Residents of Busasamana Sector in Nyanza District are up in arms with authorities of the Independent Institute of Lay Adventists in Kigali (INILAK) over exhumation of remains of Genocide victims from the land where the institute intends to establish its campus in the Southern Province
UNILAK is being criticized by the area residents for disrespecting and inflicting more pain on Genocide survivors by the way the university handled the remains of their relatives after they were exhumed from the plot of land acquired by the university and left in plastic sheeting.  

According to the several residents, the bodies have laid in the sheeting for over two weeks. 

Speaking to The New Times on Tuesday, one of the residents, Anastasia Mukakarisa, a 45-year old Genocide survivor, said she was shocked to learn that her two late elder brothers who were killed in the 1994 Genocide had been exhumed without her knowledge. 

"We buried our brothers in a respectful manner in 1995, but it was shocking to hear that they were exhumed a few weeks ago and their limbs were just thrown on the plastic sheeting,” Mukakarisa said while in agony.

She added that when she contacted the University Rector, Dr. Jean Ngamije, to talk about the matter; she was only referred to the district officials.

"When I saw the Rector, he said that I should not disturb him over the remains, that the university was not responsible for the reburial of the bodies referring me to district authorities,” said Mukakarisa.

Contacted for a comment, Nyanza District Mayor, Abdullah Murenzi, said; "when the university bought the land from the residents, they didn’t say that there was bodies buried there, until the construction began which is when we realized that people were buried there.”

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