President Paul Kagame says that he hopes to document the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) Liberation struggle in a book and other forms and promised to do justice to the story, 26 years on.
It is not yet clear when he will do it but the Head of State who commanded the struggle following the death of Maj. Gen Fred Gisa Rwigema till they toppled Interim Prime Minister Jean Kambanda’s government and stopped the genocide against Tutsi on July 4 promised to do his part to document the struggle.
“Every year of the last 26, this day 4 July, many people & I am no exception take stock in equal measure of the unimaginable losses & gains & progress (made so far) by our country owing to the sacrifices by the gallant men & women of this our beloved Nation. To all I can only salute!!!,”
“The struggle and History of all this is by far too complex, deeper and wider than some people wish to imagine or portray it to be, hence even more pile-up of injustice, prejudice & gross misrepresentation of the truth. Still it remains ours to carry and deal with!” President Kagame said in a series of tweets.
President Kagame seemed to direct his message to critics who often twist the story of the liberation struggle and indicate that he will take it upon himself to set the record straight going forward.
“I hope & have been promising myself that with the help of colleagues in RPF (like in everything else as we did…) I’ll be able to frame it in as much detail of interpretation & fact as I can in a book or other form(s). I shall find time. It’ll be a way of doing justice to the cause,”
“Tested as we’ve been by the oddest of the odds & learned from what has been endured as a people lacking no commitment to shape our better future, surely who has the time to be scared of or defeated by the odds that still lie ahead of us! Our young people just have to do better than us,” President Kagame said.
Earlier in the day, President Kagame launched multi-billion development projects as part of the annual activities to unveil key socio-economic projects to transform the lives of the citizens on liberation.
The Head of State in a televised speech said that Rwanda has achieved a lot in terms of socio-economic development, 26 years on after the Liberation struggle, despite the day being celebrated at the time the country was going through difficult times due to the New Coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
Nevertheless, President Kagame said that there was a lot to celebrate and thanked all Rwandans for their role and support in the struggle to liberate the country.
“Twenty-six years have passed since we liberated ourselves. We have achieved a lot. It required sacrifice, hard work, and the collaboration of many. The values that have characterized our Liberation are still important today,” President Kagame said.
