Kigali City Council (KCC) last Friday visited Kigali Genocide Memorial centre where they remembered and paid tribute to former employees who were killed during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi.

The ceremony began with an afternoon march that started from KCC head offices to the memorial centre where remains of over 300,000 victims of the Genocide, mostly former residents of Kigali City are laid to rest.

Addressing over 3,000 mourners, Kigali Mayor, Aisa Kirabo Kakira, started by consoling those whose relatives were among the former employees of the City Council and are laid to rest at the centre, saying that this was the time to give them back the respect they lost as they were mercilessly butchered by the militias.

"We are here today to remember and give due respect to our fellow former workers of KCC who were killed during the genocide…but allow me to use this opportunity to pay tribute to all Rwandans who were massacred countrywide,” Kirabo said.

The President of KCC Advisory Council, Titien Muberangabo, who presided over the ceremony called upon residents and leaders in Kigali City to always be mindful of what happened during the genocide.

"It should be adopted as habit to every Rwandan not to forget the tragic history that our country went through before and during the 1994 Genocide because that is when we will ensure that this never happens again, now and in the generations to come,” Muberangabo said. 

He urged genocide survivors to have hope in life and told those present that extending any support to the vulnerable genocide survivors should be their responsibility and to always collaborate with several government authorities in the fight against trauma cases among genocide survivors.

Eugene Gashugi, the vice president of IBUKA, who spoke on behalf of the survivors encouraged Rwandans to fight against genocide ideology and its related crimes in order to avoid the reoccurrence of this tragedy.

He also hailed Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) for having stopped the genocide and for the unity, peace and unity it has rebuilt in the nation in the post-Genocide era.

Speaking to The New Times shortly after the event, Kirabo said that they so far have 6 names of former employees of KCC who were killed during the genocide.

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