JOHNSON KANAMUGIRE

Johnson Kananugire is a Kigali-based journalist with The EastAfrican and Rwanda Today.

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse', jailed for war crimes, dies in Mali

Monday September 27 2021

Theoneste Bagosora, Rwandan former army colonel, sits at the Rwanda International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, on December 18, 2008. PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA | AFP

Summary

Bagosora was jailed for life in 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. His sentence was reduced to 35 years on appeal in 2011.
Bagosora denied any direct role in the Genocide against the Tutsi, though he was seen as part of an extremist faction in the country.
The appeal court in 2011 found that while there was no evidence he ordered the massacres, Bagosora knew they were planned and did nothing to stop them even though he was in a position to do so.

By AFP

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Theoneste Bagosora, the Rwandan military leader dubbed the "Colonel of the Apocalypse", has died at the age of 80 in Mali where he was serving a sentence for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday that read "R.I.P. Papa". It was confirmed on Sunday.

"Theoneste Bagosora died in a hospital in Mali yesterday (Saturday) late morning," said Abubacarr Tambadou, registrar for the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, which oversees prosecution of those responsible for the genocide.

Bagosora was jailed for life in 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. His sentence was reduced to 35 years on appeal in 2011.

In April 1994, Colonel Bagosora was the most senior official under the minister of defence.

Once a close ally of then president Juvenal Habyarimana -- they both came from the same northwestern province of Gisenyi -- he later reportedly held a grudge after being passed over for promotion to general.

French military intelligence concluded that Bagosora was one of the prime sponsors behind the April 6 assassination of both president Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira, as well as the Rwandan army chief of staff.

Their Falcon plane was shot down when preparing to land in the Rwandan capital Kigali, an event many blamed on rebels and which triggered the massacres.

A few days later, the Foreign Minister Boniface Ngurinzira was killed by soldiers. Bagosora and Ngurinzira had clashed constantly during 1993 peace talks in Tanzania.

Bagosora accused Ngurinzira of making too many concessions to the rebels and, on his return to Rwanda, reportedly said he was heading home "to prepare the Apocalypse" -- something he denied in court hearings.

Bagosora denied any direct role in the Genocide against the Tutsi, though he was seen as part of an extremist faction in the country.

With the defence minister also out of the country on a mission, Bagosora was the most senior military official from April 6-9, the first days of the Genocide against the Tutsi.

The appeal court in 2011 found that while there was no evidence he ordered the massacres, Bagosora knew they were planned and did nothing to stop them even though he was in a position to do so.

Before his death, Bagosora was serving his sentence in Koulikoro prison in Mali, but had been transferred to a clinic in the capital Bamako, an official in the Malian prison administration told AFP.

An official at the institution where he was admitted said he died of "heart failure", without giving further details.

Bagosora had in April been refused an application for early release because of the "extremely high gravity (of his) crimes".

In the headlines

Bobi Wine supporters protest over govt abuses

Uganda opposition supporters protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York.

They urged the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

Kigali puts on new cultural, East African face

SADC forces kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique

Uganda opposition supporters protest at UN offices over rights abuses

Monday September 27 2021

Uganda opposition supporters protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. PHOTO | DAILY MONITOR | NMG

Summary

Donning red T-shirts and berets the protestors shouted slogans and held placards with messages denouncing the government.
The protests coincided with the 76th session of the UN General Assembly and were held a day after President Museveni addressed the Assembly.

By DAILY MONITOR

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Ugandan opposition party supporters based in the US at the weekend staged a peaceful demonstration outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, urging the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

In Kampala, the government dismissed the protestors as “busybodies, … with visa issues, …and justifying” their stay abroad, and said “they are not the first because we have had many people who pose as economic refugees in a way of mocking Uganda and they have never had any fruit from their actions”.

Rights abuse claims

Donning red T-shirts and berets, which are outlawed in Uganda as exclusive for use by military police, the National Unity Platform (NUP) protestors shouted slogans and held placards with messages denouncing the government.

“Masaka lives matter, Museveni must be investigated for crimes against humanity,” read one placard, as another was written “a government of dictatorship,”.

The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, who was present at the protests, said: “We want the whole world to see the level of injustice, oppression, and intimidation currently going on in Uganda.”

The protests coincided with the 76th session of the UN General Assembly and were held a day after President Museveni addressed the Assembly.

“Uganda reaffirms its commitment to implementing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in its entirety and to achieving the sustainable development goals as we commence a decade of action and deliverable development,” Mr Museveni told global leaders.

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sets out a vision for global progress grounded in international human rights standards and equality centred around economic and social rights as well as civil, political, and cultural rights.

The protestors accused Museveni’s administration of democratic and human rights abuses.

“We want to show the world the injustices going on in Uganda. The world must know that blatant human rights abuses are being committed in Uganda by the regime and its security agencies,’’ Mr Joel Semakula, the NUP coordinator in California, said.

The protestors were from NUP, a party led by Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine. Mr Kyagulanyi’s brother Fred Nyanzi Ssentamu, better known as Chairman Nyanzi, as well as Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament Francis Zaake were in New York.

Some of the demonstrators flew to New York from California and Seattle Washington.

State reacts

In a rejoinder, Uganda Media Centre executive director Ofwono Opondo said: “We do not need to be told by anybody outside that abusing rights is something wrong. It is the [ruling] National Resistance Movement (NRM) group that made a Constitution and the laws”.

“[In August] President Museveni himself, without being forced by anyone, came out and condemned the human rights violation within security agencies and made an undertaking to punish anyone who involves themselves in the acts,” he said.

The demonstrators, according to Mr Opondo, are “lazy, idle people in the diaspora who have failed to come back and develop their country.”

In the headlines

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse' dies in Mali

Theoneste Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

Kigali puts on new cultural, East African face

SADC forces kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

Monday September 27 2021

Nairobi Securities Exchange trading floor. PHOTO | NMG

Summary

Firms that have made positive corporate moves in the stock market such as bonus issuances and buyouts like Nairobi Business Ventures (NBV) have also recorded higher gains relative to peers.
But investors have punished top firms viewed to struggle under effects of Covid-19, including East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL), Centum Investment, Kenya Power and Scangroup.
The lack on new listings also remains an issue for the NSE, making it hard to resolve the problem of market concentration among the top four firms – Safaricom, Equity, KCB and EABL— which account for 78 percent of the investor wealth at the bourse.

By CHARLES MWANIKI

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More than half of stock prices at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) have yet to return to their pre-Covid-19 levels amid the full recovery of the bourse and economic revival from the pandemic-induced slump.

Of the 58 actively traded counters, 31 are trading below their closing price on March 12, 2020, when Kenya announced the first case of Covid-19 that pulled down the main market index to a 20-year low as investors dump stocks.

This emerged as the combined wealth of investors at the NSE grew Ksh610 billion ($5.5 million) over the period.

Investors have become selective during the recovery and are putting money in companies that are viewed to be stable against the effects of coronavirus, rewarding stocks such as Safaricom, BAT and Equity.

Firms that have made positive corporate moves in the stock market such as bonus issuances and buyouts like Nairobi Business Ventures (NBV) have also recorded higher gains relative to peers.

But investors have punished top firms viewed to struggle under effects of Covid-19, including East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL), Centum Investment, Kenya Power and Scangroup.

Depressed advertising spend has hurt Scangroup while lower electricity consumption and shortened business hours pummelled Kenya Power and EABL sales, respectively.

“Value investors have concentrated on stocks with a good earnings potential, mainly Safaricom and banks. Speculative investors have also made handsome profits on counters such as Nairobi Business Ventures (NBV),” said Sarah Wanga, AIB-AXYS Africa head of research.

Safaricom’s share price has gained 62 percent since Covid-19 first hit Kenya in March 2020, closing at Ksh41.80 ($0.38) a unit on Friday.

This gain has entrenched its position as the NSE’s dominant stock, accounting for 60 percent of the market’s total capitalisation or investor wealth that stands at Ksh2.77 trillion ($25 billion).

Its stock appreciation came on the back of the telco paying total dividend of Ksh1.37 per share for the year ended March 2021, amounting to Ksh54.89 billion ($497 million).

A consortium led by Safaricom aims to start operations in Ethiopia next year after winning a licence in May, further upping demand for the telecoms operator shares at the NSE.

Safaricom has been the standout stock among a group of blue chip counters that have defied the pandemic to either record gains or maintain their share prices, but banks have underperformed on reduced profits and failure to pay dividends.

Out of the 11 listed local banks, eight are still trading below their March 2020 prices, with the only gainers being Equity Holdings at 12 percent and KCB at 2.7 percent to Ksh50.50 ($0.46) and Ksh47.10 ($0.43) per share, respectively.

National Bank of Kenya’s stock remains suspended following the lender’s takeover by KCB, while cross-listed Rwandan lender Bank of Kigali has gained 24 percent in the period.

Analysts say investors put their focus on other blue chips such as Safaricom and BAT whose business indicators were little affected by the pandemic, unlike banks where dealers fretted over their loan defaults that ravaged profits.

The pandemic forced lenders last year to boost their provisions for mounting bad loans, which followed layoffs and business closures in the wake of the pandemic.

Banks have showed strong recovery this year with their gross profits up 61 percent to Ksh96.4 billion ($872.9 million) in the six months to June.

World Bank expects Kenya’s economy to grow by 4.5 percent this year as vaccinations and lockdown easing help it recover from a coronavirus-induced slump last year.

“Banks (stocks) have largely underperformed due to fears of a significant deterioration in asset quality, fears which have since not materialised, therefore, pointing to a significant recovery going forward,” said Sterling Capital analyst Davis Gathinji.

Corporate actions have also helped some stocks to gain while peers remain in the red.

NBV has benefited from the announcement of corporate deals, having been recently taken over by United Arab Emirates-based Delta International FZE.

The firm’s stock is the biggest gainer since March last year, having jumped from Ksh0.60 to Ksh7.17 a share.

Carbacid’s announcement of a bid to take over rival BOC Gases in November last year also helped push up its share price, and although the deal is now on ice it is still trading at a 45 percent premium on its March 2020 price.

The analysts expect that the market will eventually regain some equilibrium where price movement is more fairly distributed among the different stocks and market segments, backed by new products and a return to profitability for most companies.

Mr Gathinji, however, sees risk if the fiscal position of the government doesn’t improve, which could see a fresh attempt to reintroduce capital gains tax on stocks.

Listings drought

“This would serve to increase the cost of capital, thereby, dissuading investments into the broader stock market since only blue chip stocks would present the returns sufficient enough to justify investment, at least on a risk-adjusted basis,” he said.

The lack on new listings also remains an issue for the NSE, making it hard to resolve the problem of market concentration among the top four firms – Safaricom, Equity, KCB and EABL— which account for 78 percent of the investor wealth at the bourse.

Their dominance has seen institutional and foreign investors concentrate on trading on these counters to the detriment of other stocks which are then denied the demand and supply necessary to spur price changes.

In the headlines

Bobi Wine supporters protest over govt abuses

They urged the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse' dies in Mali

Theoneste Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

Kigali puts on new cultural, East African face

SADC forces kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

Monday September 27 2021

Mobile money is popular in Somalia. PHOTO | FILE | NMG

Summary

For Somalia, its unbanked population, about 76 percent of the 15 million people, is almost the size of mobile money account owners, meaning that services provided by the telcos almost bridge the gap.
With banks often tighter on conditions, including identification, telcos in Somalia have filled the gap by allowing people to transact smaller amounts without necessarily requiring a nationally accepted ID, but rather mutual trust and previous customer history.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

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Somalia’s largely unbanked population could still aid the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country, if they join mobile money service.

A new study on Somalia’s business environment says use of mobile money services could plug the hole of financial inclusion, and dodges most of the barriers in Somalia, because it aids transactions, boosts traders’ access to credit and enables seamless transactions, even for people with no bank accounts. And the result is that the flow of the money can boost traders’ access to finances by up to 13 times.

The study: “Assessing the Effects of Mobile Money Service on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises,” forms a paper published in the American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, a product of a joint study by SIMAD University in Somalia and Hormuud Telecom, Somalia’s largest telco.

Although researchers analysed data on services offered by Hormuud, it was based on the general use of mobile money services in day-to-day operations by traders.

The authors — Abdinur Ali Mohamed and Mohamed Ibrahim Nor — say they approached 138 targeted managers or owners of small and medium enterprises across Somalia’s southern and central regions where Hormuud operates in Somalia, receiving responses from 131 of them.

They say they found that every expansion of one percent in mobile money services in Somalia provides a 13 percent increase in access to finances from banks. And every increase in access to finances led to about a tenth in the growth of businesses.

The findings are not new, especially in Africa where there are more mobile money accounts that real bank accounts.

But for Somalia, its unbanked population, about 76 percent of the 15 million people, is almost the size of mobile money account owners, meaning that services provided by the telcos almost bridge the gap.

With banks often tighter on conditions, including identification, telcos in Somalia have filled the gap by allowing people to transact smaller amounts without necessarily requiring a nationally accepted ID, but rather mutual trust and previous customer history.

This in turn helps traders get paid in time and saves them the risk of carrying cash, the report says.

“The small and medium sized enterprises largely rely on the mobile money service to buy from the suppliers, pay the bills and the storing of finances.

‘‘Merchants opt to use mobile money services since it is cheaper to transfer money and safer, with the ability to track the transactions and check the payment references,” said Prof Abdinur Ali Mohamed from the Faculty of Economics, SIMAD University, Mogadishu who co-authored the paper.

While traders gain by accessing credit, the report says rise in mobile transactions have also fuelled product development, as producers improve their services and raising sales three times over as small businesses are generally able to make sales quicker and easily monitor the finances on mobile ledger.

The findings came as Somalia, like many in the region face contracted economic growth of 1.5 percent, owing to Covid-19 restrictions and insecurity incidents.

“A tenuous economic rebound is underway, supported by higher credit to the private sector and relatively resilient inflows of remittances,” says the bulletin.

Ahmed Mohamed Yusuf, Hormuud’ s Telecom CEO said the findings vindicated need to link telecos with banks, based on latest technology.

“The financial and telecommunications sectors must work together to provide access and products that raise living standards for all,” he said in a statement.

“Our focus continues to be on enriching the lives of Somalis and building conditions in which Somali entrepreneurs can thrive.”

Somalia, in spite of its long years of war and conflict offers the cheapest data rates in the Horn of Africa, and is among the cheapest on the continent. But its telcos including Hormuud, SomTel and Telcom Somalia are yet to achieve nationwide 4G coverage across the country, especially in rural areas, which sort of slows down efficiency. A third of Hormuud’s 3.6 million subscribers, mostly in rural areas, are still on 2G, the company admitted.

The country also has to amend its laws and tighten regulations on transactions. A recent Somalia Central Bank report, however, agreed to set up a national payments system for about a dozen Somalia financial institutions to transact with one another in real-time.

And Hormuud, which runs its mobile payment service EVC Plus, in central and southern Somalia, says it will tap in by installing a 4G network across its operation region by 2023, shifting entirely to digital payments for a mobile payment system that serves 15 percent of the country’s population.

In the headlines

Bobi Wine supporters protest over govt abuses

They urged the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse' dies in Mali

Theoneste Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Kigali puts on new cultural, East African face

SADC forces kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Monday September 27 2021

A Friends of the Earth protester holds up a leaflet outside the Annual General Meeting of British American Tobacco in London in April, 2005. The lobby group claimed that BAT tried to win political influence in Africa and relegate tobacco as a health issue. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

Watchdog says BAT gave cash and cars to dozens of politicians, civil servants, journalists as well as people working at competitor companies to help influence and secure health policies that favour their business activities in key African countries.
The whistleblower documents connected to BAT’s questionable dealings in East and Central Africa revealed evidence of payments made in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Comoros, DR Congo, Malawi and Zambia.

By PAULINE KAIRU

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Allegations of top level bribery, use of questionable dealings to market illness-causing tobacco-related illness, death and economic harm across Africa

Cigarette maker British American Tobacco (BAT) is being accused of using financial inducements to undermine tobacco control efforts in Africa.

According to global tobacco industry watchdog, STOP, BAT gave cash (per diems, campaign donations) and cars to dozens of politicians, civil servants, journalists as well as people working at competitor companies to help influence and secure health policies that favour their business activities in key African countries.

Two new analyses of whistleblower documents and court records by the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath and published by STOP, suggest that BAT allegedly used payments to dozens of individuals and potentially unlawful surveillance to tighten its market grip on Africa.

The reports—one on the company’s activities in several East and Central African countries, another on its aggressive tactics in South Africa — reveal that BAT appeared to be operating “as if it were above the law,” according to the report on South Africa, to sell cigarettes — products known to cause tobacco-related illness, death and economic harm — across the region.

The whistleblower documents connected to BAT’s questionable dealings in East and Central Africa revealed evidence of payments made in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Comoros, DR Congo, Malawi and Zambia. Researchers identified 236 payments made between 2008 and 2013 totalling $601,502 allegedly used to influence policy and sabotage competitors. 

The researchers categorised payments into two: Those “raising questions under the United Kingdom Bribery Act (UKBA)” and another less serious but still suspicious group of payments “warranting further investigation under UKBA.”

The payments included more than $28,500 to sources within the Kenya Revenue Authority and more than $38,500 to a minister in Kenya, allegedly in exchange for intelligence and to the award of a tender to offer tracking services.

Corporate espionage

In Kenya, roughly $56,000 was paid to a private contractor, allegedly to covertly establish a trade union and orchestrate labour unrest at a competitor, Mastermind Tobacco Kenya. The effort was dubbed “Operation Snake.”

In Uganda, the investigators say some $20,000 was found to have been sent to the chair of a Ugandan parliamentary committee to allegedly “amend” a report related to an investigation into Continental Tobacco Uganda.

Another $110,000 was found to have been paid to an executive of Leaf Tobacco and Commodities Ltd of Uganda, allegedly in exchange for evidence of potentially illegal activities by the firm. A document of the proposal appears to include an offer to arrange an “immunity from prosecution agreement.”

Documents show BAT often routed the payments through third-party companies referred to as “service providers.”

They also show that BAT staff in London appear to have been involved in requesting and authorising payments, processing invoices and approving service-provider contracts.

Some employees seemed to know they were involved in questionable activities as they used aliases and private email accounts when communicating.

Investigations on BAT in South Africa found that BAT oversaw two networks of paid informants that operated under the guise of anti-illicit trade monitoring, but the researchers say their analysis suggests the strategy was anti-competitive, not anti-smuggling, with a goal of disrupting the illegal and legal operations of its competitors. 

BAT appears to have influenced state agency activities, including law enforcement, to help it carry out its espionage.

While BAT gained access to state agencies, ostensibly to help fight illicit trade, and issued public statements to say that it supported government efforts to eradicate the problem, BAT cigarettes produced in South Africa were allegedly being smuggled into West Africa, fuelling conflict, organised crime and political instability.  

“The involvement of head office staff and executives in activities highlighted in these reports raises questions about its business practices beyond Africa,” said Director of Tobacco Control at The Union, a partner in STOP, Gan Quan.

In the headlines

Bobi Wine supporters protest over govt abuses

They urged the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse' dies in Mali

Theoneste Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

Kigali puts on new cultural, East African face

SADC forces kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique

Alarm over Angola President’s huge UN travel budget

Monday September 27 2021

Angola's President Joao Lourenco (C) reviews the guard of honour as he arrives at the Angola Nation Assembly on October 16, 2017. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

On September 8, President Lourenço approved, in a presidential decree, the sum of $4,119,036.75 for operating expenses in preparations for the 76th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which closed Friday.
Mihaela Webba, an MP in the main opposition party, Unita, asked what Angola would do with such a budget, describing the $4 million of additional credit for almost one week in the US as “not fair”.
President João Lourenço took over in September 2017, at the end of José Eduardo dos Santos's 38-year reign, and pledged to fight corruption.

By ARNALDO VIEIRA

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Civil society members and political party representatives in Angola are criticising President João Loureço’s budget for UN travel.

On September 8, President Lourenço approved, in a presidential decree, the sum of $4,119,036.75 for operating expenses in preparations for the 76th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which closed Friday.

President João Lourenço took over in September 2017, at the end of José Eduardo dos Santos's 38-year reign, and pledged to fight corruption.

Mihaela Webba, an MP in the main opposition party, Unita, asked what Angola would do with such a budget, describing the $4 million of additional credit for almost one week in the US as “not fair”.

“It is too much abuse of our money,” she said.

Tchizé dos Santos, a former MP of the ruling MPLA party, asked: “Were the State coffers not as empty as the President said he found them when he took over?”

Santos added: “$4 million on a trip and the President travels almost every month [sic]. Whenever he goes by plane he leaves in private jets.”

Mr João Pinto, a ruling MPLA MP, however, said whoever damages his image should be held responsible.

“It is outrageous to damage a poster or the image of the President and leader of the MPLA, that in December organises its ordinary congress. Being a democrat requires respect for others, even if you don't agree with them, so those involved in acts of outrage, injury or damage must be held responsible," he wrote on his Facebook page.

The controversies are arising as Angola plans to hold a general election in 2022, with President Lourenço and his ruling MPLA party seeking retain power.

In the headlines

Bobi Wine supporters protest over govt abuses

They urged the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse' dies in Mali

Theoneste Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

Kigali puts on new cultural, East African face

SADC forces kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique

Music, sports, education: Kigali puts on new cultural and very East African face

Monday September 27 2021

On 20th September, Rwandan President Paul Kagame was hosted by Fred Swaniker, the founder of the African Leadership University, for an interactive session with students in Rwanda. PHOTO | VILLAGE URUGWIRO

Summary

Before the coronavirus outbreak brought the suspension of entertainment activities, Kigali had risen to be one of the favourite destinations for musicians from East Africa and further afield.
Events such as the Kigali Up Festival and the Rwanda Film Festival are increasingly connecting local musicians and actors with others from across the continent and the world.
Part organically, and part by design, in addition to the cultural and educational streams, sports has become a big part of the new face of Kigali.

By JOHN GAHAMANYI

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It has been in the making over the years, now a cultural revolution seems about to come of age in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

It has many strands.

“French culture is changing and reinventing each day and I believe this centre will be for innovation, culture and youth development,” French President Emmanuel Macron said last May as he opened the new French Cultural Centre in Kigali.

Although Macron was describing what he hoped would be a step forward in mending his country’s often turbulent relations with Rwanda over most of the past three decades, at another level, his words echoed what has, almost quietly, been unfolding on Kigali’s culture, lifestyle, and education scene.

The French Cultural Centre, designed to promote French culture and education in Rwanda, is part of the wider development.

With its outdoor stage for hosting shows and concerts, a bistro where foodies can get cuisine and facilities to host film screenings, workshops, and other events, the centre offers a platform for an alternative scene in the city’s cultural landscape.

Cultural village

The launch of the centre came less than two years after French media conglomerate Vivendi signed a deal with Rwanda to lease and develop the $40 million Kigali Cultural Village, which now has a cinema theatre, an open concert area, and an Escape games facility. Vivendi’s occupation of the 20,000-capacity village, which sits on 30 hectares, as seen by creatives has expanded the possibilities for Rwanda’s cultural and creative art industry, especially given the group’s activities in music, television, film, video game, book publishing, communication, and video hosting.

Vivendi’s agreement with the Rwanda Development Board (RDD) provides that the media giant set up facilities at the village “...intended to showcase Rwanda’s traditional and contemporary arts, nature, biodiversity, traditional, and history.”

“Projects like the Kigali Cultural Village attract a diverse pool of talent,” says Alex Muyoboke, a music promoter. “It’s an addition that was very much needed in our industry.”

Kigali Cultural Village. PHOTO | COURTESY

The Kigali Cultural Village and other similar centres are dovetailing into the new dynamics in the education sector. In the past few years, Kigali has seen the establishment of a couple of international and continental tertiary institutions, which have brought into the country a large body of foreign students who have impacted the multicultural mix of the city.

Investments by the Carnegie Mellon University, the Africa Leadership University (ALU), the University of Global Health Equity, the Adventist University of Central Africa, and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, in addition to the reforms and redevelopments by the University of Rwanda, have opened opportunities of study in Rwanda, and a pipeline that is funnelling in the growing number of African students moving to study within the continent.

The number of international students in the country has surged in recent years. According to data from Unesco, the number of international degree-seeking students quadrupled from just 778 in 2015 to 3,052 in 2019. With most of them in Kigali, a metropolitan area of just over one million. They have transformed the cultural feel of the city.

The vast majority of the students are from other East African countries, with more than two-thirds coming from neighbouring DR Congo, Burundi, and Uganda.

It has partly been made possible by the freedom movement enabled by regional integration; the increasing convergence of education systems within the East African Community (EAC), and also increased research collaboration between EAC member countries.

In addition, scholarship funding by institutions such as ALU have also lifted student mobility.

Leticia Naa Adu Darko, a Ghanaian first-year student, admitted that she has learnt a lot, and said she sees Rwanda benefitting from “attracting the inventive spirit of West Africans”.

“We have to embrace and celebrate our diversity as Africa because you never know where the academic degree will take you,” she says.

Rwanda does not have work-related restrictions on student visas. This has opened up job opportunities for talented foreign students. Some employers have welcomed this openness, saying it can attract the African talent that the economy needs, particularly in sectors such as health, where there are serious shortages of skilled manpower.

African Leadership University (ALU) campus located in Kigali Innovation City. PHOTO | COURTESY

Isaac Odhiambo, a Kenyan student at the ALU Kigali campus, says he has been able to combine his studies with his employment at a company. Several of his colleagues from French-speaking West African countries are teaching French in local schools.

The flow goes in the opposite direction too. Rwanda sent 4,839 students to study abroad in 2017, according to Unesco. One is that it is now easier for Rwandan students to study in English-speaking countries because of the country’s switch from French to English as the language of instruction.

While national and international scholarship programmes have long been seen as a strategic investment in human capital development, they have also been crucial in driving student mobility and exposing learners to the diverse cultures of the world.

These students, together with a youthful population, are a rich resource for the cultural industry. In music, local artistes are leveraging off it and creating products they are taking into more deals and collaborations with their regional and African counterparts.

History of East African connections

Before the coronavirus outbreak brought the suspension of entertainment activities, Kigali had risen to be one of the favourite destinations for musicians from East Africa and further afield.

Events such as the Kigali Up Festival and the Rwanda Film Festival are increasingly connecting local musicians and actors with others from across the continent and the world.

Diamond Platnumz, the Tanzanian Bongo Flava artiste, is one such star. Arguably the most popular East African musician in Rwanda, he has held several sold-out concerts in Kigali and is a household name.

Other artistes who have captured the imagination of audiences in the “land of a thousand hills” are Kenya’s Afro-pop band Sauti Sol and Uganda’s The B2C’s (Kampala Boys) whose ‘Munda Awo’ song and ‘No You No Life’ collaboration with a Rwandan popular artiste The Ben remain hit songs on Kigali’s radio stations.

These and many others, such as Uganda’s Jose Chameleone and Goodlyfe Crew (Radio (RIP) & Weasel), have inspired collaborations with local artistes because of the quality and appeal of their music to regional audiences.

Among Rwanda’s rising stars is Bruce Melodie, the first Rwandan artiste to perform at Coke Studio Africa, who has since collaborated with big names across the region including Uganda’s leading female artiste Sheebah Karungi.

The cosmopolitan audience in urban Rwanda has had strong connections within East Africa as students, business operators, and employees of regional organisations, but the history of the country influences its cultural palate in ways that are different from other countries.

For nearly four decades, millions of Rwandan refugees who were forced out of the country at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s scattered to all corners of the world, but the bulk remained in East Africa, mainly Uganda, DRC, Burundi, Tanzania, and also Kenya as refugees.

A whole generation of Rwandans was born, lived, and grew up in other East African countries before moving to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi following the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) taking power. This generation added in a significant way to the regional cultural taste of the land.

There is now a watch on the next direction. The industry sees the unveiling of popular streaming platform Spotify in Rwanda opening up new opportunities for musicians and content creators to distribute their productions to a wider global audience.

However, only a handful of artistes have embraced the platform so far. Eloi Muhoranimana, better known by his stage name Eloi El, is one of them. The electronic dance music player is reaping benefits from the platform, which is available in 178 markets worldwide.

Last year, Eloi El accumulated seven million streams on Spotify, making him arguably one of the most-streamed Rwandan musicians.

Before Spotify made its streaming services available on the Rwandan market, local musicians were already leveraging other platforms such as Apple Music, Audiomack, and YouTube.

With Spotify’s 165 million subscribers and 365 million monthly users as at June 30, Eloi El believes that local musicians can gain access to new markets and more commercial deals.

His optimism seems vindicated by reports that Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records is set to start working with Rwandan musicians. The record label has handled big artistes in Nigeria such as Korede Bello, Tiwa Savage, and Iyanya.

It could influence more collaborations among Rwandan, and East and West African musicians. Backed by such major labels, industry people in Kigali see it leading to a fusion of genres of music from West and East Africa, and something interesting coming out of it in the near future.

A loop to sports

Part organically, and part by design, in addition to the cultural and educational streams, sports has become a big part of the new face of Kigali.

It has been a busy sporting year during the pandemic. In early May, the Tour du Rwanda, one of the highlights of Africa’s professional cycling calendar, started in Kigali, and the month closed with the postponed NBA’s inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL), the most high-profile event held at the new Kigali Arena at that point. Rwanda will host the finals of the league in 2022 and 2023.

From late August, AfroBasket, the Africa men’s basketball championship contested by the senior national teams, was also held at the Arena, followed days later by the African Volleyball Championship.

They are cogs in the development of a sports economy. Kigali is also in the process of developing a sports centre on 21 hectares in Remera, where Amahoro National Stadium and the indoor Kigali Arena are located.

The sports centre will include the stadium and the arena, which will be improved and expanded, and will be home to more facilities including tennis courts, football pitches, and outdoor basketball courts as well as cycling tracks.

The streets around the proposed sports centre have been given a facelift and the transport system revamped. The area now boasts improved pavements and a bike scheme.

Where people come to play, entrepreneurs looking to monetise are never far behind. They have set up an array of establishments ranging from improved pubs to coffee and wine shops.

Once famous for its red-light district (Migina), its face is changing. A wave of gentrification is turning it into an upmarket cultural melting pot, with restaurants run by entrepreneurs from DR Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. They serve a diversity of regional dishes.

Towards a post-Covid capital

Even before the outbreak of coronavirus, Kigali was considered to have one of the dullest night lives in the region. The infusion of a large foreign student population, the cultural centres, sports arenas, international and continental universities, and a thriving youthful population now look to have conspired to change the city’s reputation for being uptight, and leave a more edgy multicultural post-Covid-19 capital.

The last element in this evolution, often unsung, has been the national carrier RwandAir, which has increasingly become a continental connector. An early move to make Rwanda one of the first handful of countries not to require visas for Africans, gave Kigali as a transit hub a big boost, as did some of the struggles of its rivals. There was a dramatic rise in West Africans transiting to the Gulf, and more recently southern Africa. Many of the West Africans, especially Nigerians, also opted for long stays and bought property in the city.

Some of these were pay-offs that probably had not been planned to the last bit. They have together enabled it to write new stories about itself.

While the country’s past, characterised by the genocide is still alive – and quite complicated for that matter – a brew of cultural diversity is enabling it to reshape the way people in the country and Kigali see themselves in the East African family and on the global stage.

But like other cities globally, before it gets there, it has to face a daunting challenge – how to respond to the problems that the post-pandemic world will present. Unesco has noted that while billions of people around the world turn to culture as a source of comfort and connection, the impact of Covid-19 has not spared the sector.

More than 80 per cent of Unesco World Heritage properties were closed down at the height of the pandemic, threatening the livelihoods of local communities and cultural professionals.

Cultural institutions and facilities, including museums, theatres, and cinemas, lost and many are continuing to lose millions in revenue and had to let go of their staff.

As Unesco aptly put it, the world is experiencing a cultural emergency. For Kigali, and more open East Africa, more open borders, more free trade, and more cultural exchange is just what the doctor ordered.

In the headlines

Bobi Wine supporters protest over govt abuses

They urged the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse' dies in Mali

Theoneste Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

SADC forces kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique

SADC troops kill 17 terrorists in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado

Monday September 27 2021

Mozambican soldiers in Pemba, Cabo Delgado province. SADC forces on September 25, 2021 killed 17 terrorists operating in Cabo Delgado province. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

According to the statement, the forces on Sunday engaged in a gun battle with another group of terrorists south of Messalo River.
One insurgent was killed and three rifles recovered. Another terrorist has also been captured and is being questioned.
In July, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries started deploying forces to assist the Mozambican Defence Force fight insurgency and terrorism in the northern region.

By ARNALDO VIEIRA

More by this Author

The Southern African Mission in Mozambique (Samim) has killed 17 terrorists operating in Cabo Delgado province after their base in Chitama was destroyed, the mission said Sunday in a statement.

The Saturday battle in Chitama also left one of Samim members dead and three others injured. The injured soldiers are said to be recovering well, the mission’s statement adds.

According to the statement, the forces on Sunday engaged in a gun battle with another group of terrorists south of Messalo River. One insurgent was killed and three rifles recovered. Another terrorist has also been captured and is being questioned.

In July, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries started deploying forces to assist the Mozambican Defence Force fight insurgency and terrorism in the northern region.

Rwanda was the first to send 1,000 troops to Mozambique. Botswana followed with a contingent of 296 while South Africa deployed 1,500 soldiers.

Zimbabwe also sent 304 military instructors to train Mozambican soldiers to fight the insurgents.

Apart from Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, Angola also forms part of the Samim.

By the end of July, Rwandan soldiers said they had fought a series of engagements against the extremists, resulting in the deaths of at least 30 insurgents.

On August 8, Rwandan forces took control of the key northern port of Mocimboa da Praia from the extremist militants.

“Rwanda will continue to be a good partner, a good friend to Mozambique,” Rwandan President Paul Kagame said Saturday in Cabo Delgado’s capital Pemba.

“We will continue to work together, including with other partners, to transform our continent for the better,” he added.

In the headlines

Bobi Wine supporters protest over govt abuses

They urged the international community to check on the excesses of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.

Rwanda's 'Colonel of the Apocalypse' dies in Mali

Theoneste Bagosora's death was announced by his son in a Facebook post on Saturday

Half of Nairobi bourse firms fail to recover from Covid

BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts

Mobile money uptake grows SMEs in Somalia

Kigali puts on new cultural, East African face

African leaders push for more vaccine supplies, as Biden pledges to send more doses

Saturday September 25 2021

US President Joe Biden, with Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield (left) in a virtual Covid-19 Summit. PHOTO | FILE

Summary

On Wednesday, President Biden pledged to make the US an “arsenal” against the pandemic, promising to send doses of Pfizer vaccine to developing countries.
But organisations fighting for vaccine equity say more needs to be done, especially when it comes to the pace of vaccine production.
Africa’s grouse is that while more than 5.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, seven in 10 doses have been given to people in the 10 richest countries in the world, UN figures show.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

More by this Author

US President Joe Biden’s pledge to send 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to developing countries has been welcomed but also declared insufficient to fill the need, amid calls to open up vaccine production rights.

On Wednesday, President Biden pledged to make the US an “arsenal” against the pandemic, promising to send doses of Pfizer vaccine to developing countries and pumping more than $1.1 billion towards the Covax facility and other distribution logistics.

But organisations fighting for vaccine equity say more needs to be done, especially when it comes to the pace of vaccine production.

“While we commend President Biden for rallying world leaders to commit to vaccinate 70 per cent of the world by this time next year, we have yet to see an effective plan to meet this goal,” said Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam International.

“While every additional life-saving vaccine dose is welcome, the 500 million additional doses President Biden just committed are still a drop in the ocean compared with the urgent need across the world,’’ added Mr Maxman. President Biden convened a virtual summit on Covid-19, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 76th Session in New York this past week. The session, although on climate change, every leader who addressed it said Covid-19 was the immediate challenge.

“America will become the arsenal of vaccines, as we were the arsenal for democracy during World War II,” he said referring to the US’s role in helping rebuilding countries, especially in Europe, after the World War II.

“For every one shot we've administered in America; we have committed three shots to the rest of the world,” he said to a virtual audience that includes government policy makers, leaders and corporate chiefs in the pharmaceutical world,’’ said Biden. But African leaders at the Summit led by South African President Cyril called for a waiver of intellectual property rights on vaccine production. South Africa has been vocal on having rights to vaccine production, insisting that the world had already missed the WHO targets on vaccination.

“The gulf is widening between better-resourced nations who are buying up and even hoarding vaccines and developing countries who are struggling to have access to vaccines. Whilst we welcome the donations and sharing of vaccines to developing countries. We however reiterate our proposal that developing countries should be enabled to manufacture their own vaccine as well as to procure them directly,” he told the summit.

South Africa and India have pushed for special allowance under the World Trade Organisation Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a treaty that manages copyright, trademarks and patents for manufacturers. They proposed that developing countries be given a special permission under emergency circumstances to produce vaccines. The motion was defeated twice.

Africa’s grouse is that while more than 5.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, seven in 10 doses have been given to people in the 10 richest countries in the world, UN figures show.

Of that, only 3 percent of Africans have been vaccinated. The US, alongside other Group of 7 (G20) had pledged at least one billion doses to be distributed by end of this year. Leaders say that is insufficient.

“We must put equitable vaccine access at the core of building back better from this Covid-19. We need to provide tangible financial support to developing countries and ensure that a significant portion of green manufacturing is located in developing countries,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said in his recorded address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

The G7 promise to distribute vaccines has also been met with incessant delays caused by hoarding.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres suggested the Big Pharma was profiting from public funds without ensuring the public actually gets the vaccines, making their production a lucrative $100 billion industry.

“This is not only disappointing. It is baffling,” he told the virtual meeting. “Global vaccination is not philanthropy; it is self-interest. The larger the pool of unvaccinated people, the more the virus will keep circulating and evolving into new variants, and the greater the economic and social disruption.”

The world had promised to distribute at least 2.3 billion doses through the COVAX facility before December, enough to vaccinate at least 40 percent of the 7 billion people across the globe, as planned by the World Health Organisation.

The US, like most developed nations, has come under sharp criticism for opting to give booster shots, hence preventing other countries from accessing the jabs even when they had the money to buy them.

Addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden had said his country had pumped more than $15 billion towards global Covid-19 response and will continue to do so in future.

He said US was also working with partners across the world to improved local vaccine manufacturing and that India and South Africa will be crucial next year.

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