and periodically review its progress in implementing reforms, gives pointers to where the economy should be heading.

In all these programs the IMF has consistently maintained that Zimbabwe needs to make painful but necessary adjustments – cut government expenditure and reform state owned enterprises and parastatals

The 75-year-old former spy chief was fired by Robert Mugabe as vice-president nearly three weeks ago, a tactical error by the ageing autocrat that triggered a military takeover, his impeachment by parliament, and finally his resignation on Tuesday.

Online search engine giant Google has revealed that the term ‘What is happening in Zimbabwe’ was one of the top searches in many African countries in 2017.

The latter part of this year saw quite a number of political shenanigans in Zimbabwe involving former president Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace Mugabe, and his then deputy president Emmerson Mnangagwa that ultimately led to the installation of a new president.

The surge in online traffic within and outside Zimbabwe was enough to make the country qualify to be on Google’s Zeitgeist list or Year in Search.

Google Year in Search is a compilation of the top searches, personalities, events and search queries that had a spike in traffic over the last 12 months.

In Zimbabwe, politicians and political events dominated the list. President Mnangagwa, army commander Constantino Chiwenga, Robert and Grace Mugabe were the top four searched personalities followed by popular socialite Zodwa Wabantu.

Zimbabwe’s search queries included questions like ‘what is bullying’, ‘where is Mnangagwa‘, ‘what is impeachment‘, where is Grace Mugabe’ and ‘how to make love’.

The other African countries featured on Google’s Year In Search are Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa.

South Africa’s biggest searches on Google in 2017 were celebrated actor Dumis Masilela who was brutally murdered in August and Cyclone Dineo while in Nigeria, they also, searched for Moji Olaiya, a veteran actress who passed on in May this year.

Nigerians were also concerned about the health of their president. Search term ‘Is Buhari dead‘ was the number one question on Google from Nigeria in 2017

The presidential elections in Kenya were a big conversation online with search terms ‘Kenya elections’, ‘IEBC Results’, ‘NASA coalition’ and ‘Jubilee Party’ featuring in the country’s top searches of 2017.

Africa’s top searches didn’t feature in the global lists, mostly because, the internet penetration rate in Africa is still low compared to the rest of the world.

According to Internet World Stats 2017, Africa’s internet penetration rate stands at 31.2%, which is a distant cry from countries like the United States of America whose penetration rate is at 83%.

Nevertheless, there were some trends that Africa shared with the world including the obsession with bitcoin, popular TV shows and movies like Game of Thrones, 13 Reasons Why, Justice League, Wonder Woman and Thor Ragnarok.

The other popular searches in the world that were also popular in Africa were iPhone X and iPhone 8, the Money Fight featuring Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor and the record breaking ‘Despacito’ (most viewed video on YouTube of all time).

Natural disasters were a huge conversation in 2017 as people asked Google for ways of helping the victims. The Sierro Leone mudslides that claimed more than 1,000 people in August and the famine in Somalia were some of the crises that featured in the top searches, along with hurricanes, terror attacks, floods and refugees.

The internet increasingly plays a significant rôle in the lives of many Africans, especially in urban areas. It is used to express opinions in elections, satirise news events with memes like Githeriman in Kenya and in countries like Cameroon, the internet is a powerful tool that the government is eager to control and constantly shuts down in the restive Anglophone region.src :Africanews