Obama announces creation of Leadership Centre in Kenya

US President Barrack Obama has announced setting up of a regional leadership centre in Kenya which will be operational beginning 2015.

Three others, he announced, would also be set up in Ghana, Senegal and South Africa "in order to improve the availability and quality of leadership training programmes and professional development opportunities for young African Leaders."

Obama's announcement ironically follows the suspension of its Peace Corps programme in Kenya over security concerns.

"While volunteers are leaving, the Peace Corps plans to retain its office in Kenya and will continue to assess the safety and security climate," Shira Kramer, the spokesperson for the Peace Corps told the Associated Press.

USAID, the White House said, would provide Sh3.3 billion for the centres with support from a number of multi-national corporations. "American and African companies and foundations have more than matched these funds."

Obama made his announcement during a town hall meeting with the first set of Young African Leaders (YALI) to undergo six weeks of training in the United States in the areas of entrepreneurship, civic leadership and public administration.

During the town hall meet, President Obama also renamed the initiative the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. "The spirit of YALI reflects Madiba's optimism, his idealism, his belief in what he called the endless heroism of youth."

Given the over 50,000 African youth who applied to participate in the fellowship programme, President Obama also announced that come 2016 the number of annual participants would have doubled from 500 to 1,000.

Read More

Bill Gates finally gets his college degree

Bill Gates is no stranger to honorary degrees. In 2007 he even got an honorary doctorate from Harvard, where he had dropped out as an undergraduate three decades earlier. But he seems especially touched by the degree bestowed this week at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia - Africa's oldest nation and the cradle of humanity. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it is the Microsoft founder's first honorary degree from and African university. Gates used his speech to tout his conviction that Africa is positioned to shape its own destiny for the better. Here is the text of his acceptance speech

Thank you for that introduction, Dr. Admasu Tsegaye [President of Addis Ababa University.

Prime Minister Hailemariam; distinguished guests; faculty and students of Addis Ababa University.

I am deeply grateful for this honorary degree.

I never got my real degree. I dropped out to start Microsoft, and never went back.

So getting a diploma I can put on the wall and show my father is a relief.

It is a special honor to receive an honorary degree from Addis Ababa University.

This is one of the leading institutions of higher learning in Africa – a continent whose future has been a central interest of my career ever since my wife and I began our foundation nearly 15 years ago.

The first time Melinda and I came to Africa, 20 years ago, we were on vacation.

We visited Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. We were awed by the natural beauty. But we were no less awed by the poverty we witnessed. Children were dying from illnesses we'd never even heard of.

This struck us as deeply wrong – and totally unnecessary.

The foundation we started took as its motto "All Lives Have Equal Value" – because it was so obvious to us that the world was clearly not treating all lives as having equal value. If it were, kids wouldn't be dying by the millions from diseases that are preventable and treatable.

In short, coming to Africa inspired us to start our foundation.

Of course, the Africa I'm visiting today is not the Africa we saw back then.

You know the stats: Income per-person in sub-Saharan Africa is up by two-thirds.

Seven of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world are on this continent.

I could go on. But I didn't come here to give a speech about economic statistical phenomena – because those figures don't get at the real reason why I'm optimistic about Africa.

The real reason why I'm optimistic about Africa is that this continent is now in an incredible position to shape its own destiny for the better.

Why is this case?

For one very simple and powerful reason: the countries of Africa are learning from each other.

I know that much of the narrative over the years about Africa has focused on how outside entities can help the people of this continent – whether those entities are foreign governments, or international aid organizations, or non-profits such as our own foundation.

Read More

Our dream is to promote Rwandan culture in New York

The Rwandan community living in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) enjoyed a boat ride on the East River to celebrate the 4th July Rwandan Liberation Day to honor the sacrifice made by the heroes who ended the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, rescued and restored people’s dignity.

The ceremony was marked by inspiring speeches made by Rwandan High Level Officials: H.E. Eugene Richard Gasana, State Minister and Ambassador to the Rwandan Permanent Mission to the United Nations and Colonel Vincent Nyakarundi, Rwandan Military Advisor to the UN, who played a key role in the liberation struggle, reminded the community to uphold the unity and sustained gains achieved for the last 20 years.

Keeping the momentum of the July 4th celebration, the community gathered again on the 12th of July in Prospect Park in Brooklyn for the launch of the project on Rwandan cultural activities.

The project aims at creating a platform for promoting Rwandan culture with the overall objective of strengthening social cohesion and empowering the community of all ages to be creative and reconnect with the Rwandan culture.

Planned activities around this initiative will include learning Kinyarwanda, traditional dancing, Rwandan poetry and other positive traditional values, etc.

In Rwanda, the tragic colonial history of divisionism which led to the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi has contributed to tear apart the cultural identity and many artists and elderly who were custodians of the culture were killed. The Government of Rwanda is investing in restoring the cultural values and has established a cultural week to educate youth about Rwanda’s rich cultural heritage. There are also opportunities for the Diaspora to do more in particular in relation to the native language and other traditional values which are being threatened. The launch of the project was celebrated by 26 Rwandans and friends of Rwanda who live in New York and New Jersey, friends of Rwanda and others visiting from Canada and Sweden. They all felt that the project will be beneficial to them at various levels.

New York is a city where culture diversity is celebrated and we need to promote the Rwandan culture and draw the young generation to learn and be empowered. Diversity is our strength and we will use innovative tools to encourage Rwandans and other individuals with different cultural background to be part of this initiative.

The group enjoyed a sunny summer Saturday dancing traditional songs of the most wellknown Rwandan artists, namely Muyango, Kayirebwa and Jean Paul Samputu until 10:30 pm under the shade of a tree in the most celebrated park of New York in close proximity of the Bandshell.

The community will be meeting over the rest of the summer in public parks to continue to brainstorm how to establish the Rwandan Cultural Club Initiative, which will be a space for empowerment and fostering social cohesion through cultural activities. The project is organized and led by AIGINET (AmahoroIwacu Grassroots Impact Network) in the context of promoting cross-cultural exchanges initiatives.

Read More

Bharti Airtel hits 300 million subscriber mark

Airtel Rwanda’s mother company, Bharti Airtel, has crossed the 300 million-subscriber mark across all its operations, the global telecom firm announced in a media statement recently.

Bharti Airtel, with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, started operations in 1995. It hit the 100 million-subscriber mark in 2009 and the 200 million-client milestone in 2012.

The company ranks fourthlargest mobile service provider globally, and second-largest globally outside China.

Christian de Faria, the Airtel Africa chief executive officer, said the milestone underlined the strength of the firm’s operations.

“Today, telecommunications is at the heart of transformation, which, going forward will be driven as much by the force of technology as by the changing demographics in emerging markets across Asia and Africa,” he said. He said accelerated data consumption by the youth would play an important role going forward.

In Africa, Bharti Airtel is the largest mobile operator in terms of geographical footprint, with presence in 17 countries and over 70 million subscribers.

Airtel entered the Rwandan market in April 2012 and has over one million subscribers presently.

Read More

Africa urged to invest in hybrid energy systems

Africa's best interest to invest in renewable energy projects, such as hybrid renewable energy systems, which will lessen the pressure on the national grid and create a sustainable supply of energy for the country.

This is according to Arthur Chien, VP of Talesun Energy, who says that the adoption of hybrid renewable energy systems is likely to become the next big trend for global power utilities as these systems increase the generating capacity of traditional power plants and sources due to the combination of two or more different types of energy sources.

'One of the main aims of hybrid energy is to reduce the emissions from traditional power plants by using a combination of energy types. The utilisation of a hybrid energy system is an effective method of solving the energy and environmental problems prevalent in Africa.'

Chien explains that hybrid power systems are based on energy sources that rely largely on fossil fuels and use renewable energy to reduce fuel consumption, systems which rely on a renewable energy sources and use diesel generators as a backup supply, or systems which rely only on a combination of renewable energy source and fossil fuel generators. He says that the latter option offers significant environmental benefits compared to systems which reply largely on generators powered by fossil fuels.

He says that the advantage of a hybrid system is that the two energy sources do not have to be located nearby each other, and can be placed in separate locations to gain optimum exposure of the relevant elements needed to produce renewable energy.

Chien adds that hybrid systems are the answer to providing electricity to remote rural areas where the grid extension is a challenge and uneconomical. 'Fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, are the main source of energy in rural areas but are becoming increasingly expensive, while hybrid systems can provide electricity at a more cost effective price.

'Furthermore hybrid systems, especially renewable energy hybrid systems powered by sustainable factors which are abundant in rural areas, can be drivers of electrification in remote areas where utilities can find it challenging to provide electricity,' he concludes.

About Talesun Energy

Talesun Energy, a subsidiary of global solar solutions company Zhongli Talesun Solar, consistently produces industry-leading quality, crystalline photovoltaic modules manufactured in the world's largest, fully automated production facility (210 000 square meters). This systematic production process provides Talesun customers with front-runner price-performance ratios.

Read More

Joe is back!

Joseph Habineza has been Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Nigeria since he resigned as Sports and Culture minister three years ago.

Joseph habineza is the new Sports and Culture Minister. He returns to the Ministry three years after he resigned from the same post. The amiable Habineza, fondly known as Joe, replaces Protais Mitali, who has served in the same capacity for the past three years. Habineza was the Minister of Sports and Culture between 2005 and 2010 before he resigned unceremoniously in February, 2011 following a public backlash after pictures depicting indiscretion on his part circulated on the internet.

Habineza is seen by many as one of the most hard-working ministers, the Sports Ministry has had over the last decade. Analysts believe this is the reason why he has bounced back. “I don’t know how to express my gratitude to HE @PaulKagame. My reappointment at Minispoc shows trust. I promise to deliver and make Rwandans proud,” Habineza took to twitter to react to news of his appointment. The 50-year-old is the first born in a family of seven.

Habineza’s honeymoon will be short-lived as huge tasks await him. One of the major tasks is staging a successful Africa Nations Championships (Chan) finals tournament, which will be held in Rwanda in 2016.

He will also need to move sports to the next level, while consolidating achievements of his predecessor.

During his first spell as sports minister, Habineza managed to bring many continental tournaments to Rwanda including the Zone V, U20 and U17 Africa Youth Championships in 2009 and 2011 respectively, where Rwanda went on to play in the Fifa U17 World Cup for the first time in 2011.The new minister will also need to work hard to make sports federations more efficient and professional. Rwandans want to see the revival of sports back to the old good days like when the country hosted the U-20 and U-17 Afcon final tournaments.

The reappointment of Joseph Habineza to the Ministry of Sports and Culture has excited the public.

Read More

Losciuto signs one-year contract at Rayon Sports

Belgian Jean-François Losciuto has signed a one-year contract with Rayon Sports which will see him earn a monthly salary of Rwf3.4 million.

Losciuto started training with Rayon Sports on last Monday.

Rayon Sports club president Théogène Ntampaka said on Wednesday, “We have signed him on a oneyear contract. We need him to at least guide us to one or two trophies in the league, Peace Cup, Cecafa, or Caf Confederation Cup.”

Former Togolese premier league side Anges FC de Notsé technician, Losciuto steps-in at the blues’ hot sit almost two weeks ahead of this year’s Cecafa Kagame Cup.

He replaces compatriot Luc Eymael, who joined Tunisian topflight division league Jeunesse Sportive Kairouan.

Eymael left Rwanda under a dark cloud after the Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) slapped him with a two-year ban for improper conduct during Rayon Sports league game against rivals AS Kigali last season.

Rayon Sports face Young Africans in the opening match of the Cecafa Kagame Cup on August 8 at Amahoro stadium.

Read More