President Paul Kagame encouraged young Rwandans to reject alcohol as a way of escaping hardship and to make responsible choices that would help them build their lives, families and country.
He delivered the message during Youth Meet the President, which brought around 10,000 young people from across Rwanda to BK Arena for discussions on alcohol and drug abuse, employment, mental health and pressure from social media.
Kagame said some people drank because they believed alcohol helped them cope with difficult experiences, but compared the practice to repeatedly placing the body under anaesthetic simply to make each day pass.
“Some people do it thinking it helps them get through a difficult life because they fall asleep. But that is not sleep; you become numb. It is like constantly giving yourself an anaesthetic so the day can pass. That is not the answer,” he said.
The President encouraged young people to confront immediate difficulties while working towards healthier and more rewarding lives.
“It is better to face what is unpleasant at that moment, knowing that it can give you a healthy life and eventually lead you to better things,” Kagame said.
He also advised them to decide for themselves what was worthwhile instead of copying other people’s behaviour or allowing popular opinion to determine their choices.
“Do not always ask what other people call good so that you can follow it. Start with yourself and ask: what do I consider worthwhile? You do not have to look to others,” he said.
Kagame told those who had already lost time to alcohol or other harmful behaviour not to despair, saying it was still possible to change direction and rebuild their lives.
He recounted the experience of a former colleague whose dependence on alcohol made him unreachable in the evenings and eventually unable to perform his duties.
Kagame said he had initially reduced the employee’s workload and assigned other people to support him, but the drinking continued until he could no longer rely on him.
The President also shared the story of a young man he had helped raise and educate who later presented him with a wedding budget approaching Rwf10 million.
Kagame said he removed the expensive hotel and alcohol costs from the plan, offered the gardens at Village Urugwiro for the ceremony and proposed serving juice, coffee, tea and soft drinks.
He gave the couple the Rwf10 million after the wedding so they could use it to establish their new home instead of spending it on a one-day celebration. Kagame said the young man later acknowledged that holding an alcohol-free wedding had cost him nothing of value.
Health Minister Dr Sabin Nsanzimana supported the President’s message, saying alcohol, tobacco and other drugs damaged young people’s health and productivity.
“Putting tobacco and alcohol into the brain of a young person cannot help that person progress,” Nsanzimana said.
He described how some people struggled to report to work on Mondays after spending the weekend drinking heavily, saying alcohol was damaging both individual wellbeing and national development.
Youth and Arts Minister Dr Jean Nepo Abdallah Utumatwishima said consultations with young people had identified difficulty finding work, the rising cost of living, family conflict and pressure from social media among the leading causes of stress.
He asked young people to look out for one another, intervene when their friends began engaging in harmful behaviour and report places selling banned alcoholic products or facilitating drug use.
Utumatwishima said young people had also initiated the Sober Generation campaign and were involving government officials in community work, sport and other activities promoting healthier lifestyles.
ICT and Innovation Minister Paula Ingabire said Rwanda’s digital opportunities needed to be matched by continuous learning and responsible technology use. She encouraged young people to avoid harmful online behaviour and pressure created by social media.
The gathering also heard from Shimirwa Palemon, who described how he became involved in smuggling illicit alcohol before developing an addiction to kanyanga and exhausting his savings.
After spending two months in a transit centre, Shimirwa trained in carpentry and later entered the YouthConnekt Awards. He said meeting other young entrepreneurs convinced him to stop drinking completely and rebuild his life.
Amina Umuhoza also described how opportunities she received as a student helped her establish an organisation supporting adolescents through sexual and reproductive health education.
She said the organisation had trained about 17,000 people and helped teenage mothers acquire income-generating skills.
The discussions reflected the importance of young people to Rwanda’s future. The 2022 Population and Housing Census showed that nearly 8.65 million Rwandans were under 30, representing 65.3 per cent of the country’s population.
Elie GATETE
RADIOTV10