The Directorate General of Museums of Rwanda is issuing a cry of alarm to the institutions concerned to come to the aid of the rehabilitation of Museums of Rwanda which are threatened with ageing. These national heritages constitute not only a cultural wealth of all generations but also a database of the history and culture of the country as well as an important source of income. These museums require advocacy for protection and rehabilitation as soon as possible to facilitate their maintenance and attract more local and foreign visitors.

These concerns were declared by the Director General of the Museums of Rwanda, Alphonse Umulisa, before the commission in charge of culture within the RPF-Inkotanyi during the visit of the Museums.

This RPF delegation visited museums such as that of “Richard Kandt”, the Museum of the Presidential Palace of Kanombe, commonly called “Chez Habyarimana”, because it is the former President Habyarimana who lived in this palace. This delegation then went to the National Library located in Kacyiru.

After visiting these museums that some of the curators did not even know, Alphonse Umulisa told the curators that these museums have aging problems and that they should be refurbished as soon as possible because he said “they were built for a very long time and their maintenance has not been done properly during all these past years”.
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Alphonse UMULISA expressing to the commissioners of the RPF his concerns about the aging of museums in favor of a possible argument

“The National Museum of Huye was built in 1987 and inaugurated in 1989. That of Richard Kandt was built in 1907, that of Rukari in Nyanza in 1931 and that of Rwesero in 1959. You realize their age”.

Alphonse Umulisa gave the example of the Kanombe Presidential Palace Museum whose roof has been in a dilapidated state for years and its poor electrical installation which costs between 200 and 400 thousand Rwandan Francs each month to light the museum.
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The Museum of the Presidential Palace of Kanombe whose roof allows rainwater to pass through

Jerome Karangwa, Director of Research Department in Museums of Rwanda, also confirms that these museums are old and that they need sufficient help for rehabilitation. “The rehabilitation of museums is not just anyone’s business. There must be an expert in the rehabilitation of museums to keep the authenticity of history”.

A hope of pleading for the rehabilitation of these Museums

Given the scale and urgency of the problems with the commissioners, Sheick Harelimana, Head of the Culture Commission within the RPF, agreed to advocate with the institutions having the protection of museums in their attributions. Harelimana took the opportunity to appeal to Rwandans to take an interest and support museums by visiting them even before they are visited by foreigners.

Museums generate between 27 and 30 million Rwandan Francs per month

“It is high time to repair the museums in order to have financial autonomy in the future because these museums generate between 27 and 30 million Rwandan Francs per month. The museums of Rwanda therefore constitute a very capital investment. But currently they need a large capital like any other business in order to no longer depend on the national budget”, wishes Umulisa.

The number of Rwandan and foreign visitors continues to increase as shown by the statistics of 2013-2014. From July 2013 to June 2014, Rwandans and foreigners who visited the museums were 185,000 people of which 70% were Rwandans.

Currently, Rwanda has six museums including the Ethnographic Museum of Huye, in southern Rwanda, located 135km from Kigali. The Rwesero Art Museum in Nyanza is 85km from the capital. The Rukali Royal Palace Museum in Nyanza, in the south of the country, located 88km from Kigali. The Kigali Presidential Palace Museum in Kanombe, 15km from the city center. The Natural History Museum of Kigali, at Richard Kandt, in the city center and the Environment Museum of Karongi, in the West of Rwanda, 130km from Kigali