Death of survivors: need for collective action

The recent reports of deaths of Genocide survivors and other incidents attributed to people still held in the chains of hatred should be condemned. Much as our National Police has been vigilant, spending sleepless nights to protect the people, incidents such as the recent double deaths of Genocide survivors in the Western Province is alarming. The two victims, both survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, were murdered within a space of less than one week, one in Nyamasheke and the other one in Rusizi. These saddening deaths coincided with the national mourning week that ended a few days ago, a reminder that some individuals, despite the tremendous social transformation the country has gone through, can simply not let go of the Genocide ideology that was indoctrinated into them for decades. There is still skeptism in some quarters as to whether both died as a result of the ideology, but we should not be detracted by these theories of whether they were killed because of what they are; the consensus here is, people died. This therefore calls for collective action not only by the National Police, who, according to available statistics, cannot keep watch on all the nine million Rwandans spread across the country at all the time, but by all Rwandans. Let us put to good use the available mechanisms like community policing, an effective weapon against crime in the country to further strengthen our security. Through this, the populace should strongly come into play by providing information to police on what is going on in their villages for rapid intervention to eradicate these cases completely. Local leaders should also pertinently play their role of not only closely keeping watch on what is going on in their respective jurisdiction, but also embark on civic education among their people to uproot once and for all the Genocide Ideology. Ends

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Death of survivors: need for collective action