Weekly Review

Sarkozy says genocide fugitives must be brought to book The peak of this week’s news came with the visit of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to the country, where he said that everyone who took part in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi should be hunted down and punished.He pointed out that France recently denied political asylum to one of them and that a judicial inquiry targeting others is currently ongoing. His visit also is seen as a milestone taken in the building of the previously sour relations between France and Rwanda. SSFR 6.3 bn on pensioners It was reported that the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) last year spent Rwf6.3bn on 31.000 pensioners, the institution’s Director for Contributions and Benefits Oswald Munyandekwe was reported to have said. Munyandekwe told The New Times in an exclusive interview Wednesday that an average Rfw 1.5 billion is spent on people who get quarterly cheques. Munyandekwe said that of this amount, 96 percent was spent on pensions while 4 percent was spent on occupational hazards. This year’s Kwita Izina ceremony has been set for June 5, the day Rwanda will be the global host of the World Environment Day (WED). The date for the ceremony that is held annually at the foot of Virunga Mountains was announced this week by Rwanda Development Board/ Tourism and Conservation (RDB/T&C) office. According to Annette Mbabazi Tamara, the RDB/T&C Communications Officer, this year’s Gorilla Naming ceremony (Kwita Izina) which will be the 6th edition, is being organized in collaboration with Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA). The former Director of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Defence of the genocidal regime, Lieutenant Colonel Ephrem Setako, was this week sentenced to 25 years for Genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The 55-year old had been accused of Genocide, complicity to genocide, crimes against humanity including murder and extermination. The court found him guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity (extermination) and serious violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II (murder). However, it acquitted him of other charges like complicity to commit genocide, murder as a crime against humanity and pillage as a war crime. The changing trends of the world’s economy have forced the government to rethink the way forward in the realizing the country’s 20-year plan, referred to as Vision 2020.Addressing the press at the Prime Minister’s office in the week, the Minister of Finance, John Rwangombwa revealed that the just concluded Leadership Retreat held in Rubavu, resolved that Vision 2020 be aligned with transforming Rwanda into a middle income economy. “We are half way into the implementation of vision 2020; we intend to do a comprehensive review of the progress made so far and the challenges ahead,” said Rwangombwa.“However, we realized that, with the current global economic growth, per capita income that was projected in the vision 2020 ten years ago will have to be revised,” he added. Kicukiro District authorities gave a one week ultimatum to close down a multi-storied building rented by government to house some departments of the Ministry of Health and the National Youth Council. According to Paul-Jules Ndamage, the district Mayor, the five-storied structure located in Kicukiro along the Rwandex-Sonatubes road is dilapidated and a threat to lives of the occupants. Ndamage pointed out that they have written several times telling the parties concerned of the issue but they neither responded nor renovated the building. Ends