Former Minister and Senator, Prof Laurent Nkusi passed away on Monday, May 18 at King Faisal Hospital.

The sad news about his death was confirmed by one of his family members who was attending to him at the time.

"It is true he died. Like at 2 am in the morning” a grief-stricken family member confirmed to this paper.

Born March 20, 1950, Prof Laurent Nkusi served in different government positions.

Nkusi served as literature and language lecturer at the University of Rwanda for 24 years between the years of 1976 and 2000, before he was appointed as the Minister of Land and Environment for three years.

Nkusi was later appointed as the Information Minister before he served as the vice-rector in charge of academics at the Institute of Agriculture, Technology, and Education of Kibungo (INATEK).

Thereafter Nkusi was elected to the senate and completed his term last year.

He attended his primary school education in Huye district and High school in Nyanza after which he enrolled at the University of Rwanda, where he studied literature.

He leaves a widow and five children.

To his students, Nkusi had established himself as a lecturer who was committed to doing everything possible to follow up on the problems affecting quality education at higher institutions of learning.

"I cannot forget his fight for the school of journalism and mass communication to exist” one of his students, Flavia Salafina, an Information, Education and Communication specialist at the Ministry of Education said.

To me, she added "He is the foundation of existence for professional journalism and communication in Rwanda,” pointing out "He acted as a parent, counsellor, and a lecturer………RIP our director”.