KIGALI - Over 1,300 heads of cattle under the "Girinka programme” have so far been recovered from the wrong beneficiaries and given to the rightful recipients, the Ministry of Agriculture has revealed.

This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Agnes Kalibata at a press conference yesterday.

"Out of 50,000cows given out in this One-cow-per-poor-household programme, we found out that 7,411cows went to the wrong beneficiaries and among these, we have so far managed to recover 1,360,” she said.

She clarified that the 70,000 cows reported earlier included those given out by other projects outside "Girinka” like those donated by NGOs.

Statistics show that 15 percent of the total number of the cows under the programme went to the wrong people.

However, the Minister went on the defensive saying that the programme deserves credit for what it has achieved.  

"I am standing firm to credit the Girinka program because it has achieved 85 percent of its set goals though 15 percent didn’t go well”.

Kalibata defended some leaders who got the cows saying that they deserved to benefit from the programme as they are also poor.

"I agree 100 percent that we have poor leaders at local levels, and being a leader does not exclude one from government programs. But this does not entrust them the power to serve themselves what is meant for the local poor citizens,” clarified Kalibata.

Ends