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

Police in Burera District have intercepted a vehicle loaded with 60 boxes of the banned plastic bags, which were being sneaked into the country.

The non-biodegradable polythene bags were being trafficked alongside other illegal goods, in a vehicle registration number RAD 870M, which was also impounded, Police said.

Police spokesperson for the Northern region, Inspector of Police (IP) Innocent Gasasira said that the vehicle was intercepted by the marines unit after loading the illegal goods in the vehicle, which had been trafficked through Lake Burera.

“The vehicle was intercepted at about 9pm in Nyamabuye Cell of Kagogo Sect loaded with 60 boxes of plastic bags and 60 boxes of Blue Sky – an illicit gin,” IP Gasasira said.

“Two people, who were trafficking the unlawful commodities have also been taken into custody,” he added.

The non-biodegradable polythene bags have been outlawed in the country since 2008.

Article 433 of the penal code provides a term of imprisonment of between two to six months and fines of up to Rwf3 million to anyone, who manufactures or sells plastic bags.

Using polythene also attracts a fine of between Rwf5000 and Rwf100, 000 in addition to confiscation of the non-biodegradable products.

“The law is very clear; plastic bags are banned in Rwanda and that’s why it falls in the Police responsibilities and usual operations to arrest anyone found smuggling, selling or using them, but also to sensitize the people against it,” the spokesperson said.

Two months ago, Police in Burera also seized 24, 000 pieces of plastic bags, which were being trafficked from the neighbouring Uganda, and arrested four people behind the illegal act.

In February this year, Police in Gicumbi also intercepted 60 cartons of Plastic bags. In December last year, a joint operation by Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) seized 2,175 cartons (435,000 pieces) of the non-degradable bags.

Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) targets monthly production of 100,000 tonnes of chicken meat in the next five years.
The target was announced yesterday during the meeting that brought together RAB officials and poultry farmers.

The Head of Animal Resources Department at RAB, Dr. Christine Kanyandekwe said farmers have to embrace modern chicken farming and ensure chicken’s good health in order to increase the production.

“The first thing is to embrace modern farming and prevent diseases. Feeding chickens with appropriate feeds will also help increase the production,” she said.

Dr. Kanyandekwe said the country produced a total of 7,000 tonnes of eggs last year, the production they also target to increase in future.

Magezi Mutimura, a chicken farmer, said that they still have challenges like costly feeds and lack of medication for their chickens but head of Poultry Farmers Association, Jean Claude Ruzibiza, said that problems have been solved.

“We encountered different challenges in the past including some chicken diseases and lack of chicks but we have recently acquired many incubators and we are set to produce many chicks to the extent we will export some,” he said.

Statistics from RAB show that meat production reached 116,000 tonnes in 2016 up from 86,000 tonnes in 2015.src:igihe

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Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, accompanied by a senior delegation, has arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday on a two-day official visit to hold talks on bilateral relations.

In his address before the opening session of the Sudanese-Rwandan talks at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday, al-Bashir called on the African leaders to withdraw from the ICC according to the African Union decision.

The ICC issued two arrest warrants against al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state charged by the Hague-based court since its inception in 2002.

Sudan, which is not a state member of Rome Statute of the ICC, has been campaigning for an African withdrawal from the court.

The African Union constantly accuses the ICC of disproportionately targeting Africans. Several countries including Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Libya have called for en mass withdrawal of African nations from the court.

on the other hand Foreign Affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo said signifies “the stepping up of the bilateral relations” between the two countries. On the first day of his visit, President Kagame held a bilateral meeting with his host, President Omar al-Bashir, and attended a state luncheon and banquet held in his honour.

“We had a very productive bilateral discussion earlier headed by the two Heads of State, we had the opportunity to discuss our joint belief and actions in promoting the independence of Africa, including spearheading and supporting strongly the African Union reform,” Mushikiwabo, who is part of the President’s delegation told The New Times last evening.

In addition to bilateral arrangements, Rwanda and Sudan are both members of regional blocs and frameworks, such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Nile Basin Initiative.