The Minister for Local Government, Francis Kaboneka, has said that the youth have a very big responsibility of building a country that is not only developed but also one that is free from genocide ideology for sustainability. Kaboneka was addressing hundreds of students from Nu Vision High School who, on Sunday, concluded weeklong activities to mark the 24 commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. He talked about the country’s history and how the nation was greatly divided through a deliberate plan that was implemented over decades, adding that this is why it was deep to an extent it led to the Genocide at the magnitude it did. The event to wind up the commemoration week was characterised by public lecturers delivered by, among others, Naphtal Ahishakiye, the Executive Secretary of Genocide survivors’ umbrella body, Ibuka. “Following the Genocide against the Tutsi, the Government of national unity embraced consensual political dispensation which is aimed at building a cohesive society so we do not go back to the dark days,” he said. Among the activities that characterised the week was a tour at Ntarama Genocide Memorial in Bugesera District, where the students were told how the thousands of victims were killed at the former Catholic Church. The public lectures delivered by different speakers sought to answer two questions; how have Rwandans engaged in various forms of memory after genocide? And how have these processes been meaningful? editorial@newtimes.co.rw
