The Lower House yesterday passed a new law governing ceremonies to commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi and Genocide memorial sites in which ownership and management of all the memorials were clearly put in the government’s hands.

The new law will replace law N°56/2008 of 10/09/2008 governing memorial sites and cemeteries of victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi, which wasn’t clear enough on who is responsible for taking care of Genocide memorials among different government and private institutions.

Now Genocide memorial sites have been classified under four categories, including national memorial sites that will be managed by the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), district memorial sites to be managed by district local governments, Genocide memorial sites erected in foreign countries whose management will be ensured by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and international memorial sites in case the sites are taken over by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as part of World Heritage Sites.

"It is now clear who is in charge of which memorial sites. Before this law people were wondering in whose responsibility managing memorial sites falls,” the Minister for Sports and Culture, Julienne Uwacu, said in an interview shortly after the law was approved yesterday.

The draft law

Passing of the draft law was postponed twice last month over lack of clarity on who would be responsible for taking care of Genocide memorial sites found on private property like on church grounds and other private institutions.

Article 11 of the proposed law had stipulated that Genocide memorial sites that are located in private institutions belong to such institutions, while those elsewhere are part of the state’s patrimony.

But it was corrected to state that all Genocide memorial sites are part of the state’s patrimony and subsequent articles now put the management of all the memorials in the hands of the government instead of leaving it to the private organisations like churches and other institutions.

Several legislators had disagreed with the idea of letting private institutions take full ownership of Genocide memorial sites or be the ones responsible for their management, fearing that the provision might give the institutions the leeway to do anything they want with the sites.

"We really want these memorial sites to be made public property instead of being put under private patrimony.

Why should we leave some memorial sites to be managed by independent organisations, while others are managed by the government?” MP Henriette Mukamurangwa Sebera had argued.

Under the law approved yesterday, most memorial sites will fall under the category of district, making them the responsibility of local governments catered for under district budgets.

The new law governing ceremonies to commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi and Genocide memorial sites now awaits the President’s assent before its publication in the official gazette.

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