President Paul Kagame highlighting drug abuse challenge among youth
President Paul Kagame has said that fight against drug abuse is very urgent than ever before because it has become a worrying concern not only in Rwanda but world over.
The president said that society talks about drugs in passing yet the problem is destroying the future
The president referred to his conversation with Michel Sidbé the president of UN AIDS on efforts that were put in fighting HIV/AIDS which have yielded results.
However, Kagame said, another much worrying issue has now developed – the drug problem “which we always talk about in passing are a very big concern worldwide.”
“When you send a child to school, you pray that he returns home safely but the issue is no longer among the children only.”
Kagame told the participants at the National Dialogue in Kigali on Tuesday, “We should have started making it a preoccupation but we are really lagging behind in this fight.”
The President said that “The demand is high and the supply even higher. The amount of money involved is in billions of dollars.”
He explained that what is most worrying is that some drugs have become economy of countries and the transaction chains have become complex and the kind of drugs multiple.
“It is not about smoking now, but others are now taking injections which they share with others.”
Last week, KT Press run a story about shisha smoking racket in which drugs like marijuana are being used instead of normal ingredients which in themselves are two hundred times toxic compared to normal cigarettes.
Rwanda has built rehabilitation center where youth drug addicts are restored. At Iwawa Island – Western province, thousands of the youths every year graduate to the center with vocational skills which integrate them in developmental agenda.
Iwawa is for the boys, but Rwanda is building a girls’ rehabilitation center at Gitagata, Bugesera district.
Kagame has once again asked the citizen and the leaders to graduate from the protocols of being redundant while speaking, adding unnecessarily titles to every other official to whom they want to address a question.
This has become a trend in national dialogue and other summits. Participants spend time in praising and end up saying nothing while given a floor to make a very important point that would change life of many.
“Shouldn’t we graduate from such culture? Those “your Excellency(s)” were spoken quite enough. We should be straight while speaking because the way we speak translates the way we deliver,” Kagame said.
“That value of serving the community means that we should as well listen to their concern as we also ask them to listen to us,” he said.
He said in serving the citizens, corruption is out of question.
“We should serve without aiming at our own interest mainly, without amassing wealth for ourselves but we should keep in mind that we represent the public interests,” he said.
During the Umushyikirano that concluded today, Kagame said beating women is out of question.
“In Rwandan culture, beating, without even a reason is not acceptable,” he said.
Kagame said the country has made good progress in giving a woman value, but they should aim even higher to respect that part of the Rwandan society which has always been carrying the burden of being beaten.
