Charles Omondi got it wrong

Editor,Daily Nation reporter Charles Omondi, in his recent piece on Rwanda and Burundi, referred to Burundi’s first independence prime minister as Louis Gwagasora. This is not true because the correct name is Prince Louis Rwagasore. Perhaps the name skipped his mind, or else a tour around Bujumbura would give him the real spelling. Notable among such places is the late leader’s mausoleum on Kiriri Hill, to the east of the city, below Kiriri Campus, that used to be part of the Universite du Burundi, but has since reverted to its rightful owners, the Jesuits. That Rwagasore is ‘unknown’ in East Africa speaks volumes about Africans and our history: we will correctly quote and recite ‘Bismark, de Gaulle, Hitler and others yet we are oblivious of our own heroes. I have listened to Prince Rwagasore’s voice on the BBC, addressing his compatriots soon after his election, and from the little I have read and heard about him and DRC’s Patrice Lumumba, the two nationalists couldn’t have survived the politics of the day in the region. Would our region’s geo-politics have been any different had the two men lived? This is the enigmatic question that Charles Onyango-Obbo posed after Dr John Garang’s death.Matsiko KahungaPeers Consult Kampala

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Charles Omondi got it wrong