KIGALI - Rwanda’s only  Kinyarwanda tri-weekly, Izuba Rirashe, on August 16 marked one year of existence. The paper is a sister publication of The New Times, Rwanda’s only daily.

Joseph Bideri, the Managing Director of The New Times Publications S.A.R.L– the parent company of both papers– revealed that there were plans to further increase the paper’s circulation all over the country and its online version for the international audience.

"This paper is successful so far because since its establishment it has been received better than we anticipated,” said Bideri.

"The success of this newspaper is attributed to the good readership it has enjoyed” said Kim Kamasa, Izuba Rirashe’s Editor, during an interview.

"The paper started as a bi-weekly published on Tuesdays and Fridays from August last year. However, on November 16 the same year is when a new issue for Sundays hit the streets,” explained Kamasa.

He revealed that Izuba Rirashe covers a wide variety of topics which include News, Justice, Business, Environment, Education, Health, sports and a lot more.

"The paper aims at enlightening the masses on new government policies and on how Rwandans can work hand in hand with the government and other partners for their benefit,” he added.

According to Kamasa, for anything to be successful, challenges must be encountered. He cited limited printers in the country and poor internet connection upcountry as some of the challenges for the production of the paper.

However he was optimistic that the current installation of fiber optics across the country will solve the internet problem and the new printery that the government will soon install will solve printing problems.

One thing he made clear to the public is that Izuba Rirashe is not a translation of The New Times newspaper but an independent issue with its own reporters and staff.

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