Kenya’s capacity building wide open for Rwandan staff

A Kenyan delegation which was in the country recently to attend the seventh Kenya and Rwanda Joint Permanent Commission, called for more capacity building in Rwanda’s institutions as way of facilitating the bilateral ties.

The delegation which was led by Thuita Mwangi, permanent secretary of the Kenyan ministry of foreign affairs, emphasized that the training would boost performance in activities related to foreign affairs, security, governance, economy and social affairs.

In this respect, four Rwandan candidates are to be equipped with skills in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy at the Nairobi University, institute of diplomacy and international studies.

With regards to security, members reviewed the current memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the cooperation of the two countries in military training. The review will now see an increase in Rwandan military officers attending courses in Kenya, some of them related to international peace support.

What is more, the training would enhance the ongoing information sharing on matters related to peace-keeping operations among the East African Standby Force (EASF) of which Rwanda is a member. Another advantage of sharing information is that the two armies will be in a position to exchange some of the best practices. For instance Kenya is willing to emulate Rwanda’s experience in the establishment and management of a military/police cooperative banks (ZIGAMA CSS).

What is more, Kenya is also keen to borrow some of the country’s practices in community policing in which Rwanda has been performing well with the use of ICT.

In order to strengthen the judiciary, the Kenya school of law is willing to have another intake of law practicing students to study on several legal based courses. This will promote judicial coordination among, for instance in settling some of the commercial disputes which are result of increased cross-border business, and whereby the attorney-generals and ministries of justice from both countries are supposed to meet and agree on how they would tackle the rising commercial disputes in the region.

Furthermore, a good strong judicial partnership would enhance the transfer of Rwanda’s sentenced prisoners once the Kenyan cabinet approves a law to facilitate the process.

Rwanda also emphasized the need to strengthen immigration services especially at the border, through exchange of technology and expertise in travel document production, border management as well as passenger clearing.

On the part of economic affairs, there was the renewal of an MoU between Kenya’s Export Promotion Council and the Rwanda Development Board in January this year.

Among the key activities to be embarked on would be strengthening the capacity of employees in both countries as well as sharing equipment of standardization, with an aim of implementing EAC Standard Harmonization Program which seeks to promote quality of goods in the region.

Meanwhile, Rwanda’s fishermen have not been left out in the exchange training process given that the Sagana aqua centre in Kenya has offered four scholarships in aquaculture (fish farming).

Promotion of tourism is key, and Kenya is willing to boost its existing support towards grading and classification of hotel facilities in Rwanda. Moreover, Kenya has reported that it is considering Rwanda’s request for its students to pay scholarship fees at local rates in Utalii College, a prominent tourism school in Nairobi. The college is also planning to set up an outreach program in Kigali as a way of enhancing service delivery in the hospitality industry.

Posted by The Rwanda Focus on Apr 21 2010. Filed under National. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.