The youngest son of the late Valentin Umuhire wrote a posthumous letter to his father promising to become president.
The journalist Valentin Umuhire, who died on 7 January 2021, was buried in Rusororo cemetery on 11 January. The funeral mass was held at the Regina Pacis parish in Remera.
The last of his children, Pitié, aged 9, showed his bravery by writing a posthumous letter to his father.
After hearing the sad news, Pitié locked himself up in his room to compose this missive, where he is already showing himself responsible and ready to take over.
He makes four promises to his father, Valentin Umuhire. “I will be strong. I will be President. I will be a Man. I will find a job,” as if he wanted to assure his mother that she is not alone in facing family responsibilities.
Valentin Umuhire passed away at the age of 42 at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (CHUK) after a career in journalism at Radio Rwanda (public), where he worked as a presenter for the national language news, Kinyarwanda. He has also worked in the private sector. He was a journalist with Radio and TV 10. Afterwards he was hired by Pax Press (a local NGO) before launching his own online newspaper www.valuenews.info.
“He was passionate about his profession,” said Peacemaker Mbungiramihigo, Executive Secretary of the Media High Council (MHC). “With his family, colleagues and friends, conviviality was his strong point,” said one of his younger brothers. “He was not only my brother, but I also considered him my father,” he said.
Gerard Rugambwa
