The establishment of Nyamagabe Rehabilitation Centre in the Southern Province, which is scheduled for September this year will ease rehabilitation of delinquents.

 The centre has the capacity to accommodate 2,000 people, officials said.

Aimé Bosenibamwe, the Director General of National Rehabilitation Service, said the first phase of the centre will be completed in September and will accommodate 1,000 people.

The second phase, he said, will be completed in 2021 with the entire project worth Rwf4.2 billion.

He made the disclosure on Monday while appearing before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security alongside other officials.

 "Because of insufficient space at rehabilitation centres, we face a problem of accommodating delinquents, such as those at Gikondo Transit Centre,” he noted.

Gikondo has the capacity to accommodate 1,500 people, but sometimes it becomes congested with up to 2,000 people because of the high number of delinquency cases.

There are 29 transit centres all over the country. Out of these, 28 are spread across the countryside while one is in Kigali.

They all have a combined capacity of 4,645 people. Ideally, the delinquents are not supposed to spend more than 72 hours in a transit centre where they receive counselling and other services.

Those that need further counselling are transferred to rehabilitation centres.

The Nyamagabe centre will equip delinquents with TVET skills, officials say.

It will compliment Iwawa Rehabilitation and Vocational Skills Development Centre (IRVSDC) located at Iwawa Island in Western Province, which has the capacity to accommodate 4,000 people.

"With this new centre and Iwawa, delinquency will be better managed,” Bosenibamwe observed.

Delinquency cases in Rwanda are largely induced by family conflict and violence, poverty, drug abuse, peer pressure and curiosity, low level of education and unemployment.

With between 30 to 40 per cent, Southern Province accounts for the highest percentage of delinquency and street children, according to figures from NRS.

MP Jean Damascene Murara said that the problem in Southern Province is associated with high population growth.

 "This issue goes hand in hand with the high population growth. When parents give birth while they don’t have means to properly provide for them, children go to the street or run to cities to look for livelihoods,” he said, calling for strategies such as effective family planning and parenting to help solve the problem.

So far, some 18,564 delinquents have been rehabilitated and 1183 street children reunified with their families, show statistics from NRS.

services delivered to delinquents in rehabilitation centres, include psychosocial care, such as mental health counselling, education, spiritual support, and social support; medical service, vocational training, including in carpentry, masonry, tailoring, agriculture, culinary arts, beauty and hairdressing , literacy (to illiterate youth), and driving motorcycles.

In addition, there is formal primary education for children under 18 years.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com