KIGALI - False beneficiaries of the Fund for the Support for Genocide survivors (FARG) will be punished, Eugene Balikana, the Permanent Secretary of Local Government has said.

FARG, which is under the Local Government ministry, last week, dropped 19,514 students, 30.7 percent of the total beneficiaries, after it was established that they were non deserving.

Their ineligibility was established after a countrywide vetting exercise that was triggered by several reports that people who were not meant to benefit from the fund, were on the list of beneficiaries, while some genuine beneficiaries were left out.

"Now that we have obtained an authentic list of beneficiaries which was our first operation to ensure that students report to their respective schools as early as possible; during the second phase we are going to ensure that the culprits face the law,” he said.
"This is serious offense, suspects will be brought before courts of law, because during the vetting, we were helped by officials from the Ministry of Justice,” Barikana added.

He said the punitive measures will also affect former FARG employees who were involved in corruption.
However, Barikana added the exercise is not fully complete.

"We will screen further the new list and also listen to appeals of those who claim to have been unfairly dropped”.
According to findings by the new FARG administration, a number of dropped beneficiaries were a result of corruption that existed in the former administration that was sacked by the Prime Minister.

When contacted, the acting FARG Executive Secretary, Theophile Ruberangeyo, said that for one to become a FARG beneficiary, they should be victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and orphans without both parents or with one parent and have no resources to sustain their lives.

"Those born after December 31, 1994 are not eligible for the fund, we want those who were victimized during genocide and have no means of sustaining themselves,” Ruberangeyo said.

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