Sports Minister Habineza calls for team work

The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) has been awarded the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Policy Award for 2014 in recognition of its “innovative and impactful financial inclusion policies”.

John Rwangombwa, the central bank governor tweeted after receiving the award that the accolade was in “recognition of Rwanda’s visionary leadership”, to which he attributed the success of the Umurenge Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Saccos) programme”.

The governor received the award on behalf of the central bank during the 2014 AFI Global Policy Forum in Port of Spain, in the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Umurenge Saccos have been a financial inclusion successstory, which have in just three years attracted over 1.6 million customers.

Saccos and other microfinance institutions in the country currently serve almost the same number of customers as those of commercial banks, according to AFI.

Today, more than 90 per cent of Rwandans live within a five kilometre radius of the nearest Umurenge Sacco.

Commenting on the award, Gilbert Habyarimana, head of Umurenge Saccos at the Rwanda Co-operative Agency, said microfinance institutions serve a segment of the population that had been ignored by commercial banks.

“Microfinance institutions and Saccos have enabled rural people have access to financial services, save and lend to each other. This has led to the creation of jobs in the country as more people venture into different businesses with financing from Saccos,” explained Habyarimana.

The AFI forum, which ended yesterday, was held under the theme, “Global partnerships, national goals, empowering people”.

AFI members had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences, and work together to move the financial inclusion agenda forward, according to Rwangombwa.

The forum was a follow up to the one held in Kigali in July on “Financial inclusion for inclusive growth and sustainable Development international”, which was organised by the central bank in partnership with the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and AFI.

Read More

Ubumwe coach Bahigye eyes more glory

After lifting their first league and playoffs trophies, Ubumwe women basketball club are now looking to dominating the local scene in the coming seasons. Only two years since making their league debut, Ubumwe have now dethroned APR, who had dominated the women’s league since 2007.

Ubumwe beat Rwandans Allied for Peace Progress (RAAP) in three games to win the playoffs title over the weekend. Speaking to Times Sports after being crowned the playoffs champions on Sunday, Ubumwe head coach Jacques Bahigye, said: “We are very happy to win this trophy after only two years since the team was formed.”

“I feel very grateful to my players and management for making sure we achieve our targets faster than we anticipated. Nonetheless, we need to focus on building a strong team, which is capable of winning more trophies at home and beyond,” he said.

Ubumwe ran away with the best of five playoffs series finals after winning 64-37 in Game 1, Game 2, 64-58 and 63-39 in Game 3 at Amahoro indoor stadium court. Ghana-born Priscilla Doudou, a US citizen, was Ubumwe’s key players scoring a combined 55 scores in three games, which also earned her call-up to Rwanda women’s national team.

Read More

Rayon VC close gap on leaders APR

Rayon Sports volleyball club have closed the gap on leaders APR to within three points after winning their two rescheduled league second round matches.

Rayon secured double 3-0 wins against University of Rwanda’s College of Education (UR-CoE) and Petit Séminaire Virgo Fidelis-Karubanda on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The six points took the Nyanzabased side into second place in the 15-team league table standing with 24 points, three behind APR from nine games.

Inatek are third with 21 points, followed by the Lycée de Nyanza on 20 points, while KVC are in fifth position with 15 points.

Defending champions University of Rwanda’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences are bottom without a single point along with Ngororero and UR-CoE.

Read More

Mugwaneza sends Rwanda U-20 girls’ handball team into semis

Aline Umugwaneza scored 10 goals as Rwanda beat South Sudan 39-12 at this year’s U-20 handball Zone V Challenge Trophy and secured a place in the semifinals where they will meet hosts Uganda.

The women team lost to Kenya 20-16 in the first game, a defeat coach Anaclate Bagirishya says was an eye opener to them and are now ready to win the rest of the matches.

Bagirishya is optimistic of breaking the jinx of failing to bring any trophy back home in the three years Rwanda has participated in the regional tournament.

“We are tired of being the 2nd every time we participate,” he said, adding: “We should win it this time round.” Elsewhere, the boys’ team suffered a setback against Uganda 29-22 in the opening game but recovered to win 29-19 against Burundi. They take on Kenya in today’s semi-finals.

Read More

Tom Close releases new single

The 2011 Primus Guma Guma Superstar winner Thomas Muyombo best known as Tom Close, has released a new single dubbed Ihogoza, which is already enjoying airplay on local radio stations.

Ihogoza comes out shortly after Tom Close revealed that he had plans of launching two albums in December this year. “Ihogoza is about people who society underestimates because of old age yet they are still strong and capable of working,” said Producer/Manager Clement at Kina Music Label.

The RnB singer had announced his plans of a double album launch later this year. Some of the songs on 5th album include; Ndakubona, Igitabo and Mbabarira Ugaruke among others, while Ibintu Byarahindutse, Byararangiye and Ihogoza will be among the songs on the 6th album.

Read More

Queen Cha releases new video

A few days after promising her fans a strong musical comeback, local artiste Yvonne Mugemana, aka Queen Cha, has released a new video, Kizimyamoto, featuring Urban Boys’ Safi Madiba.

The new video, released on Monday, comes after Queen Cha had been off the music scene for months as she embarked on completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology.

“The wait is over. I have been at school trying to complete my studies and I am now done. I will be graduating on Thursday,” she said.

Queen Cha added that she is currently working on several projects and her fans should expect more songs from her. The singer started her music career in 2010 with the support of her cousin Safi Madiba before rapper Riderman signed her to his record company, Ibisumizi studio.

Although she started singing in 2010, it was her hit single Umwe Rukumbi in 2012 that cemented her place in the local music industry.

She later released songs such as Icyaha Ndacyemera, Njye Ndagukunda, Windekura and Isiri.

Read More

Rwandan films to feature at Swiss festival

Five Rwandan films will be featured at the 9th annual edition of Festival cinemas d’Afrique Lausanne that kicks off August 21 to 24 in Switzerland. The five films include The Rwandan Night, Rwanda, l’autrerevanche, Imbabazi, Ma vie en Rue and Blandine et Les Siens. In 2013, Cinemas d’Afrique Lausanne featured Rwanda: Beyond The Deadly Pit and Scars of My Days, the first of independent films from Rwanda with a personal approach.

From fiction to documentaries, the filmmakers from Rwanda and Switzerland inspire a deeper reflection on humanity and help to commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi, an event orchestrated to take the lives of more than one million people within one hundred days.

“These filmmakers are doing what is deemed impossible to portray in words and images. We have invited Swiss and Rwandan filmmakers to join us at the festival and speak to our audience,” says the Founder and Festival Co-director Alain Bottarelli.

The first film ever made by a Swiss about the Genocide is Emmanuelle de Riedmatten’s Blandine et Les Siens which was shot in 2004. The film follows Blandine, a Tutsi girl who was 12-year old during the Genocide as she travels back to Rwanda from Switzerland to reward a Hutu lady who saved her. Joel Karekezi’s short fiction film Imbabazi will also be featured at the festival. It is a moderate film that contributes to the dialogue of justice and reconciliation after the Genocide. Joel’s films have been shown in Rwanda and around the world. The screening of Imbabazi will follow Ella Liliane Mutuyimana’s award winning short Ma vie en Rue meditating on life about traditional and urban life.

Rwanda, l’autre Revanche is yet to be shown in Rwanda but the Swiss filmmaker Pierre-Alain Frey followed Michel and Eline Kocher-Mukantare as they travelled with their children through Rwanda to capture the country’s story of hope. It tells how the Swiss couple viewed the desire of the people of Rwanda for education and the difficulties in living together five years after the genocide. The Rwandan Night is a thought-provoking ethnographic documentary edited with from footage of commemorators at Amahoro stadium in Kigali and interviews with Genocide scholars in an attempt to define the word genocide at a conference in California. The film is the first sequel of Rwanda: Beyond the Deadly Pit filmed over the course of three years in Rwanda, United States of America and Switzerland.

Read More