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Beauty pageant organiser arrested for sexually abusing contestants
The organiser of Miss Rwanda beauty pageant has been arrested on allegations of sexually abusing contestants, the authorities have said.
The arrest of Dieudonné Ishimwe, the chief executive of Rwanda Inspiration Back Up, the company that organises the contest, comes just a month after this year’s edition.
Mr Ishimwe has not responded to the accusations against him.
The Miss Rwanda pageant is one of the most followed events in Rwanda.
An employee of the organising company told the BBC that four girls who contested last year and in this year’s edition had made complaints to investigators before his arrest.
“While the case was still under investigation, he was arrested on Monday”, she told the BBC under a condition of anonymity.
A state investigator is quoted by local media as saying that Mr Ishimwe “is suspected of sexual abuse charges towards Miss Rwanda contestants on different occasions”.
Leading one to sex acts “by force, threats, trickery or by use of authority over that person” is punishable by up to 15 years in prison in Rwanda.
The spokesperson of Rwanda Inspiration Back Up, who is the winner of Miss Rwanda 2019, resigned last week.
Source: BBC
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
