MUSANZE – The Motor Vehicle Guarantee Fund, has compensated 15 families of the victims of the August 2008 accident in which 15 people died along Gakenke-Musanze road.

The Rwf50m compensation was given to 147 relatives of the victims, five survivors of the accident, including orphans.

The package was handed over last week at a ceremony witnessed by the Minister for Internal Security, Sheikh Mussa Fazil Harerimana.

The Minister said that the compensation signifies the value attached to peoples’ lives.

"This action speaks louder than words that the government will always be close to you, in times of need,’’ Harerimana said.

The Motor vehicle Guarantee Fund was set up by the government as an insurance fund to compensate the victims or families of victims who are involved in accidents when the vehicles were not insured, according to Bernardin Ndashimye, the Fund’s Director General.

The ill-fated vehicle was heading to Gakenke from Musanze district when it over turned several times. The occupants were going for a wedding party and the groom was among the dead.

Ndashimye explained that the amount of compensation is determined by the amount of salary that the victim used to earn, age, and the number of the dependants the victims had.

He revealed that cases worth over Rwf100m have been registered in the last three months.

The Motor vehicle Guarantee Fund gets 10% of the total insurance fees paid by all the vehicles in order to cater for incidences where people are killed in accidents involving uninsured vehicles.

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