Rwandans living in Belgium and Luxembourg on Sunday, July 4 converged both physically and virtually to celebrate Liberation Day, an event that was marked by learning from Rwanda’s liberation and transformation journey. Rwanda’s Ambassador to Belgium, Dieudonné Rugambwa Sebashongore explained that July 4, 1994 marked the end of 100-day Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed more than one million victims and whose remains are still being discovered 27 years later. Explaining to the audience the immediate tasks by RPF following the liberation struggle, he said; “We had to take stock of the country, define a framework and create bodies dedicated to the implementation of the reconstruction of our nation. This framework was discussed in debates held in Village Urugwiro between 1998 and 1999 which set the stage for the new constitution, adopted by the people in 2003,” he said. In terms of governance, he said, they faced a challenge to restore justice while keeping in mind the unity and reconciliation of the population. «We found solutions in tradition and our traditional Gacaca courts, he said, referring to the judicial system in which close to two million cases of Genocide and related crimes were tried. He said that another endemic problem for which the new government wanted to nip in the bud was corruption, leading to the creation of the Office of Ombudsman which has enabled to regulate obstacles to economic development. On the economic front, he said, the Rwanda Revenue Authority was established to improve tax administration and gradually enable the country to finance its national budget and reduce dependence on international aid. In the current budget, whose implementation started at the beginning of this month, 67 percent of the spend will be domestically mobilised. In terms of social development, creation of social protection interventions like the community-based health insurance scheme (Mutuelle de Sante) that allows every Rwandan to receive basic healthcare is a milestone, he said. He added that homegrown inspired solutions such as Ubudehe- social stratification programme and Girinka-one cow per family programme have also helped to reduce poverty. The government, through the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), has also prioritised the establishment of a favourable business and investment climate for the private sector to flourish and catalyse overall economic growth. Other notable achievements include gender equality, which the envoy noted, has exceeded the initial objectives, with 61% of women in parliament and more than 50% in Cabinet. He added that millions of people were lifted out of poverty. Unity and reconciliation Senator Marie-Rose Mureshyankwano, who addressed the participants virtually, reiterated that tremendous achievements have been made in promoting unity and reconciliation while healing genocide survivors. She said that Gacaca courts did not just serve the purpose of bringing to book Genocide perpetrators, it also facilitated the country’s journey towards reconciliation. The legislator noted other initiatives like Ndi-umunyarawanda as one of the home-grown solutions that have played a major role in uniting communities that were badly fractured by the Genocide.
