Kwibuka27: A sense of responsibility for Rwandan youth

In Rwanda, the youth have always been referred to and treated as the future leaders of our country. They are the foundation on which the country’s development lays its sustainability.

Nonetheless, there is a lot the youth can and have to do to raise up to this occasion. They cannot just look at themselves as recipients. They are key participants in national programmes.

The period of commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi is a great opportunity to prompt this sense of duty and responsibility  among Rwandan youth, by striving to learn from what happened in 1994 so that they can work to preserve this sad chapter of our history to ensure it does not ever happen again.

In Rwanda, post-independence history has been so unforgiving to the reputation of the youth in the society. They were exploited and used in all sorts of immoral acts during the first and second Republics. They were used in executing the killings of the Tutsi, looting and in propagating animosity against the Tutsi.

For long, Rwandan youth were used to serve the interests of genocidal regimes. In 1994, the youth set the most awful record of all times when they were mobilized to kill more than a million people in just 100 days during the Genocide against the Tutsi. 

The Interahamwe militia group, the killing machine of the Genocide, largely comprised the youth who were mobilized, trained and instigated to kill the Tutsi. This was a result of an extensive campaign - done in schools and in communities - by successive regimes of indoctrinating the youth on fabricated pieces of history meant to cultivate in them an inherent hate of the Tutsi.

Fast-forward to post Genocide Rwanda, the country's new leadership was faced with a big puzzle it had to unlock. However, there was one striking element. For the healing process to kick-off, and for the much-desired transformation to take place, there was an urgent need for mind-set change. 

Succeeding against all odds

Twenty seven years later, Rwandans have succeeded not only to get back on the right track, but have recorded phenomenal achievements that were a wild dream a few years earlier. This is an indication that nothing is impossible when there is a resolve of succeeding against all odds.

Development is taking place in all aspects. Citizens have been put at the centre of all considerations by the leadership. Rwandans have been united and reconciliation between the perpetrators and the victims of the Genocide has been embraced. In 2019, in the Rwanda Governance Scorecard, the indicator on reconciliation, social cohesion and unity was measured and scored 93.99%. The 2020 reconciliation barometer indicates that the score on people’s ownership of reconciliation rose to 98.6%.

The aspirations to an even greater Rwanda are even more alive than never before and the hope for a brighter future for all Rwandans is certain. 

The treacherous leaning  

As Rwandans embark on the journey of rebuilding the nation, over the years we continue to observe a number of opportunistic people who actively engage in distorting historical facts of the genocide. This toxicity is propagated through activities of negation and revision of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Majority of the promoters are actually people who have participated in the genocide as planners and executers.  They are backed by their long term allies from academia, politics and the media from foreign countries. 

Whereas one can rely on the belief that they distort facts to protect themselves from being prosecuted by misleading public opinion on what really happened, the least they would do is ensure their children are on the right side of history. Regrettably, the opposite is happening. Many have dragged their children along, some of whom are now emerging as the most virulent genocide ideologues.

The lost sheep?

Some of these young adults have gone to schools in western countries and have assumed the driving seat at the control centre of the negationism and revisionism of the Genocide against the Tutsi. The one lost sheep is the youth who remain committed to carrying the “Machete d’Or” given to them by their irresponsible parents. 

They have grouped themselves in different associations such as Jambo asbl and are often organizing ill-intentioned campaigns aimed at misleading the world on facts about the Genocide against the Tutsi. An example of such lost sheep include Natacha Abingeneye, daughter of Juvenal Uwiringiyimana, a former minister of trade and former key ally of President Juvenal Habyarimana.

Another is Placide Kayumba, son of Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, the Sous Prefet (Deputy Governor) of Gisagara, in southern Rwanda during the Genocide. Ntawukuriryayo was the leader of the killing operations on Kabuye hill where more than 30,000 Tutsi were massacred.

Then there is Ruhumuliza Mbonyumutwa, son of Shingiro Mbonyumutwa and grandson of Dominique Mbonyumutwa - the first President of post-independence Rwanda in 1961 and one of the founding fathers of the Parmehutu ideology that is responsible for sowing seeds of discord that yielded the Genocide against the Tutsi. Ruhumuliza’s father, Shingiro, served as the Director of Cabinet of Prime Minister Jean Kambanda during the Genocide.

Liliane Bahufite, is the daughter of Col. Juvenal Bahufite, the spokesperson of the army and the Interahamwe militia when the defeated genocidal government forces fled to Zaire. He was based in Bukavu, South Kivu region. These are just a few.

Their main propaganda strategy is to use social media to facilitate the fast spread of their falsehoods. They also organize seminars and radio talk-shows in total breach of all scientific, academic and media etiquettes. Unchecked by their host countries, they have managed to mislead a number of other Rwandans and foreigners.

Commemorating the Genocide against the Tutsi is respecting the memories of our loved ones who died in the genocide. It is time to re-commit that such a tragedy never happens again in our country. As the youth, we should all line up our efforts to preserve our history, borrow all the lessons from what took place and be united for the rebuilding process of our country.

Most importantly, we should challenge these genocide revisionists on the falsehoods they are propagating by projecting the proven facts. The Rwandan leadership has done a lot to ensure we have the infrastructure that enables us to stay connected with anyone in any part of the world. Let us use it productively.

Finally, as we commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi for the 27^th time, I appeal to Rwandan youth to focus on playing their expected role in national development. If each one of us can make a difference. Together, as youth, we can make the good changes that the country needs us to make.