Browsing: Rwanda

• The influx of used clothes from the west in effect affects the development of textile industries in the EAC
• Five years later, a new administration, Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war not to mention a stronger China economy, the US may reconsider EAC state’s position.
• EA States have 2 years to consider if they want AGOA renewed

In 2015, all major economies in East Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia proposed to ban the importation of second-hand clothes but the US would have none of it.

The intention was good, even noble: Banning second-hand imports would strengthen the domestic textile industry which would create jobs and other positive ripple effects.

“The US claimed this proposal goes too far and violates the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which aims to expand trade and investment on the continent,” the media reported.

Once the US pulled the AGOA card, the East African …

• DRC, through its investment portal ANAPI reassures investors
• Rwanda slams US statement saying it undermines regional peace process
• EAC Heads of State order immediate cease fire in Rwanda-DRC conflict

Rwanda should stop supporting the rebel group and withdraw its soldiers from the DRC, the US State Department has said in an official statement.

This US call for Rwanda to ‘cease and desist’ aiding rebel groups and to also recall its troops from the DRC is the latest effort by the international community to intervene in the protracted dispute between the two countries.

The US says Rwanda’s alleged aid to rebel factions in the DRC is undermining the regional peace process.

The statement comes only days after the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State met in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura. The meeting was an Extra-Ordinary Summit held to evaluate the “Security Situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo …

• For over a decade, the East Africa single tourist visa programme has been discussed and proposed by EAC governments.
• Rwanda maintains that the East Africa single tourist visa will help market the entire region as a single tourist destination.
• The response from Tanzania is promising compared to the non-committal stance in previous engagements.

Buy a visa to Rwanda and get to visit all of Tanzania’s and Kenya’s tourist attractions. In fact, with that single visa you can tour all the 7 countries of East Africa. This is what the East Africa single tourist visa programme proposes.

Tanzania is home to some of the World’s most revered tourist attractions; the likes of the highest mountain in Africa, The Kilimanjaro; the Serengeti, home to the world’s largest wildebeest migration and the Ngorongoro crater, where visitors can see the world’s only known tree climbing lions and deemed the 8^th wonder of the …

In the move to a cashless society, Rwandans are also showing appreciation for this leadership and quality of service, again the numbers say it all, MTN customer market share increased by 2.9pp to 65.7%.

Rwanda, as most all  of the rest of Africa, is experiencing continued increase in demand for data. This demand puts pressure on delivering the needed services at affordable rates, especially giving the increasing cost of data. So it is worth noting and a lesson for  the rest of the East African bloc, that the government of Rwanda has taken a bold but very visionary move in changing its Broadband policy.

Rwanda has shown its commitment to accelerate broadband coverage by adopting such measures as the introduction of wireless technology neutrality, which has significantly allowed for improved  efficiency. On the ground, this is translated in the form of rolling out of next generation technologies like LTE and …

Medical marijuana may very well be the agri-business that Africa needs to get its economies high in the global multi-billion agro-industry.

Already, Africa’s marijuana production is on the rise.

According to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) medical marijuana dispensary sales totalled US$11.5 million in just under one month. Other than the sales, OMMA also says in that same time, between January and February of 2019, it also raised more than US$3 million in taxes alone.

The following month, approximately US$873,361 came from the 7% gross receipts tax and US$1.3 from the 4.5% state sales tax.

Since OMMA began accepting applications for medical marijuana licensing, the state says it has pocketed well over US$7.1 million inpatient license fees and more than US$11 million in revenue generated in commercial license fees.

That is just one state. Consider how much the entire US has made from medical marijuana as a country. Worldwide, …

There are increasingly more and more ‘outbreaks’ of non-communicable diseases in Africa and more so in sub-Saharan Africa.

These lifestyle ailments are ironically a symbol of increasing income among the population. As more and more African countries rise from low-income to middle-income status, statistics show a correlation with the rising number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases.

The reason is simple; when you rise in income, people do not increase their eating of the vitamin-rich greens they used to eat when they could not afford unhealthy but yet prestigious red meat; no, they change their diet to gabble up the ‘rich man’ foods, unwittingly damaging their health.

A local paper puts it into perspective; ‘People’s eating habits are shifting from food rich in starchy staples, vegetables and fruits to a more westernized diet high in sugar, saturated fats and oils’ the recipe for non-communicable diseases.

The troubling fact is that …

Blinken stated that Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi had decided to handle the conflict in eastern Congo directly.

Officials from the United States and Rwanda estimate that more than 130 armed groups are operating in eastern Congo, which has turned into a battlefield for militias that have killed and maimed people while making billions of dollars from the smuggling of minerals out of the region rich in natural resources.

The Congolese government and other African governments provide many of the organisations with weapons and funding.…

The United Kingdom (UK) has played a key role in participating in commercial investments in Africa in major production areas with varying results.…

Most Kenyans, 83 per cent, indicated a willingness to increase the amount of money they allocate to savings and investments, but the inability to save due to insufficient funds after fulfilling their obligations that require regular funding and the availability of quick digital loans.

Among their obligations which contribute to Kenyans’ financial strain is supporting their extended family which considerably bites into their savings. 84 per cent of people indicated that they regularly provide some income to their extended family, mostly in case of emergencies, because they feel a sense of obligation to send their extended families money and because their extended family members treat them better when they are sent money.

On their part, the extended family members mostly use the money to cater to recurring expenses like food & transport, school fees and medical expenses at 23 per cent, 19 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. Farm-related …

• In renewing the commitments to end Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) by 2030, Commonwealth heads pledged over $4 billion
• Heads recognised that global financial support to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in the ocean and on land remains insufficient
• Dedicating a ‘living land’ in respective countries would reinforce commitment to keep the rise in global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels

The week-long Rwanda-hosted Commonwealth Wealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022 (CHOGM) came to a close in Kigali on June 25, 2022.

The summit which is held every two years – last held in 2018 in the UK due to the pandemic – was themed “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating and Transforming”, the first post COVID-19.

The summit was attended by over 50 heads of government and joined by business, philanthropy, royal and civil society leaders to reaffirm shared values and agree on actions …