Rwandans should embrace the reading culture

Editor,This is a great piece indeed. The reading culture is extremely poor in Rwanda. This ultimately leads to few or no major book publications. The latter is a precursor to the former, which is obvious.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The reading culture will hopefully be transformed. The New Times / John Mbanda.

Editor,This is a great piece indeed. The reading culture is extremely poor in Rwanda. This ultimately leads to few or no major book publications. The latter is a precursor to the former, which is obvious.Truth of the matter is that the past has dictated our present. We have a big percentage of our population who are either illiterate or semi-illiterate. But don’t count on the few who are literate. Even those flip roam the daily publications like "The New Times” and "Imvaho Nshya” searching for tenders and petty jobs.Some of us would think you are speaking Greek if you mentioned Ngugi wa Thiongo, Chinua Achebe or George Orwel. Others would not dare to listen at all. But hopefully we shall one day transform our society. The onus is on us to change the mentalities of our beloved Rwandans.James Munanura, Makerere University, Kampala, UgandaReaction to Stephen Mugisha’s commentary, "What if Rwanda’s indigenous publishing grew…?”, (The New Times, May 21)