Friends, leaders and family on Friday paid tribute to the late Senator Thérèse Bishagara Kagoyire, 67, who passed away last week at a US hospital.

She died of liver complications.

Mourners are paying their last respects at a requiem mass at Regina Pacis Catholic Church in Remera after former colleagues and leaders said their final goodbyes to the former senator.

Earlier in the day her body arrived at Senate at the Parliamentary Buildings in Kimihurura where it will lay in state for two hours as leaders eulogised her.

The casket containing her remains arrived at the National Assembly in a sombre atmosphere at around 11a.m, carried by six police polebearers at the rank of Inspector of Police.

The Police band performed funeral hymns as the casket made its way to the plenary hall where it will lie in state for two hours as former colleagues and friends eulogise her and say their final goodbye.

On arrival, the casket was carried through a guard of honour mounted by the Rwanda National Police with Senate President Bernard Makuza, the Minister for Presidency Judith Uwizeye and the Secretary-General of the governing Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)-Inkotanyi, Francois Ngarambe, among the leaders that stood still outside the Parliamentary Buildings to receive the body.

The body arrived at parliament from King Faisal Hospital where it had been since Tuesday.

After the requiem mass at Regina Pacis, mourners will proceed to Rusororo public cemetery in Gasabo District for the burial ceremony.

Those who worked closely with the late senator – be it in public service, in academia or in civil society – have described her death as a great loss not just for her family, but also for the entire nation.

Kagoyire spent the best part of her carrier as an educationist, having been a rector of the former Kigali Health Institute for long.

She was also founder member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Rwanda Chapter.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com