The vice-president of the historians’ association, Joseph Gahama; the director of culture, Straton Nsanzabaganwa; and the president, Déo Byanafashe, during the launch.

He went on to say that at the same time he was elected the president of the association, Joseph Gahama became vice president, and Jeanne d’Arc Baranyizizwe become was elected treasurer. However, due to a lack of finances the association was never officially launched.

“It is high time Rwandans started writing our own history,” Byanafashe remarked, adding that in the past it was written by foreigners who had their own interests. The president went on to say that at that time, Rwandans were not sufficiently educated, and by the time they were, they were too busy fighting each other.

Therefore, no one actually took the time to write down the history in a proper manner.

This made them realize, as members of the historian association, that they and other educated people had to sit down and write down the real history of Rwanda, without personal bias.

Straton Nsanzabaganwa, the director of culture at the ministry of culture and sports, pointed out that this association is greatly needed in Rwanda, because the Rwandan youth hardly know anything about their history, and what has been documented so far has been written by people who had their own motives.

It was due to this and other reasons, the director of culture said, that there is a wide gap between our past history and the present.

Nsanzabaganwa also remarked that writing down our history is like walking on thorns, as all people do not think of it in the same way and to make matters worse, that same history had a negative impact on the majority of the population.

He further pointed out that most people, when speaking of our history, talk about it from their own perspective and based on their personal experiences. “When people start telling history in that way, they are actually spoiling it,” the director of culture said.

He advised the members of this association to write the history as educated people who know what is required of them and have no personal motives involved.