Rwandans should strive for better welfare - Speaker

Rwandans should take advantage of the current good governance in the country to fight poverty and uplift their economic status, the Speaker of Parliament has said. Donatille Mukabalisa made the remarks, on Saturday, at the remembrance of over 350 women and children killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi at Bambiro Mountain in Kibilizi Sector, Nyanza District. Mukabalisa said Rwandans have endured unbearable bad past where some brothers and sisters turned monsters. “All those who died were killed by former friends-turned monsters, including in-laws, those with whom they shared milk, exchanged cows. This is the consequence of bad governance,” she said. However, the Speaker said Rwanda has made a breakthrough in good governance. “We are happy with the fact that the Genocide was stopped by Rwandans. We now have to strive for better living because we have a stable country. We have to pool together our efforts to achieve development. That’s the legacy we have to leave,” she said. She called on Rwandans to commit to the notion of never again. “Our country will never ever allow genocide to happen again. The forces that stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi are available,” Mukabalisa said. Gender and Family Promotion minister Oda Gasinzigwa lays a wreath on the graves in Kibilizi on Saturday. (Courtesy) Cruel killing at Bambiro The interahamwe militia first raped their victims at the Bambiro Mountain before killing them. The women victims had children who were killed ruthlessly with them, according to the Mayor of Nyanza, Abdallah Murenzi. “Killing a child and a woman was a taboo during wars but this happened during the genocide. This is indelible sign that the genocide occurred and it reinforces the fight against genocide negation and denial,” he said. Justine Teteri, a survivor, recounted the grisly murders in the area. “We were told to dig our own graves but some of us refused. Parents were killed with clubs, swords and dumped into pit-latrines,” she said. “My mother was hit with a club and dumped into a pit latrine like many others. There were many people such that the perpetrators got tired of killing.” She added that aside from the killings, several women were raped. “As they started to rape, I escaped and hid. Later, together with other children we met someone called Gumiriza who helped us reach the Rwanda Patriotic Army in Nyamiyaga, who saved us,” she recounted. The mother of two has completed university studies. Dr Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, the president of Ibuka, the umbrella association for Genocide survivors, called for love and tolerance so that such incidents never happen again.

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Rwandans should strive for better welfare - Speaker