Preps for RPF’s Silver Jubilee in high gearTHE vice chairman of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) has said that preparations for the party’s 25th anniversary are on track. Christophe Bazivamo made the remarks early this week at a news briefing at the ruling party’s secretariat in Kimihurura. The main celebrations are slated for December 15 at Amahoro National Stadium and will be presided over by the party chairman, President Paul Kagame.

Bazivamo emphasized that the anniversary will not be limited to festivities but will also be a moment for party members to reflect on the country’s future. Established in 1987, the party has succeeded in implementing an all-inclusive doctrine and has largely been shaped by a struggle of building the unity of Rwandans, restoring democratic values and putting the country on a path of social economic transformation, said Bazivamo, also a member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

According to Bazivamo, every RPF member has an obligation to make Rwanda a better place. RPF was established out of a desire to satisfy collective interests that are shared by the citizens, he added. Its birth came as a call to end injustices and, according to the vice chairperson, of the party, since its establishment, RPF has ensured that all its operations are within the confines of the law. New electoral commissioners sworn in Seven new members of the National Electoral Commission were on Wednesday sworn in by the Supreme Court. The commissioners who include Kalisa Mbanda, the president of the commission; Marie Odette Kansanga Ndahiro, the vice president; Suedi Ntibirindwa, Venuste Ruhigana, Pélagie Uwera, Fatina Mukarubibi and Espérance Mukamana, took the oath before Chief Justice Prof. Sam Rugege. Prof. Rugege urged the new commissioners to further strengthen the principal of democracy, good governance and also render better services to Rwandans. The new commissioners have a three-year mandate which is renewable once. The handover ceremony of the outgoing commission is slated for Thursday. Rwandans in Arusha raise US $65,000 for AgaciroThe Rwandan Community living and working in Arusha, Tanzania, contributed US$65,000 to Agaciro Development Fund (AgDF). Arusha, home to many Rwandans working for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the East African Community (EAC) becomes the second town in Tanzania after Dar -es- Salaam to launch the fundraiser.

Presiding over the ceremony, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ben Rugangazi, said that Rwanda’s foreign policy highly recognizes the role Rwandans living outside their country can play in national development. He reminded the audience that the idea of the fund was mooted during last year’s national dialogue to help speed up the country’s development efforts.Johnstone Busingye, the Principal Judge at the East African Court of Justice, underscored the value of dignity, adding that relying on foreign assistance cannot build self reliance. Rwanda’s Defence Liaison Officer to the EAC, Brig Gen Alloys Muganga, and the Chairperson of the Rwandan community in Arusha, Desire Rusatira, were among other high profile officials at the event.ICTR transfers another case to RwandaThe Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals has referred the case file of Pheneas Munyarugarama to Rwandan courts. According to the indictment, Munyarugarama was the commander of Gako Military Camp and the highest ranking military officer in Bugesera region, formerly Kigali-Rural prefecture.

He was charged before the ICTR with genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, as well as extermination, murder, persecution, and rape as crimes against humanity. Munyarugarama remains at large.The tribunal’s referral chamber had in June ordered that Munyarugarama’s case be transferred to Rwanda but the Duty Counsel filed a notice of appeal which the prosecution challenged and the Appeal Chamber upheld a prior decision. Other case files that have been transferred to Rwanda by the same court include that of Aloys Ndimbati who is alleged to have played a key role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.Tourism, exports top 2012The tourism and export sectors have registered strong performance in this year’s private sector performance index with optimism that the country is on track to achieve the middle income status by 2020.Tourism receipts jumped to US$252 million this year, up from US$227 million last year.

This is well above this year’s projected revenue receipts of US$ 244 million. Exports fetched US$429 million this year, up from US$305 million. According to the report, the country also registered progress in investor perception index,   growing to 74.4 per cent, compared to last year’s 72.2 per cent whilst percentages of investment to Growth Domestic Product (GDP) rose to 25 per cent, up from 22 per cent. Experts are optimistic that with the economy still dynamic and growing, the performance indicators are bound to create a positive growth outlook for the country.ICTR reduces Gatete’s sentence to 40 yearsThe International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda cut the sentence of Jean Baptiste Gatete – popularly known as the Butcher of Murambi – to 40 years. Gatete had been sentenced to life in prison. A former director in the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs, Gatete was notorious in the former Murambi Commune, now in Eastern Province, where he served as Bourgmestre (Mayor) many years prior to the genocide.

The Appeals Chamber set aside the sentence of life imprisonment earlier imposed on Jean-Baptiste Gatete and imposed a 40-year imprisonment sentence, subject to credit being given under rules for the period he has already spent in detention since his arrest on September 11, 2002. A statement from the ICTR read in part: "The Appeals Chamber reduced Gatete’s sentence to 40 years of imprisonment as a remedy for the violation of his right to be tried without undue delay.” An agronomist by training, Gatete, 59, was arrested on September 11, 2002, in Congo-Brazzaville, but his trial started on October 20, 2009.Non-citizens to get electronic IDsNon-citizens will soon be issued with electronic resident identification cards that will enable them to move freely within the country without having to carry their respective national passports.Registration will begin next week and, according to Ange Sebutege, the communication officer at the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration, the electronic cards will replace the paper "green cards” that foreigners have been using. This card will give the holder the right to access some of the services offered to nationals such as the right to obtain a driving license. New envoys present credentialsThree new ambassadors accredited to Rwanda have pledged unwavering support to the country’s development process. The envoys are Peter Fahrenhotz (Germany), Leoni Cuelenaere (the Netherlands) and Archbishop Luciano Russo, the new Papal Nuncio to Rwanda. Speaking to journalists shortly after presenting his credentials to President Paul Kagame, Ambassador Fahrenhotz said he would encourage German businessmen to invest in Rwanda. The new Dutch Ambassador, Leoni Cuelenaere, said her mandate was to ensure that relations between the two countries were genuine for bilateral mutual interests to thrive.