Grammy Award-winning Jamaican reggae band Morgan Heritage has expressed their interest in becoming Rwandan citizens.
The trio of Peter "Peetah" Morgan, Roy ‘Gramps’ Morgan and Memmalatel ‘Mr Mojo’ Morgan, have been to many countries doing music tours across the globe, but Rwanda remains their favorite destination ever since they last performed in the country in 2017.
They are now looking to make a formal request to become citizens of Rwanda and a Kinyarwanda tweet they posted on Sunday, May 30, summed it all.
"Rwanda, muraho? Mureke tube abanyarwanda,” reads a tweet by the Morgan brothers posted to mean "Hello Rwanda, please let us become Rwanda citizens!”
Their request was welcomed by a number of followers, especially their music supporters from Rwanda.
"This is so beautiful!!! You are welcome to Rwanda,” quoted Bruce Twagira, a Kigali-based event planner.
"To be Rwandan does not cost anything, you just feel it only. Even if you're not born here in Rwanda as long as you feel it, yes, you are. You are welcome,” another Twitter user identified as Didierdidox0 commented on the post.
Not their first time
Some might think that the trio expressed their interest in getting Rwandan citizenship as a joke but the truth is that they have been interested in becoming Rwanda citizens since 2017 and are ready to settle in the country once given a chance, according to music entrepreneur Lee Ndayisaba, who is seen tagged in the Twitter post.
When Morgan Heritage came to Rwanda for the first time, it was Ndayisaba who invited them for a performance at the 2017 Fiesta Music Festival. They were the main headliners of the festival alongside Tanzanian Musicians Diamond Platnumz and Vanessa Mdee.
Ndayisaba, who is also currently Bruce Melodie’s manager, and the Morgans have been friends for over a decade and they couldn’t hesitate to bless his invitation when he invited them to perform in Kigali.
After the concert, they travelled to different parts of the country to explore its beauty from the gorillas to other tourism attractions that Rwanda has in its ranks.
Since then, they have been asking Ndayisaba much about Rwanda and what it takes to become a citizen of Rwanda and when they posted a tweet last weekend, he wasn’t surprised.
"I am not surprised because I have been with them for a long time, and I know they have always wanted to become citizens of Rwanda. They have been saying the same thing for the last three years. You might have seen it via their tweet, but they have been saying this for the past three years,” Ndayisaba told The New Times on Sunday, May 30.
"They have been here before, they know the country and they have been asking for this so often,” he added.
Morgan Heritage showed their intention of becoming Rwandan citizens a few days after Nigerian comedian Basketmouth recommended the global community to come to Rwanda country and not just for a visit but for a lengthy stay.
"I want you guys to visit Rwanda. Not once, not twice,… come here and live, we will give you papers. Right?” said the comedian, who was among a host of celebrities, including musicians and current and former NBA stars, who came to Rwanda for the just-concluded Basketball Africa League (BAL).