EWSA to adopt new power pricing system

In a bid to resolve complaints electricity consumers have been raising over cash power renting and the increase in prices of power, the Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA) is working on a project that provides options to pay electricity according to how much consumers use.The move follows a recommendation for change after a question raised by a customer over prices, especially the cash power monthly due, during last year’s National Dialogue.Speaking to The New Times, Lucien Ruterana, the strategic advisor to Director General of EWSA, who is leading the team which is currently working on the project, said they will soon initiate a system under which clients will be charged according to the quantity of units used per month.Under the same system, the Rwf 500 for cash power renting every...

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My dream is to be a Rwandan citizen - Briton

Usabyamahoro and Rebecca hoist their nine-month-old baby, Keza. A Green Card and other attempts to get permanent residence or citizenship in the US and other Western countries is usually every one’s dream. That is why Rebecca Shrubsole’s decision to leave England for Rwanda received mixed reactions. Now called Rebecca Usabyamahoro and applying for Rwandan citizenship, the 28-year-old started dreaming about coming to Africa at a tender age. “I used to tell my mother that my children will be Africans and she encouraged me to follow my heart. but my father was against this,” Rebecca said during the interview at her home in Nyamirambo where, in 2010, she married Evode Usabyamahoro, alias Commando, 37, a former street child, who was running...

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Government launches mass distribution of mosquito nets

The distribution of nets will help eliminate malaria by 2017. Nyagatare– The Ministry of Health on Tuesday launched mass distribution of long lasting mosquito nets in Rurenge village, Rukomo sector in Nyagatare district, one of the high malaria transmission areas.The event was presided over by the Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, who encouraged the public to exercise maximum co-operation with the government in the effort to eliminate malaria in the country.In her address, the minister said although malaria was a deadly killer, it could be defeated if the public co-operated and supported government’s efforts to fight it.She said elimination of malaria by 2017 would allow the government to focus its efforts in fighting other...

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Renewed requests to extradite Ahorugeze

Ahorugeze during a news conference in Stockholm in July 2011 shortly after the Swedish court freed the Genocide suspect. Rwanda intends to file a fresh plea to the Grand Chamber of European Court of Human Right to have Genocide suspect Sylvere Ahorugeze extradited. The court last year rejected an appeal by Ahorugeze, who was challenging a Swedish court’s decision to extradite him.Alleged to have played a key role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that left more than a million people dead, Ahorugeze was arrested in 2008 in Sweden as he tried to renew his family’s passports at the Rwandan embassy. He is particularly suspected of being responsible for the murders of about 30 families.Ahorugeze’s extradition was initiated by Sweden, but...

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Police hosts female officers convention

  Female officers of the Rwanda National Police during the convention at Petit Stadium in Remera yesterday. Police chief Emmanuel Gasana said policies have been streamlined to ease work for policewomen. Plans are underway to build a polytechnic school at Gishari in the Eastern Province to equip female Police personnel with skills in plumbing, mechanics, construction, among others.This was announced at a Police Women Convention yesterday at Remera Stadium in Kigali.The annual meeting brings together countrywide policewomen with their leaders to discuss job-related issues.Speaking at the meeting, the IGP Emmanuel Gasana said it has become a custom for Rwanda National Police (RNP) women to meet and discuss gender challenges as part of...

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kLab livens tech scene

Young ICT innovators at K-lab share ideas on how to develop software.  Rwanda’s ICT innovation is quickly gaining momentum due to the fact that some young technology graduates are actively engaged in software applications thanks to kLab innovation centre.  kLab, an open technology hub for IT entrepreneurs located at Telecom House in Kacyiru, provides a platform for developers, IT enthusiasts and interested parties of a growing ICT community to collaborate and innovate.The innovation centre has formally unveiled its flagship pioneering ICT projects such as crowd funding (eNkunga), Kigalicc app, ‘sarura’, and unified school system.The software applications have been developed and implemented by some of its startup IT innovators.“These...

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