Dr. Patrick Awuah, President and Founder of Ashesi University has announced the School’s Governing Board decision to establish a lasting monument in remembrance of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi on its campus in Berekuso, on the outskirts of the Ghanaian Capital Accra.

He made the declaration at an event organized by Ashesi University in collaboration with the High Commission of Rwanda in Ghana for the 30^th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda in which more than a million people were killed in just 100 days.

Dr. Awuah noted that the monument to be established will also recognize the contribution of the Ghanaian contingent that constituted the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) under the leadership of Retired Major General Henry Kwami Anyidoho, who despite the order to evacuate convinced the Ghanaian government and stayed, saving thousands of lives.

The commemoration at Ashesi University is a unique event where the senior-most leadership of an academic institution of Ashesi’s stature has set time aside to remember the Genocide against Tutsi and provide an opportunity for Africa’s youth to learn more about what happened to be real agents of prevention.

Referencing Rwanda’s remarkable transformation after the Genocide against Tutsi, Dr. Awuah said that the country is now represents Africa’s hope that when people put their minds onto something and are committed to do it, nothing cannot be achieved.

High Commissioner of Rwanda to Ghana Mrs. Rosemary Mbabazi told the over 300 gathered at the ceremony that what Ashesi had done was a reminder that remembering the victims of the 1994 Genocide was not just Rwanda’s responsibility but “it concerns all of us in Africa and the whole world.”

Explaining why we remember, she among others noted that “By remembering, we restore dignity to those who were brutally massacred as though they were not humans and stand in solidarity with survivors, who were left with immense physical and psychological scars.”

High Commissioner Mbabazi emphasized that all people, especially the youth, ought to endeavor to understand tragic histories such as that of the Genocide against the Tutsi if at all Africa and the world can ever prevent similar atrocities from happening again.

“In our present world, even here in Africa, we have groups who are still facing state-sanctioned discrimination which has all the indicators of genocidal targeting. We must all be agents in the fight against hate speech – which includes the denial of genocides such as the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi – and refusing to fall victim to the same.”

General Anyidoho, who was also at the event, made a presentation about his memory of the events that unfolded in Rwanda, punctuating the contrasting reality of today’s Rwanda from the country that the Rwandan Patriotic Front – RPF Inkotanyi inherited in 1994.

He challenged the audience dominated by the young Ashesi students to be determined and defy the status quo to make Africa great. “If you do not it, do not expect that anyone else will ever do it for you,” he said.

Founded in 2002, Ashesi University currently has 26 students pursuing mostly engineering and technology courses.

The commemoration ceremony was preceded by a “Walk to Remember” an initiative started by Rwandan youth to take a reflective walk to imagine the suffering endured by the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi and fasten their resolve to build a better country.