May 5, 2010
The mayor Ms. Yvonne Mutakwasuku, who was speaking publicly about the issue for the first time, said the transfer of the tomb was done with utmost level of respect for the dead. According to her, the process followed Rwandan traditions on handling the dead.
Sources have told RNA that dozens of prisoners were brought in from Muhanga prison around 0100am and provided with lighting to do the digging. By 0400am Sunday morning, Rwanda’s first president had already been buried in the public cemetery on the other side of Muhanga town.
The Mbonyumutwa family and exiled opposition politicians have come out strongly against exhuming the tomb which they argue means undermining Rwanda’s history. The family accuses the authorities, citing Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, of defying a previous court order to government to instead look after the tomb.
For mayor Mutakwasuku, the decision was legal – repeating the position that the area around the stadium numbered as 1456 - is needed for redevelopment.
Reading from a prepared statement on state radio, Ms. Mutakwasuku said moving the tomb was solely a decision of the Muhanga district council which gave the family 60 days to work in partnership with the district authorities on the transfer.
“By the deadline of April 28 set by the Council the family had not responded to the offer,” said the mayor, adding that as per the Council decision, on May 02 – five days from the deadline, Mbonyumutwa was moved.
The mayor dismissed reports that the tomb was exhumed at night. She explained that the new resting place for the ex-president was prepared between April 28 and May 01. The following day May 02 at 10am is when the body was exhumed to its new location.
“I have heard some claiming that the work was done at night but that is not the reality. We first fenced the entire area where the tomb was located at 6:00 in the morning of May 02. The process to remove the body from the tomb started at 7:00 in the morning and finished at 10:30 – which is when the body was put into a casket - then transferred to the new burial site,” explained the mayor.
She said the new tomb will be given a facelift after 21 days when the concrete has sufficiently dried. At that time, she said, the grave will be upgraded with tiles and the tomb enclosure painted.
Mayor Mutakwasuku said no rules were undermined as the whole process was done in accordance with human rights requirements. “We did not remove him as a way of desecration,” she said.
The ex-president was exhumed “respectfully”, said the mayor.
For her boss the provincial governor, Mr. Fidele Ndayisaba, he was more categorical when asked on the BBC Kinyarwanda service whether it was in order to bury the ex-president in a public cemetery with common citizens.
“As a matter of good governance, a leader needs to be buried together with those they led,” he said. On reports the former leader was moved at night, the Governor said it could have been night for those outside but it was day in Rwanda.
He said the new site is much better compared to the previous tomb which was established by Presidential Decree in 1986 as the ex-president was being buried.
Related Materials:
Rwanda: Ex-President Mbonyumutwa grave moved
Rwanda: Mbonyumutwa family pins PM Makuza over exhumed tomb
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