I would like to write to you with much concern about an article entitled “NBDF Dead In the Water?” by your Journalist Sam Ruburika in The Rwanda Focus issue No. 76 of March 23 – 29.

This article is totally misleading and misquotes Frank Habineza the coordinator of the Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda.

First of all let’s be clear on one thing: the Nile Basin Discourse Forum (NBDF) is not dead and will never be dead in the Water!

NBDF’s main mission is to bring concerned civil society organizations to a level of fully playing their role in the Nile Basin development designed by the Nile Basin Initiative through competence development, capacity building, setting up networks and solid links on all the levels of Civil Society and the Government.

This has been done and more advocacy is being done through meetings, workshops, trainings, et cetera and most of the activities ensuring achieving this mission have been covered  in your previous issues.

NBDF Rwanda has over thirty (30) member organizations in the water sector, environmental protection and conservation, sustainable community development, unity, etc. All the thirty member organizations have and continue to benefit from our mission and objectives. The achievements and benefits are evidenced by publications such your newspaper, our monthly newsletters, training reports, research studies’ publication, an achievements report for period 2006 to 2008, of which your office has received copies and the same has been covered by the national television, national radio, and many other radio stations and newspapers.

NBDF, is not charged with activities such as tree planting and so on, its main duty is advocacy and capacity building. It’s the member NGOs that are charged with implementing activities on the ground, so as you can see your journalist was misinformed in some of his assertions.

NBDF IS NOT DEAD and IT WILL NEVER BE DEAD as long as the River Nile exists.

You have also published other articles, which we have highly appreciated and can also serve as good evidence of what we do; we also take on this opportunity to thank you for all the good work you have done as part of the media in Rwanda.

Frank Habineza,

National Coordinator,

Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda

Related article:

•    NBDF: dead in the water?