Editor, RE: “The night-time economy: can we talk about Kigali’s nightlife?” (The New Times, March 10). How delightful to read this article; sublime. You have touched, with class I must add, an area that most Rwandans would rather not talk about, even when all other efforts suggest that we know that we have a major problem on our hands. For example, when you look at how most of us raise our kids, most of us often tell them how nightclubs are places of evil, and that if you are seen in a bar drinking and hanging out with friends, you are a gone-case. No one will take you serious; no one will employ you, blah blah blah... However, we ignore the fact that these same places are places of entertainment, places of work, and they bring in both pleasure and revenue. And like daylight activities, nightlife activities may be subject to abuse (the few bad apples). In my opinion, we are a society that tends to judge from afar without necessarily understanding the whole picture; our leaders won’t step in a public place to have a good time, parents teach their kids that clubs are wrong, which is why when they grow up they keep that mentality and keep away from enjoying life. I know many young people, working professionals who go to other East African cities to have a good time, somewhere they won’t be judged because they were seen on the dance floor. We urgently need to address this matter of negative perceptions and understand the value of entertainment activities. Agnes Mbabazi
