Most missed out the big story in the recent visit to Rwanda by Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli. Media outlets highlighted the event where the visiting president and his host President Paul Kagame opened the Rusumo one-stop border post. It was mentioned that the one stop border would ease trade and business operations as the two East African community members are governed by a single customs territory. During the two days visit, President Magufuli also joined Rwandans in the commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. He accompanied his host to light the flame of hope that will keep burning for the next 100days; the duration of the Genocide period. In as much as the two events highlighted by the media were very significant in gauging the relationship between the two neighboring countries, I beg to differ. The big story was not in the two events mentioned above, but rather in the essence and significance of the African culture where president Kagame gave five cows to his visitor. The event was either mentioned in passing or totally ignored. It came to my realization that schools of journalism have taught us to tell stories from the Western point of view thereby influencing the African journalist to be alienated from his native culture, hence the failure to tell the African story ‘brewed in an African pot’. When Kagame hosted Magufuli at his private home, they had time to talk about a number of issues concerning their countries and their personal and family matters. It goes without saying, therefore, that there are qualities that President Kagame admired in the personality and friendship of President Magufuli that prompted him to offer cows to his special guest. Thereafter, President Kagame gave his visitor a shepherd’s stick and both walked to a kraal where Kagame selected five good-looking cows as a gift in accordance with the Rwandan tradition. This gesture is symbolic in the relationship between the two statesmen. Through African cultural diplomacy- establishing a stronger interpersonal bond rooted in the African cultural traditions and values. President Kagame gave Tanzanian President Magufuli five cows (Photo credits: www.Paulkagame.com) The two presidents come from ‘the cow culture people’ and the significance of the cow giving ceremony has much deeper meaning both to the giver and the recipient. A cow is the most precious and treasured gift one can give to a friend, whose intrinsic and cultural value has no monetary equivalence. A cow is a symbol of love, expressed to a trusted and reliable friend. Through this cultural gesture Kagame and Magufuli made a peace pact based on African tradition, symbolizing a new relationship, that binds the two leaders not to involve in any form of intrigues against each other, but only to be defined by peaceful relations and comradeship. From our forefathers, the act of cow giving establishes confidence and mutual trust. President Kagame did not choose to give his guest the coveted foreign and imported cattle breeds like Friesian Holstein, Jersey, Brown Swiss and the like; but opted to give him the long-horned pure African cattle. In Rwanda, this breed traditionally known as Inyambo is very rare and owned by very few cattle keepers. These pure breeds were selected through a process that involved a three-layer inter-breeding process between high-quality cows, a process that was done by ordinary cattle keepers who knew no vocabulary of genetics. It is believed that the milk of Inyambo cows does not contain cholesterol which is a health threat to milk consumers. It speaks volumes, therefore, of the impression Kagame had of president Magufuli being a first-time visiting president. Going by the Rwandan culture, President Kagame gave away the very best of his cows as that is what his beloved guest deserved. Each cow had a name implying the attachment the giver had on each of the cows. According to the Rwandan culture, the recipient in some way recognizes the great gift offered to him or her. Supposing President Kagame gave me a cow today, I will always make it known to other friends (Kagame wampayinka/ Kagame who gave me a cow!), hence appreciating the special gift and admiring the giver and the act would always be close to my heart. This is how special the cow gift is in the Rwandan culture. The reason I say that the media missed the big story is that the one-stop border post that was inaugurated and given much media attention may not translate per say into easy movement of goods and people; but the bond and relationship established through the cow giving ceremony, creates more trust between Presidents Kagame and Magufuli, enabling good political will for trade and easy movement of people to take place between Rwanda and Tanzania. Take the example where in the South of Rwanda, bordering Burundi, a one stop border post was inaugurated in 2014, at a place called Nemba. Even though this facility has been in place for two years, Rwandans travelling to Burundi have not done so smoothly, as of today; Rwandan authorities are seeking explanations from the Burundian government on the mysterious death in prison of a former cabinet Minister and diplomat Dr. Jacque Bihozagara. The mere presence of a one stop border facility therefore, does not guarantee trade and easy movement of the people, but establishment of a stronger cordial relationship by leaders through cultural bonding creates more assurance of peace, stability, trade and smooth movement of citizens across the borders. Similarly, leaders visiting each other’s capitals on important occasions does not imply good relationship, sometimes it is simply a mere diplomatic obligation, when in reality the leaders are not even on talking terms. Again, those who considered the visit, by president Magufuli as a sign of good relations miss the crux of the western diplomatic hypocrisy, and therefore, the measure of how the leaders relate is a more reliable indicator of how other forms of collaboration between countries take place. Western dominance in almost all spheres of life has alienated us from our own culture to the extent that we do not give it value yet it is more meaningful in defining who we are and how we relate as Africans. From the time of colonization there have been deliberate efforts by the west to destruct and kill our cultural heritage because they know our culture stands for high moral values and keeps us united to defend our interests. In 1835, One British colonial governor Lord Macaulay while addressing the British parliament about their colony of India said, “..I do not think we would ever conquer this country unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage”. This colonial philosophy was applied even in Africa and it was highly successful. Lord Macaulay further went on with his address to give a proposal to the British house, to replace the education system and culture in order to change the thinking of the colonized by hating their own and liking what is foreign. “For if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”, Lord Macaulay concluded . This deliberate strategy of poisoning and killing African education and culture is what makes us lose appreciation of what makes a big story in the African cultural set up. Diplomatic practice requires all concepts of diplomacy to be integrated including cultural ones. The renewed relationship between presidents Kagame and Magufuli through the African cultural practice of the cow giving ceremony, guarantees more confidence and trust for trade and smooth movement of people to take place. The cultural practice establishes an unwritten peace pact where the two leaders became allies and ready to give support to each other in case of need. This was the practice in our relations in the African society before the back bone of our culture was crushed by colonial interest. President Magufuli’s impression, though still relatively new as a head of state of the Republic of Tanzania, is remarkable and his work ethics and patriotic values match those of Tanzania’s founding father Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Regional rating so far puts both presidents Magufuli and Kagame at the fore front of combating corruption and extravagant expenditure of tax payer’s money. Giving value to our culture as expressed by the leaders of Rwanda and Tanzania can be a great opportunity to create dedicated friendship that translates into good relations with a common understanding, for peace, security and development not only for two countries but the East African region and Africa as a whole.
Experts help Rwanda to preserve wetlands
A team in the NASA-UAH DEVELOP lab in Huntsville is using satellite sensors to help Rwanda get a reliable inventory of its wetland resources, plus developing tools it can use to track how that area shrinks or grows in the future.
Alex McVey, a senior majoring in Earth system science at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (AUH), was the project lead this summer for DEVELOP’s Rwanda ecological forecasting project.
“Our goal was to map the extent of wetlands and to create a map of its past extent, so they can forecast changes and analyze degradation as land is changed to meet more agricultural needs,” says McVey, who has served as an intern with DEVELOP for the last three semesters.
“That way they can allocate resources to save the wetlands because they are such a critical ecosystem.” He added.
During the summer, the team used images from two Landsat satellites to create past and present maps of Rwandan wetlands.
“We used to a mostly visual classification approach,” says McVey, who had no previous experience with geospatial information systems.
“We created a repository of what an area should look like, which parts are grasslands or agriculture or wetlands. We told the computer, and it generated a map. It was pretty fun.”
The next group assigned to this project will use satellite-based radar to produce accurate maps of current conditions. “With synthetic-aperture radar, you can see the water on the ground, which is what you would like to do,” he says. “It’s pretty interesting.”
News wise says, a native of Camden County, Georgia, McVey spent much of the past spring getting up early so he could help a team of students prepares weather forecasts and nowcasts for a NASA research aircraft flying missions to study lightning and severe weather over the Southeast.
The African First Lady: Powerful yet unelected politicians
They are the president’s better half, ‘mothers of the nation’ – they are called. Rightly so, because they complete the ‘father of the nation’ – the man chosen by a majority of the voter population to steer the affairs of state.
Some are visible and powerful, others are controversial. Some you hardly ever see but on campaign platforms, popping up and fading out as quickly as they arrived.
One in the recent past has openly disagreed with her husband on his governance style – not even his response that she belongs to the kitchen and another room has deterred her from firing a recent salvo.
Aisha Buhari, whose husband Muhammadu has said she is not a ‘First Lady’ but rather ‘Wife of the President,’ has warned that he’ll be back from sick leave to fire the hyenas and jackals enjoying his continued absence.
But what is the role of the African first lady?
Across the continent, they are simply “accidental civil servants” of sorts. Those that get the limelight because of their marital association with the president.
The Organization of African First Ladies (OAFLA) is one of the main meeting grounds of these eminent ladies who more often than not accompany their husbands to African Union summits.
SUGGESTED READING [Photos] African first ladies meet at A.U. summit
This article looks at types of first ladies and how they play out in national politics. With a second part that looks at their social engagements as their husbands actively politick.
The politically active ones are among the loudest, most visible if you want. Grace Mugabe, Aisha Buhari and Janet Museveni. Before Aisha was Patience Dame Jonathan, Nigeria’s most enigmatic and controversial first lady – in and out of office.
Aisha has yet to confirm if she will vote for her husband come 2019 should he seek another term in office. But she appears to want to safeguard his tenure with warnings to his appointees. Her social media presence seems to help matters.
Then there is Janet Museveni, whose husband says he has a lot of experience from his long stay in power. So much experience as to spot a good politician in his home. Janet is currently the Education Minister of Uganda.
Whiles, her husband shows no signs of stepping down, his experience – militarily maybe – has also helped spot the quality in their son whom Museveni appointed a major-general last year.
Enter Grace Mugabe, the 54-year-old who is as present as is her husband, the world’s oldest president. At 93, Robert Mugabe has shown no signs of slowing down. He is as much in the media spotlight as is Grace.
Grace, who happens to be his second wife, has risen to be a power player within the ruling Zanu-PF with reports suggesting that she is in the queue to take over from her husband. One of her famous comments was that she did not need to be president because she was already president.
Margaret Kenyatta is another visible political presence in the activities of her husband, Uhuru, who is seeking a second and final term as leader of East African giant, Kenya.
With the political temperature heating ahead of August polls, she is the ‘veiled’ campaigner if you like for her husband meeting predominantly women groups and touting the good works of the Jubilee government and emphasizing why Kenyans must continue to retain her as ‘The First Lady of Kenya.
Shaban Abdur Rahman Alfa
Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo
Rwanda begins construction of mega airport
The newly re-elected Rwandan President Paul Kagame yesterday laid the foundation of what is to become the country’s main airport worth 818 million USD.
“I am pleased to join you today to break ground on this important national project. We are as determined as you are to see this airport completed and operational,” the president-elect said after laying a foundation stone.
The Mega Bugesera Airport located in Bugesera District, Eastern Province of Rwanda –a 30 minutes drive from the capital Kigali- is expected to have ultra-modern facilities.
“This is the best time to officially launch the construction works of the facility that was conceptualized back in 2009,” said Rwanda’s Minister for Infrastructure, James Musoni.
The construction of the airport will be in two-phase, with the first phase expected to cost 414 million USD and be completed by December 2018.
Rwanda expects over 1.7 million passengers to use the airport annually before the second is finished, the second phase will allow the airport to handle up to 4.5 million passengers.
“The proposed airport will increase global connectivity as well as support the country’s ambition of becoming a hub for ICT-based services as well as a finance and transportation hub,” said Musoni.
Mota-Engil Africa, a Portuguese-based firm, will develop the project under a public-private partnership on a 25-year concession and an optional 15-year extension.
Kenya : Two protesters are reported dead in Mathare.
After the opposition leader, Odinga says elections database was hacked
Polls have officially closed in Kenya and vote tallying is underway.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga says the elections database was hacked and the results breached using the murdered EC official’s identity.
According to him, he is in the lead per the tally of his party’s agents.
Police have fired teargas in Kisumu to disperse about a 100 chanting supporters of Odinga who are agitating against the results.
Out of the over 80% of votes counted Wednesday morning, Uhuru Kenyatta leads with 7,618,943 votes and Raila Odinga trails with 6241496 votes from 37,514 out of 40,883 polling stations, according to IEBC.
Two protesters are reported dead in Mathare but the cause of their death is unknown.
Presidential inauguration was incident-free – Police
Rwanda National Police (RNP) has said that the August 18, the presidential inaugural function was flawless and without any incident.
ACP Badege also acknowledges the contribution of all stakeholders in making the event was held in a safety and secure environment saying that, the whole exercise was seamless from the campaigns through the voting day and the inauguration event an “incredibly important democratic event.” he said.
Rwanda arrives in Uganda with confidence to win
The Amavubi of Rwanda arrived in Uganda on Thursday ready for the first leg of the final phase of the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers.
Rwanda goes into Saturday’s game in a confident mood having defeated Sudan 2-1 in an international friendly match played on Monday in Kigali.
“I am happy with the way my players have been training and this gives me confidence in this first game against Uganda on Saturday,” Rwanda’s coach Antoine Hey told Xinhua in an interview in Entebbe, 40km south of the capital Kampala.
While Uganda ejected South Sudan on a 5-1 goal aggregate to advance to the next stage, the Amavubi saw off Tanzania on an away goals rule after the two teams drew 1-1 in Dar es Salaam and 0-0 in Kigali.
Uganda who has played in the last three CHAN competitions in Sudan, South Africa, and Rwanda will be hungry to impress in the first leg at the St Marys Stadium, Kitende before the return leg in Kigali.
Hey explained that after his team beat Sudan 2-1 in an international friendly on Monday, he is even more confident Uganda will not have it easy although they are enjoying good form at home.
Strikers Dominique Savio Nshuti and Bernabe Mubumbyi who scored against Sudan are some of the stars who will lead the Rwanda team.
The Ugandan team which will play their first game in four years with new interim coach Moses Basena will look to in-form Derrick Nsibambi to do the magic.
“We have some injury worries with defender Savio Kabugo, but the team is generally responding well,” Basena
In past Uganda has won 14 times against their rivals Rwanda, while Rwanda has registered ten wins.
CHAN is a tournament reserved for home-based players and a total of 16 teams will take part in the biennial tournament, the second-largest football showpiece on the continent.
Meanwhile, Rwanda has moved eight places up to 119th in the latest rankings FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on Thursday in Zurich, Switzerland.
Rwanda moved eight places up in the latest FIFA world rankings having knocked out Tanzania in the second round of the 2018 CHAN Qualifiers.
Rwanda who had dropped eight places in the month of June is ranked 119th with 260 points.
Sri Lanka defense services command and staff college in Rwanda for Geo strategic international study
Kigali, 11th August 2017 – Delegation of Sri Lanka’s defense services command and staff college are in Rwanda for 12 days from 09th -23rd August 2017 on a Geo strategic international study in Rwanda.
On Thursday 10th August 2017, the delegation led by Colonel Ekanafaka (www, RCSP, RSP, PSC) paid a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation where they were told an overview of Rwandan History, and they were briefed about Rwandan Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Ministry vision and mission.
AG. Director of Europe and America Unit Benjamin Sebahizi has briefly told the delegation about before and post Rwandan history.
Speaking to the delegation, Director of Europe and America Unit, Benjamin Sebahizi has deeply explained them the role of the Ministry in promoting Cooperation of Rwanda and other foreign Countries as it is very clear in its vision and missions.
“Our mission is to build a peaceful, prosperous and self-defined Rwanda that is politically and economically integrated into the region, the continent, and the world,” Benjamin Sebahizi said
He added: “Rwanda’s Foreign policy is a part of a holistic transformational strategy of the new Rwanda, which one of the major pillars of the socioeconomic and transformation of the country.”
The visiting delegation had the opportunity to interact with officials in order to satisfy their curiosity mostly based on knowing the secret behind, how Rwanda rebuild quickly after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.
On their arrival, Sri Lanka Lanka’s defense services command and staff college visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where they laid a wreath and paid tribute to the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Their study tour goes on where they have to visit different Ministries of Rwanda and some different economic activities of Rwanda located in each corner of the country.
Declare Odinga president now – Kenya’s main opposition party demands
Kenya’s main opposition coalition party National Super Alliance (NASA) has called on the electoral commission to declare its candidate Raila Odinga as president.
In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, in the presence of Raila Odinga, NASA campaign chief Musalia Mudavadi said they had received data from unnamed IEBC sources that indicate that their candidate is in the lead.
“The data which confirms the authentic and legitimate results of the presidential elections show the two leading candidates obtained the following votes. Raila Odinga 8,041,726 votes and Uhuru Kenyatta 7,755,428 votes … But on the IEBC website, the results displayed show Uhuru in the lead with 8,056,885 votes and Raila with 6,659,493 votes,” he said.
“Evidently, the accurate and lawful results in the presidential election is the transmission received from the polling stations and contained in the IEBC servers and not the unverified displayed,” he said.
We demand the IEBC chairperson announce the results forthwith and declare Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka as duly elected president and deputy president of the Republic of Kenya.
“We demand the IEBC chairperson announce the results forthwith and declare Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka as duly elected president and deputy president of the Republic of Kenya,” he added.
He demanded that the IEBC immediately remove the results displayed on the website and make the forms 34A and 34B accessible to all political parties to download for verification.
Musalia Mudavadi said a a letter has been sent to the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati to express their disappointment and for him to look into irregularities immediately.
“The least we expected from the commission was to undertake an investigation of our claims … Given the importance and urgency of the matter, the IEBC should have released information from their investigation,” he said.
When asked by journalists if they had compiled all the results from the polling stations which the IEBC is still waiting for, Mudavadi said what they have “is more likely the final results”.
When asked if they will proceed to court, he said: “when we are told at the appropriate time whether it is within the court of law, then we will present our evidence”
Meet the eight candidates for Kenya’s 2017 presidential elections
A look at Kenya’s elections history since independence in 1964
Kenya Votes 2017: Have a look at the electoral system
Opportunities and challenges to the Rwandan youth
It is a long-held view that a country that invests in its youth, invests in the sustainability of its achievements.
To realise this, it requires a number of strategies and thank God that in Rwanda, under President Paul Kagame’s leadership, we are on the right track.
On reflection, one finds a series of events that make a Rwandan youth counting himself/herself among the luckiest of their ilk and examples abound as I will explain later in this article.
If you need a well-educated and empowered youth, you have to invest in strategic areas.
To put things into perspective, for a long time in Rwanda, affairs of the youth always took a back seat among national priorities, or simply did not feature anywhere.
The opportunistic leaders of the day only turned to the youth when they needed their energy to fulfill their selfish and evil political agenda.
It was a couple of lost decades that saw the nation with no responsible leadership, no prospects of transformation towards better and no hope for a better generation as the youth who were supposed to carry the torch of hope had been divided along ethnic lines.
Rwanda experienced the apex of its biggest nightmare when the youth were trained to take an active part in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, and later on when a hundreds of thousands of them ended up in exile.
In exile, they continued being used by the same selfish leaders to launch subversive attacks on Rwanda in the hope that they would finish off the job they had started – to exterminate the Tutsi.
This tragedy was put to an end, fortunately by another youth-dominated outfit, the RPF Inkotanyi, under its unique leader, Paul Kagame.
Right from the days of the liberation struggle, Kagame passed off as that distinctive leader, one that the world believes a nation only gets in a century.
Well yes, President Paul Kagame has not only brought a sense of order, discipline, great vision, confidence and prosperity to our beautiful nation but he also brought hope, especially among the once hopeless youth.
Under his leadership and unequivocal guidance, the nation has invested in the right things and at the right time.
Let’s face it, Rwanda has never achieved that much in generations like it is doing under Paul Kagame.
Our economy has grown at a supersonic speed year-on-year, our infrastructure is booming, the quality of life is evident for everyone and many other benchmarks one can use to measure a country on the move.
I want in this article to dwell on the opportunities and the challenge that President Kagame’s leadership present to the youth.
Let me start by the unique opportunity we had as a youth to grow up and work at a time when Rwanda is being led by a great leader that is Kagame.
His wisdom in building a strong foundation that underpins the sustainability of all the development programmes has been to invest in the youth.
This, for the youth is an unmatched opportunity that values their lives and that of the nation at large.
His leadership has seen quality education not only becoming a right but also ensuring that education goes beyond classrooms, and students were empowered to become true agents of the transformation on which the country has embarked.
ICT, business, politics have all become areas from where the youth are mentored and initiated to taking active and leadership roles for continuity.
Without doubt, the youth have been empowered to inherit a considerable number of leadership values that should see our country sustain the pace of its transformational journey.
More than ever before, they now know what they stand for and their role in the journey to prosperity that our country has embarked on.
Seizing these opportunities is the only way we as a youth can give back to our leaders for having empowered us to take part and to thrive to keep our journey of a dignified people through progressive and sustainable development.
Having had such a unique opportunity and not being able to value this in action would be the biggest failure of our generation, one that will hold us accountable for decades to come, I would say…it would be a delinquency of failing our nation just like the bad leaders it has known in its dark past.
The challenge now would be, failing to recognize our dignifying expected role as youth, of being committed to keeping Rwanda’s transformation journey real in our mindset, our deeds and though that thriving to safeguarding the gains of our liberation and our dignity as a people.
The challenge is also never to espouse the belief that human kind is one that tends to forgets quickly.
We should forever be thankful for the liberators of our nation, mainly those that paid the ultimate price, and this can only be done through having positive energy to and vigor to transform our country.
Doing this means being able to choose for ourselves what is best for us as a people this is by keeping the leadership style that has brought us thus far and building on the achievements to do even more.
If you agree, then let’s sustain the journey for it is surely a continuing one.