NZEYIMANA Emery Fabrice

Tomorrow will see the world’s first commercial 4G mobile network here in Stockholm. In the beginning, it is expected that speeds will be around 50MBps and grow  to around 80MBps. TELIA is currently the only operator offering it ( http://www.telia.se/4g )

With 4G, users will be able to watch live HD videos using their mobile broadband.

In my view, less connected countries like those in Sub-Saharan Africa might gain by investing in 4G wireless networks instead of spending their limited resources on outdated wired networks that come with other challenges especially when trying to expand them.

By building 4th Generation networks, African countries would be able to combine services like TV, Phone and Internet and all this using an easy to deploy wireless system. Being a new technology makes it expensive but I sure am that, with time, it will become affordable.

Ubu noneho hari uburyo buhendutse bwo kwohereza ibigendajuru by’igerageza mu kirere (Satellites). Nizere ko abanyarwanda cyane cyane abiga muri KIST na UNR Butare batazacikanwa. Aha ndatekereza nk’abanyeshuri bashobora gufatanya barangiza amasomo ya BSc cyangwa MSc bakwohereza ikigendajuru.

Igiciro ngo ni US$ 8000 (harimo ikigendajuru ndetse no kucyohereza). Iki kigendajuru ngo kikaba gipima 13 cm (Santimetero 13) ndetse na 0.75 Kg (amagarama 750).
Iki kigendajuru kiri mu bwoko bwa LEO kikajya kuri 310 Km uvuye ku isi hanyuma ntabwo kimara igihe kirekire mu kirere kuko nyuma y’ibyumweru bike kigaruka kigashya kigakongoka kikimara kwinjira mu mwuka w’isi.

Ntekereza ko n’ibigo nka IRST bishobora guheraho byiga uko ibigendajuru byakoreshwa mu guteza u Rwanda imbere (Biramutse bibaye “made in Rwanda” ubanza atari njye gusa byatera akanyamuneza).

Inkuru irambuye iri kuri http://www.interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htm

After reading the 2007 ITU report on ICT Development Index, I simply realize how deep the coma of Sub-saharan Africa is. When are we going to wake up???

Nordic countries, as in many other great things, come first with Sweden taking the number-one-sit. Out of 154, Rwanda comes at an unacceptable place of 143 (falling back from 136 [year 2002] even though the index improved). It has taken the Ugandan sit which improved its rank by 3 positions. Maybe the new Ugandan Minister for Development will help improve the index even better (On a side note, when I heard the news about the Ugandan President’s wife becoming a Government Minister, I thought it was a joke but by re-checking the calendar, it was not yet April 1st).

This is not about Ranks. But these numbers should awaken people and remind us that there are other important things than Genocide and mass-killing each other.

Almost all the shameful ranks are occupied by Black-inhabited countries. Behind Rwanda comes such countries as Tanzania, Mali, DR Congo, Chad and Niger. There is probably something wrong with us and until we have unearthed it, we will continue to lag far behind.

I read a few days ago that the SEACOM fibre was landing on the shores of Kenya. Let me hope that it will not only increase bandwidth for the East African region, but also interest in the use of ICTs. But, I believe that without local content, the backbones will dry up quickly and the local population will never see the benefit of having invested so much money into it.

The New Times of Rwanda has a very interesting news article informing us that finally the methane gas from Lake Kivu has produced electricity. I say finally because the first time I heard about this gas was when I was still doing my primary school. At the time a teacher told us that it was a terrible gas that sucks in those who approach it and kill them making it even impossible to recover their bodies because nobody would venture to go down in the lake to bring them back.

Now, that gas is no longer a killer-only monster but has been a useful ingredient to the production of electricity: my congratulations to the team that made this dream come true. They made history.

Like the skinny kid with a funny name , I will say Yes We Can.

I hope the full scale production will not take as many years as it took since I heard about the existence of this gas. I am sure this might be a great export product.

Muri Suwedi hari umwongereza wakatiwe igifungo cy’imyaka 15 kubera ko yaryamanye n’abakobwa benshi kandi abizi ko arwaye SIDA. Muri abo bakobwa (bagera kuri 15), babiri nibo banduye iyo SIDA bayitewe n’uwo mwicanyi wamenye ko arwaye yanduye kuva mu 1992.

Mu mategeko ya Suwedi, ni icyaha gihanirwa n’amategeko kwanduza umuntu indwara ubizi kandi ubishaka.
Ku mugabane wa Afrika yazahajwe na SIDA, mbona ko byagira akamaro cyane gushyiraho ingamba zibuza abantu kwanduza abandi. Mu Rwanda ndabizi ko hari itegeko rihana uwanduje umwana ariko niba mbyibuka neza nta tegeko rihana uwanduje umukuru. Birababaje cyane kuba umuntu abizi ko arwaye indwara idafite umuti ariko akavuga ati singomba gupfa njyenyine reka nisasire n’abandi.

Si ubwa mbere muri Suwedi umuntu urwaye SIDA ahanirwa kwanduza (cyangwa kubigerageza)  kuko hari umugore umwaka ushize wahaniwe kuba yaramaranye imyaka myinshi n’umugabo we yaramuhishe ko yanduye SIDA ndetse bakanabyarana abana. Ariko ku bw’amahirwe uwo mugabo ngo ntiyigeze yandura.

This should be a lesson to all African leaders whose ideas are hardly known. We are in the digital age.

Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran has a blog that he (himself) updates. He uses 15 minutes every week on it (reading or posting). It is accessible at http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/
I remember some months ago when the Blog of the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (and former prime minister) caused controversy. This was mainly due to journalists who don’t know if the ideas on the Minister’s blog should be taken as views of his Ministry or not.
Also, the prosecutor launched an inquiry into whether the Minister breached the law when some hate comments passed several days on his blog. This was about Anti-Palestian comments posted by some visitors (readers) of the blog. Under Swedish law, such comments should be removed by the blog maintainer.

Let me hope that African leaders in general, and Rwanda, my country, in particular will in the near future set up blogs where they post regularly and let us “Baturage” post comments, suggestions and questions. That way, they will make sure that they have something interesting to blog about. And those who pass months without any post will have given a clear idea of how well they sleep at work.

RwandaTel, the Rwanda government owned telecoms company is to be sold again. This time, not to a “virtual” american company, but to LAP Green Network, a Libyan based (or rooted) company.

It’s true that I am not a big fan of selling strategic companies to non-rwandans, but I will congratulate LAP Green Network for this new expansion. I also hope that it will treat Rwandans as brothers and sisters and thus bring them more development and funds.

By the way, I have tried to locate websites that are owned by this company without success. I will continue and possibly post what I find here.

Another serious incident involving a Murokore pastor (EDIT: original link seems dead: try here). Religion has been used to oppress people for so long. Religion has been used to explain why the colonization of Africa was necessary. Religion has been used to advance the beauty of Apartheid. Religion has been used to enslave black africans and force them into a life that still has negative effects until today. And religion is still used to extort poor Africans. When will this end? Maybe not tomorrow, maybe never.

No wonder why there are so many pastors and fighting each other (even though they say or are said to use the same book in their preaching). No wonder why they are born everywhere everyday in the great lakes region. They get too much money.

News from Rwanda and Uganda alone are shocking. One day is a pastor who defiled young students who are to go to school in order to put the holy spirit in her body, another day is a pastor who uses electro-shocks to prove that he is in direct contact with the holy spirit, a new day comes with a pastor who impregnated a girl younger than his own daughters, another day is a pastor from South Africa trying to fool us by proving the innocence of the rapist pastor without even waiting for the trial to conclude … the list is long.

/2007/07/08/bakrindimwe-bavastu-mwakire-umwuka-wera/

Maze kumenya ko Rwandatel ubu iri gutegekwa n’umunyarwanda ukiri muto nashimishijwe n’icyo gikorwa. U Rwanda ruzazamurwa n’amaboko y’abana barwo.

Hari impamvu nyinshi zituma numva iki ari igikorwa cy’ingenzi:

• Ni umunyarwanda: ntabwo tugomba kujya duhora twisuzugura ngo nta mupfumu iwabo. Kubera iki se umuntu adashobora kuba umupfumu iwabo igihe abibashije?
• Ni muto: amaraso y’ubuto atuma umuntu ashakisha ibyinshi byagirira akamaro ibyo akoramo. Aba ashobora gukora ijoro n’amanywa adakorera cyane cyane “supelemanteri (mu kirundi)” ahubwo nawe ubwe ari kwiyubaka mu bumenyi bushya kuko ibya tekinoloji bihinduka buri munsi utabikurikiye byagusiga. Hari umugani witwa uw’Abidishyi mbona waranditswe mu rwego rwo gutesha agaciro abakiri bato werekana ko iyo abakiri bato bategetse byose bihita byangirika. Ariko njye nywushyira mu rwego rwa poropagande yo kwimira abakiri bato.
• Yigeze kwikorera (business owner): iyi ni ingingo y’ingenzi nayo kuko umuntu wigeze kwikorera n’iyo akoreye undi (n’iyo yaba Leta) akora nk’uwikorera agakora uko ashoboye kwose. Umuco wo kwikorera utuma umuntu adahora ategereje gushimwa gusa.

Icyo nakwifuza muri ibi byose ni uko n’ibindi bigo bya Leta byakwegurirwa abakiri bato maze tukareba niba batari bugire icyo barusha abagiye babitegeka kera wasangaga akenshi bari hafi kujya mu kiruhuko cy’iza-bukuru.

Hari umwarimu wigeze kunyigisha agakunda kuvuga ngo [code]Experience is somehow a very bad thing, because those who count only on experience are less innovative. They keep saying: we have been doing things this way and we have never had problems, why should we change?[/code]

Ibi simbivugiye kwemeza ko uburambe ku kazi bugomba gutuma ugakora yirukanwa, ahubwo ni uko nibwira ko biba ngombwa kugerageza ibintu bishya naho ubundi wasigara inyuma burundu. Aha rero ba njennyeri bakiri bato bagira akamaro maze bagakorana n’abo bafite uburambe bateza ibigo byabo imbere.

Iyi nkuru ivuye ku rubanza rwaciwe muri Amerika (USA) (Ikirego | Kwemera icyaha). Cyokora sindamenya uwo mukozi bavuga uwo ari we. Nizere ko abashinjacyaha b’i Kigali bari bugire icyo babitubwiraho mu minsi iri imbere.

Ibi bikurikira biri ku ipaji ya munani.

[code]
B. Bribes in Rwanda
25. At the direction of defendants Ott and Young, Amoako negotiated with an employee of Rwandatel in February 2002 to obtain a carrier agreement between ITXC and Rwandatel. With the full knowledge and approval of Ott and Young, Amoako promised to compensate the Rwandatel employee as an agent of ITXC if he would influence Rwandatel to agree to favorable terms for the exchange of telecommunications traffic with ITXC. The Rwandatel employee agreed and became ITXC's agent (hereinafter "the Rwandatel Agent").
26. On February 28,2002, Rwandatel and ITXC entered an agreement to exchange telecommunications traffic (hereinafter the "Rwandatel Carrier Agreement"), which the Rwandatel Agent signed as an employee of Rwandatel.
27. On July 2,2002, ITXC entered into a formal agent agreement with the Rwandatel Agent, which defendant Ott signed on behalf of ITXC. The agreement entitled the Rwandatel Agent to $0.01 for each minute of telephone traffic that ITXC was
able to complete to telephone subscribers in Rwanda (as well as in Burundi and Uganda where Rwandatel had the right to complete telephone calls) under the Rwandatel Carrier Agreement. Pursuant to the agent agreement, Ott and Young approved a payment to the Rwandatel Agent of $26,155.1 1 on September 1 1,2002. ITXC made this payment
through a wire transfer from its account at PNC Bank in New Jersey to the account of the Rwandatel Agent at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai.
28. Ott and Young caused ITXC improperly to record the foregoing payment to the Rwandatel Agent as a legitimate expense on ITXC's books and records.
29. At all relevant times, Ott and Young knew that the Rwandatel Agent was an employee of the foreign government-owned Rwandatel. The sole purpose of the payment was to influence the Rwandatel Agent, a foreign official, to steer the Rwandatel Carrier Agreement to ITXC and thereby enable it to obtain and retain business with Rwandatel.
30. There was no legitimate purpose for the payment. In fact, as a result of the agreement with the Rwandatel Agent, ITXC earned profits of $217,418 from selling telephone service to customers calling Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. ITXC could not have made such sales without having the Rwandatel Carrier Agreement that resulted from the bribes paid to the Rwandatel Agent.[/code]