{{A number of Rwandans find it more dignifying to change some area\u2019s names like Nyamirambo, Kicukiro, Gahanga etc. due to their connotation and meaning in Kinyarwanda.}}<\/p>\n
As Rwanda has been striving to come out old administrative structures and horrible histories, there have been crucial changes in many different fields in order to preserve the dignity of Rwanda and Rwandans. <\/p>\n
With this regard, a big number of Rwandans think that it\u2019s also better to even change the names of some places like Nyamirambo, Kicukiro, Gahanga, Akumunigo and many more places around Rwanda due to the negative connotation those names carry along. <\/p>\n
Leo Mazimpaka a resident of Nyamirambo says \u201cAs we love the meaning of the name of our country and feel proud of it, the same should be to even its hills and rename some of them to have meaningful names. <\/p>\n
Like Nyamirambo in meaning it reflects carcasses and Gakinjiro- slaughtering, I think the government can change this one into Gakiriro: salvation.\u201d <\/p>\n
The mayor of Nyarugenge district Solange Mukasonga says that the city council has received such suggestions and forwarded them to relevant authorities.<\/p>\n
Egide a resident of Nyarugenge says,\u201cAkumunigo is a name of a place in his area which means \u2018Strangling\u2019. He is of the view that such names of places should be left intact and not tampered with. <\/p>\n
Because this will provide good knowledge and history for the future generations. I wish the names stay with that meaning because when you accept who you really are, that\u2019s when you start evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in the bible God changed the names of his servants like Abram to Abraham but in other places he didn\u2019t change the name but the person himself like Yabes, which means sorrow, changed himself when he prayed.<\/p>\n
Pastor Antoine says, \u201cso we\u2019ve got to change people\u2019s mentality because Rwandans usually name referring to what they are thinking or what is there and then.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the mayor of Kigali City said that \u201cthere is no reason of binding people on bad history. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not necessary to burden people with a bad history carrying it on their foreheads everywhere. He suggests that it will be recorded in history books so that we learn them from there and be taught in schools just like we do read other history books.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Local Governance also emphasizes, \u201cthere are places deserved for recording and keeping history so that they don\u2019t get forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Fidele Ndayisaba the Mayor of Kigali City, Rwandans were able to adapt to such changes previously and that there won\u2019t be any difficulties while adapting even to the new names that will be given to different places around the country especially that these names suggested by the citizens of those areas.<\/p>\n
The mayor notes that the changes will not cause any problems at all because it will be done legally so it will be recognized not only nationally but also internationally. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing hard in that because even countries\u2019 names change for example Zaire changed to Democratic Republic of Congo or others. <\/p>\n
The Minister of Local Governance said that these areas names are expected to change next year according to their action plan. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have received those ideas of changing names of different places around Kigali and it is worth to preserve our dignity continuously. We have asked even other provinces to check whether there are such requests from the people for us to solve it at once. <\/p>\n
We still have time. It\u2019s planned to start in this fiscal year in July 2014 to June 2015. In the first quarter we\u2019ll get information from all provinces and they will undergo the process of implementation in the next quarter.\u201d <\/p>\n
As a Kinyarwanda saying goes \u201cThe name makes the person.\u201d We are expecting to have new names matching with the modern time we\u2019re stepping in day by day next year. <\/p>\n
{The author is a student at Mount Kenya University in Rwanda}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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