About 25 years ago, a group of Rwandans, the majority of them youthful, agreed that although they had a lot in stock in their future, it would be vain to dream of having one under the circumstances at the time. The nation they called motherland was all but a goldmine for the genocidal machine that was fermenting ethnic division.

The Rwandans agreed to stake their lives for the greater goal of liberating the country. From the ambits of the Rwandese Alliance for National Unity, a group that was formed to mobilise Rwandans into resolving the problems eating up their country by themselves, emerged the Rwanda Patriotic Front, whose military wing, the Rwanda Patriotic Army, decided to launch an attack on October 1, 1990.

The liberation struggle that followed between then and 1994 was fought, as this newspaper’s columnist Victor J. Visathan would say, "out of necessity and a compelling instinct for the survival of our national identity.”

From the biggest setback at the onset when Maj Gen Fred Gisa Rwigyema was killed, so much blood was lost, sacrifices made, and through the most tragic moment when the fascist regime they were fighting launched the Genocide to slaughter innocent citizens, the RPA believed in their cause until they captured Kigali on July 4, 1994.

Today, Rwandans reflect on the liberation struggle and pay homage to the gallant men and women that wrestled this country back from the brink. But, above all, it is a moment for Rwandans to ask how much more they can do for their individual prosperity as well as the national good to further consolidate the gains of the Liberation struggle.

The Liberation struggle is an inspiration for every Rwandan that no one will do anything for you if you cannot get up and do it yourself. The challenge is for every Rwandan to make the liberation count by continuing to reap from its fruit tree.

Happy Liberation Day.