Béata Habyarimana, the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Kigali Group laying the wreath at the monument that include names of former staff of BK who were killed during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi
The Bank of Kigali (BK) Group Plc has paid tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, including fifteen of their former staff. The commemoration event was held at the Bank’s headquarters in the heart of Kigali city on April 28, 2022.
During this event, management and staff laid a wreath on the memorial monument for former BK staff who were killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Attendees were taken through the history of BK since its establishment in 1967, and how the bank faced ethnic divisions as it was strategically located around other major government institutions where the Genocide against the Tutsi was planned.
Some of these institutions and agencies around BK offices included the Office of the President, the Intelligence Agency, the Ministry of Defence which were located in the city of Kigali.
On the other side of BK offices was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, which included Genocide mastermind including Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, who was the Director General in Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Béata Habyarimana, the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Kigali Group said that there are different organizations that have been doing research that shows how there was discrimination in the workplace and thus a need to do likewise for BK’s history and use this information to educate its staff (over 1,200) about what happened in BK before and during the genocide.
Habyarimana hinted on documenting BK’s history in a book, which the bank wants to embark on in order to preserve the history of the Bank during the Genocide against the Tutsis.
“We think that as BK, we can have this book that will help others who will work for the bank in future, to know its history and be able to prevent Genocide and its ideology,” Habyarimana said.
The CEO reminded the youth who are the majority of BK Group’s employees that they have a responsibility in the fight against the genocide ideology that is often seen on social media.
“Never Again means that we need to play our part in preventing the genocide and its ideology globally. Therefore, BK employees and Rwandans at large are required to participate in preventing it both on social media and elsewhere today and in future,” she said.
Ministry of National Unity & Civic Engagement officials at the event said that writing the history of genocide against the Tutsi in the public and private institutions that existed until April 1994, is a decision taken by the National Dialogue Council (Umushyikirano) in 2015, and some organization have been conducting this research to keep memory of what happened.
As far as BK is concerned, Valens Bimenyimana who represented the minister said that at the beginning in 1967 as a bank established after BNR and BCR, BK included many Tutsi employees because their managers did not have division ideology, but when the management of this Bank changed from 1969 to 1994, the Tutsi faced persecution.
“In 1973 twenty six tutsi workers were dismissed from their jobs,” he said.
“Under the leadership of Director General Edouard Bakomera, Bizimana Aloys and Bizimungu Syliro, Tutsi who worked at BK were misstreated.”
He went on to say that since Liberation war started in 1990, some of the BK workers were arrested among the 6000 innocent Tutsi that were deliberately called accomplices.
The Bank of Kigali has for the past 29 years offered support to and employed some members of families of former BK staff who were killed during the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Beneficiaries thanked the bank for the way it has kept memory of the beloved families every year, but also requested that this support continues in the years to come.
Ambroise Rugambwa representing the families of victims who worked at BK Group thanked BK the bank for building a memorial site for their families and for the bank’s unrelenting support to the families of those who lost their loved ones.
He also thanked RPF Inkotanyi for taking the lead in stopping the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
