Small business operators want better roads, markets

Aisha Ahobantegeye, a vendor in Biryongo Market, wants the budget to focus on programmes that will boost job-creation. Small business operators like her hope the budget will help create more markets for local productsThe New Times / Triphomus Muyagu

With the 2012/2013 financial year coming to end in less than two months, citizens are full of expectation for better times ahead; they are looking forward to programmes that will improve their lives. Triphomus Muyagu caught up with small business operators and now brings you their suggestions:

Margaret Mbabazi, a mushroom grower in Kayonza

The 2013/2014 budget should focus on improving feeder roads so that rural farmers can access markets, especially in Kigali. It should also ensure that we get fertilisers at subsidised prices to boost agriculture production and increase the base for agricultural exports.

Celestine Kayiranga, a crafts seller in Kimironko Market, Gasabo

This year has been good for me. I got a loan and started a business, thanks to the government programme that promotes access to financial services. I expect the 2013/2014 financial year budget to focus on the production sectors and create avenue for the youth to start enterprises to reduce poverty.

Norbert Ndemezo, a traders in Kimironko, Gasabo

I am expecting the 2013/2014 budget to focus on economic transformation, especially through availing more funding to the agricultural sector. Government programmes in 2013/2014 budget should be more practical.
 
Aisha Ahobantegeye vendors in Biryongo Market, Nyarugenge district

I hope this is the right time the government should do all we have been waiting for. We have complained about hawkers and having a limited market for our goods for long. The  government should address these concerns in the coming budget. It should also provide money for skills’ development, especially in financial management and bookkeeping for small-and-medium business operators. We hope the 2013/2014 budget will help expand markets for goods and open doors for more business people to invest in the country. We want the government to encourage more investors to set up small industries to produce household products locally and stop importing. This way, we will not be taxed highly.

Marie Janet Nabagwira, milk seller in Kimironko, Gasabo 

We are hoping the 2013/2014 budget will provide funds to train unemployed youth on how to start income-generating projects and manage loans, as well as open doors for more investment in the country and create jobs for Rwandans.

Jasphet Safari, carpenter at KORA

Co-operative in Nyarugenge District

The 2012/2013 budget helped us gain capacity, creativity and innovativeness. We were also able to access loans that have boosted our businesses. So, to cement this achievement, the next budget should invest in technical education to enhance hands-on skills, especially for the unemployed youth. It should also allocate money to expand markets for locally-made goods and services.

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‘New budget should focus on energy, skills devt’

Financial institutions want the forthcoming national budget focus more on rural electrification and programmes that will equip people with financial management skills.  

“The next national budget should put emphasis on financial capacity building in the banking sector by conducting more professional financial management trainings. This is because if money is not handled professionally, the result might be catastrophic to the whole economy,” Francis Mworozi, the chief accountant at the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), noted in an interview with Business Times. 

He added that the forthcoming budget must address the issue of investment loans. 

“Many times people can’t access loans because they have no collateral. The budget should focus on how to address this problem.” 

“It’s only when people can access loans easily that they can meaningfuly participate in economic development,” Mworozi said.

Peter Rwema, the director of research and development at the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Rwanda, said the 2013/2014 budget should allocate more funds to develop the energy sector. “As micro-finance, our area of operation is mainly rural and, therefore, to extend our financial services to the rural communities, the question of electricity has to be solved first. This will help improve our operations, especially through computerisation,” Rwema said.

He noted that if rural electrification is prioritised, people’s desire to start income-generating activities would multiply. 

“When people have electricity, they will automatically need financial services so that they can start up business. This is another area where micro-finance institutions would benefit from. These institutions use computers and other software that need electricity. Therefore, investing in the energy sector will make the difference.”

Newtimes.co.rwhttp://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/

 Jean Claude NTEZIMANA

Mushikiwabo to UN: Enhance civilian protection

Louise Mushikiwabo,Foreign Affairs minister

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to invest more energy in the prevention of conflicts for better protection of civilians living in conflict-torn areas.

Civilians in troubled Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, - where the M23 and other rebel groups have displaced thousands - are at serious risk today. Net Photo.

Louise Mushikiwabo made the call during an open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict which the UNSC held in New York on Tuesday.

“Rwanda’s core message today is that enhancing the protection of civilians in armed conflict requires action before a conflict starts. The proliferation of non-state armed groups makes civilian protection both more urgent, and harder to achieve,” she said.

For better protection of civilians in armed-conflict areas, the minister emphasised the need to increase investments in professionalising the military and police forces through adequate training.

“Only when the leadership of armed forces shares the international community’s preoccupation with civilian protection will decisive progress be made,” she said.

Rwanda assumed its seat at the UNSC as a non-permanent member in January, replacing South Africa.

The country was subsequently assigned to chair two vital subsidiary organs of the council which are the committee established to enforce sanctions of arms embargo, travel ban, and assets freeze imposed on Libya, as well as an ad hoc working group on prevention of conflicts in Africa.

Mushikiwabo said civilians in troubled Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are at serious risk today and warned the Security Council that it might face new situations of armed conflict in the months and years ahead.

But she pledged Rwanda’s support in peacekeeping efforts in the world, a task she said should be neither costly nor controversial if it were approached with a sense of preventing conflicts before
they happen instead of resorting to last-minute military solutions.

“In line with the lessons we learned rebuilding Rwanda after Genocide, we do not approach peacekeeping as an exclusively military task. We believe that early peace building is critical to the success of these missions, and that adequate resources should be directed to complement uniformed personnel as they fulfill their mandate to protect civilians,” she said.

At the UNSC’s debate on the protection of civilians, Mushikiwabo highlighted some of the cost-effective practices being pioneered by Rwandans, including the introduction of made-in-Rwanda energy-efficient stoves to help the people living in Darfur, Sudan, reduce the risk of brutal attacks and rape that often threaten them when they go deeper in the forests looking for firewood.

Rwanda has also recognised the potential of investing in training female peacekeepers, the minister said, because they are often better able to intervene in specific situations such as fighting gender-based violence and raise awareness to protect  women and children in communities where they serve.

Rwanda, the world’s sixth largest contributor of peacekeepers, maintains military and police peacekeepers across the world, notably, in Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The country has more than 3,200 soldiers in Darfur serving under the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (Unamid), and over 850 troops in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss).

Also a leading contributor of female police officers to UN peacekeeping missions, Rwanda maintains about 470 police peacekeepers, including 130 women, in different missions.
The newtimes.co.rw


Jean Claude NTEZIMANA

Goma: Umubyeyi yabyaye abana barindwi

Umubyeyi wabyaye abana barindwi icyarimwe.

 

Umujyi wa Goma muri Kongo watangiranye umwaka wa 2013 inkuru idasanzwe y’umubyeyi wabyaye abana barindwi icyarimwe nkuko tubikesha Kigalitoday.com

Abana bavutse taliki 01/01/2013 mu bitaro bikuru by’intara ya Kivu y’Amajyaruguru (Hopital General de Goma). Abakobwa babiri n’abahungu batanu bakaba bavutse bafite amagarama ari hagati ya 400 na 600.
Bamwe mu batuye umujyi wa Goma bavuga ko bigoye guha amahirwe kubaho kw’aba bana kuko kubaho k’umwana ufite amagarama 600 bigoye.

Abana barindwi babyawe n’umubyeyi umwe icyarimwe.

Bamwe mu bashoboye kubona abo bana bavuga ko nyuma yo kuvuka bashobora kuba bitabye Imana nubwo nta makuru avuye mu buyobozi bw’ibitaro arabyemeza.
Umubyeyi wabyaye abana barindwi yari amaze imyaka ine yubatse urugo uru rubyaro rukaba rwari urwa mbere.
Jean Claude NTEZIMANA