Mukiza Willy Maurice during a panel of discussion yesterday
Igihango cy’urungano, an annual youth forum which brings together the youth to pay tribute to the youth who perished during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi and re-commit to ‘Never again’ this Friday brought 1000 youths together in Gisagara district where strong testimonies were shared in the presence of guest of honor, First Lady Jeannette Kagame.
Mukiza Willy Maurice, the youth and a son from a family of four whose father Maj. Gen Pacifique Ntawunguka who is a commander of so called Front Democratique pour la Liberation du Rwanda(FDLR), a terror group in DRC was caught with emotions while sharing his testimony.
The son from a family of four shared the story of his family which is living peacefully in Rwanda and enjoying country’s achievements like any Rwandan, despite his father’s wrongdoings against motherland.
“At first, my mother hid the truth to us, because we were still too little to bear it. I only happened to learn the truth when I was in Primary 5 in Ngororero District,” said the young man tears rolling in the eyes.
“I would sometimes refuse to go to school because this is the birthplace of my parents; my neighbors knew me, and I wanted to hide. But whenever I went to school, I encountered no problem,” he said.
During the exams, be it regional tests, and even provincial tests, the boy always came first and, from what he learnt from his parents, in the past that would not work because of segregation of the then government.
He also thought that he would be victim of segregation, but this never happened.
Then came the national leaving examination.
“I won excellently the national exams. The fellow top winners in National exams were given several awards including laptops but for me, I didn’t. I though that it was from the same background that they skipped me,” he said.
One day, Mukiza talked about it to his mother who advised that he should talk about it to his teachers.
The mother would also advise his son, that for him to study university, he would only need to study hard because the family could not afford tuition in a private university.
“I would tell my mother that the country could not allow me to study university because of the hostilities of my father, but when I sat the national exams, I passed and was sent to the College of Science of Technology. I was awarded government scholarship,” he said.
“Ever since, I understood that the government does not punish children over the mistakes of their father. I understood that the country has unity. Be it myself, and my siblings, none has ever encountered any problem in this country.”
Mukiza therefore said that his family has committed to contribute to Rwanda’s development.
“We have decided to part ways with our father’s behavior of destabilizing Rwanda. I am saddened to see my fellow youth attempting to join armed groups against Rwanda. As far as I am concerned, I cannot sit back if I hear anyone saying bad about Rwanda,” he said.
“As the youth, we should be active and show the truth to genocide denials through internet. I tend to believe that some of them probably didn’t get an opportunity to know the truth about Rwanda.”
