Members of the senate and other national leaders will Friday honour their deceased colleague, Senator Thérèse Bishagara Kagoyire who passed away early last week from the United States. According to Senate vice president Jeanne d’Arc Gakuba, Kagoyire’s body will lay in state in the Senate plenary hall on Friday, starting at 11.a.m during which she will be recognised for her role in the service of the country. The burial programme, which The New Times has seen indicates that it will start with picking of the body from King Faisal Hospital where it has been since its repatriated from the US on Tuesday. From the hospital, they will head to the senate where she will lay in state for about two hours before being taken for a requiem mass at Regina Pacis Catholic Church in Remera, according to the programme. At the senate, Kagoyire is expected to be eulogized by among others senate president Bernard Makuza, the Secretary General of RPF Inkotanyi, to which the deceased was a senior cadre, and Judith Uwizeye, the Minister in the Office of the President. From church, the procession will head to Rusororo cemetery in Gasabo district which will be her final resting place. On Monday July 8, 2019, Kagoyire,67, died at Johns Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland in the United States where she had gone to seek treatment for reported liver complication, The body arrived in Rwanda tuesday,7:40p.m at Kigali International Airport. People who worked closely with the late Senator Thérèse Bishagara Kagoyire – be it in public service, in academia or in civil society – have described her death as a great loss not just for her family, but also for the entire nation. Her death was announced Monday evening by Senate President Bernard Makuza. Kagoyire spent the best part of her carrier as an educationist, having been a rector for long time, of Kigali Health Institute, which later became part of the University of Rwanda. She is also the founder member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Rwanda Chapter, a non-profit membership organisation that brings together people interested in promoting female education in Rwanda.
