Perth Voice Interactive

ERECTING a memorial to the 1994 Rwandan genocide has been deemed too political to handle with an election on the horizon, with Stirling councillors narrowly voting to postpone the decision.

Members of the Rwandan Community Abroad Perth group have been working on getting a monument in Perth, wanting a place of “remembrance, honour, and education” for the genocide against the Tutsi.

Many Rwandans participate in the annual “Kwibuka” (To Remember) commemorations across 100 days in April and July, marking the dates of the killing of between 600,000 and 1 million people. 

The monument would serve as a Kwibuka gathering place for Rwandans. They’ve settled on Stirling Civic Gardens as an appropriate place. Stirling is home to a sizeable portion of Perth’s Rwandan community, as well as other East and Central Africans who observe Kwibuka.  

Rosemine Mutamuliza grew up in Rwanda and was 12 when she fled the killings, and she attended Stirling’s October 3 meeting to tell councillors: “Many of the survivors, include those living in Perth, continue to bear lifelong physical and emotional scars. 

“Many are not able to travel back home in April every year. This is why a remembrance and a memorial is a crucial part of our community and our healing process.”

RCAP are funding the $30,000 to create and install the statue and will be responsible for maintenance, and it’d cost Stirling about $2,000 to prepare the site.

RCAP had applied to install the memorial earlier this year but Stirling’s existing memorial policy didn’t allow any monuments to events that happened outside council boundaries.

After an amendment in August to change that limitation, Stirling staff had recommended councillors vote to approve the monument at the October 3 meeting.

But there’s now been another delay as councillor Michael Dudek moved to “hold this item over until after the caretaker period” for the new council to make the call. 

Stirling’s caretaker policy aims to “avoid actions and decisions which could be perceived as intended to influence the result of an election, or otherwise have a significant impact on or commit the incoming council to”.

The vote was a 7/7 split. In favour of deferral were councillors Michael Dudek, Felicity Farrelly, Chris Hatton, David Lagan, Karlo Perkov, Elizabeth Re and Joe Ferrante.

Those wanting to go ahead and vote were councillors Andrea Creado, Bianca Sandri, Suzanne Migdale, Teresa Olow, Stephanie Proud, Lisa Thornton, and mayor Mark Irwin, who’s met with the RCAP and said he’d support their bid.

With Cr Irwin holding the casting vote, he reversed track and sided with the deferrers, saying “given it is a tied vote and it’s only asking to hold it over, I will support the holding over of this item till after the caretaker period.”

A councillor proposing a deferral is unusual: Stirling’s policy says it’s the CEO’s call as to whether something is too political to be considered during an election, and this item had already been deemed acceptable.

And at a cost of $2,000, the memorial decision is also far below the cutoff to be considered “substantial expenditure” that has to be deferred. That limit is 0.01 per cent of the council’s annual revenue, or about $25,000.

by DAVID BELL