Browsing: Rwanda

Rwanda-Pak-Africa-Business-Forum

With the top African countries facing political and industrial turmoil, more focus has been placed on preventing a further decline in economic growth. One particular country has outdone itself to ensure its consistent improvement in the emergence of a new era; Rwanda. Rwanda's government has featured prominently among African countries adopting unique approaches to establishing a new economic system. Recently, the Pak-Africa Business Forum set its sights on the East African country to develop a new Africa-Pakistan trade line. This move could improve Africa's international relations and set Rwanda above its peers in this economic race.…

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restitution in Africa
  • France is leading Europe in accepting colonial mistakes and returning human remains taken from Africa.
  • Should restitution of African artifacts also include economic compensation?
  • Germany is also agreeing to respond to restitution requests by African countries.

France has once again taken steps to reconcile its patchy colonial ties with Africa, this time championing human remains restitution by returning artifacts, human skulls, bones, and other items of historical value.

These human remains are mostly of great African heroes, who opposed colonial rule in the 17th and 18th centuries. The return of the human remains has been effected by France’s University of Strasbourg. And it is part of an ongoing human remains restitution demanded by several African countries. Most of the latest demands are from Namibia and Tanzania where historic human remains are coming home.

Germany on human remains restitution

In the same vein, Germany is under criticism for failing to …

Water in Rwanda
  • The Kigali Bulk Water Supply Project will be AfDB’s first private sector operation in landlocked Rwanda.
  • The initiative covers the installation of a new water treatment plant, the building new wells and rehabilitating existing ones.
  • It is also providing pipelines, storage reservoirs, pumping stations and water points in various parts of Kigali city.

The African Development Bank (AfDB)-backed water distribution project in Kigali, Rwanda, will benefit about 500,000 people. Rwanda, along with various development partners and agencies, has prioritised investments in water infrastructure and implemented reforms to enhance access to safe and reliable water sources.

Currently, water supply in Kigali is managed by the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC). The entity is a public utility responsible for water production, treatment, and distribution. WASAC has been working to expand and upgrade the water supply infrastructure to meet the growing demand in the city.

Kigali yet to offer universal water

Main Image
  • Middle East Energy has announced plans to host Africa Energy Expo in February 2024, with Rwanda chosen as the Inaugural host. 
  • Scheduled for February 2024, the African Energy Expo is a first-of-its-kind trade show, and an extension of Middle East Energy’s 48-year legacy, aimed at promoting sustainable, innovative energy sources and driving the African energy transition.
  • The event will be a unique platform for energy leaders to debate and shape the future of the African energy landscape.

Middle East Energy has announced plans to host Africa Energy Expo in February 2024, with Rwanda chosen as the Inaugural host.

The announcement was made at the 2023 Middle East Energy Exhibition and Conference in Dubai.

Scheduled for February 2024, the African Energy Expo is a first-of-its-kind trade show, and an extension of Middle East Energy’s 48-year legacy, aimed at promoting sustainable, innovative energy sources and driving the African energy transition.

The new …

AGOA
  • 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 President Felix Tshisekedi (pictured), reassures investors through ANAPI, the DRC investment portal, the country is safe and open for business. The statement comes in the wake of a recent extraordinary summit of the EAC Heads of State that resolved for an immediate cease-fire by all parties. Photo/Reuters
  • 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

East Africa single tourist visa: 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. Photo/MicatoSafaris
  • 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 8th wonder of the …

MTN Rwanda offers very popular mobile money services but reports hold that traders are not satisfied with the commission charges on payments. Photo/Dignited

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 …

Africa is moving to legalize growing and export of medical marijuana as the global medical market value clocks USD 11.0 billion in 2021. Photo/FlagStone Medical Centre

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, …

sugar

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 …