Senators have asked the government to move swiftly to solve the remaining cases of Genocide orphans’ properties that have been illegally grabbed by dishonest persons since the end of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The call was made yesterday during the senatorial plenary session.

The legislators grilled Dr Alvera Mukabaramba, the minister of State for community development and social affairs, as they assessed the progress of a government campaign that kicked off early last year to help the survivors recover their properties.

Dr Mukabaramba said there has been tremendous progress in resolving the issues as more than half of about 1,200 complaints received from January to March last year have been settled.

She said apart from 120 cases whose petitioners haven’t been found for discussions since they submitted them and some 134 cases that are currently before the courts, only 74 remain unresolved and government is likely to resolve them this month.

"The Ministry of Local Government, in cooperation with districts, is likely to finish solving the remaining 74 cases this month,” Mukabaramba reassured the legislators.

From January to March last year, a taskforce established by Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi to investigate the complaints had toured all the country’s 30 districts and recorded cases to find out the existing disputes and resolve them or refer them to district officials.

The move, which documented about 1,200 cases of  disputes of grabbed properties, was in response to complaints, over time, by survivors, especially orphans (now adults), after they failed to repossess property left by their deceased parents.

Mukabaramba told the lawmakers that the taskforce resolved 357 cases during its three-month operation and handed over the remaining 845 to the Ministry of Local Government.

The latter worked with officials in districts across the country to resolve issues that were not yet before the courts, essentially giving properties like land and houses back to the rightful owners.

Compelling banks

The senators also called for some banking and social insurance laws to be changed in order to help Genocide orphans access their parents’ assets.

"Why can’t banks be forced to show the money without claimants?” wondered Senator Perrine Mukankusi as the senators pondered on the issue of Genocide orphans who cannot trace their parents’ bank accounts.

"Some of the orphans don’t even know how their parents looked like, leave alone knowing their parents’ property,” Senator Jean Damascène Bizimana said, agreeing with the idea to compel banks to reveal assets of deceased Genocide victims.

Some of the senators said solving some pending issues could be impossible because "some local leaders might have taken part in making mistakes that led to the wrong acquisition of the orphans’ property.”

"Let’s not ask local leaders who contributed to creating these problems to help solve them,” said Senator Bizimana, lobbying for the creation of an independent commission in charge of resolving the issues related to the property of Genocide orphans..

For the remaining issues to be resolved without causing too much grief to the orphans, some of the orphans have asked the government to help push their cases in courts.

Jean Damascène Nsanzumuhire, the legal advisor and helpline coordinator for the Association of Genocide Survivors Students (AERG), said the orphans often have less means in comparison to their oppressors.

"There needs to be a framework under which the government assists orphans in courts. Some of them are losing the cases because they don’t have the same level of means as those who took their property,” Nsanzumuhire said.