Hon. Eng. Coletha U. Ruhamya is an Environmental Engineer, with a Graduate Diploma in Civil Engineering Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from University of The Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, South Africa and Post graduate Diploma in Environmental Management of Maastricht School of Management, The Netherlands.

Prior to her appointment as Minister of State in Charge of Energy and Water in December 2009, Minister Ruhamya occupied a variety of roles in addition to lecturing at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), including Acting Head of Department and Vice Dean in the Faculty of Engineering, where she was appointed The Director of Quality Assurance in 2008. Hon. Eng. Ruhamya has conducted a wide range of consultancies within and outside Rwanda including: the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and Global Water Partnership (GWP), in addition to her experience in Water Management in Dar-Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Minister Ruhamya’s previous career and qualifications span water and environmental management, environmental technologies (solid waste management; wastewater treatment, environmental impact assessments; appropriate sanitation technologies and water supply).

Advisory roles previously occupied by the Minister of State include:

• Vice-President Board of Directors- Human Resources and Institutional Capacity Development Agency (HIDA);
• Member, Steering committee, National Climate Change Committee (NCCC);
• Member, The implementation team for Adaptation and Vulnerability on Climate Change -UNEP in Northern Province (Rwanda) in charge of policy component;
• Member, Nile Integrated Water Resource Management network (Nile IWRM- net);
• Member, Nile Basin Capacity Building Network (NBCBN-RE)