Stalled ‘One Dollar Campaign’ irks Members of Parliament

Members of Parliament have raised concern over the delay in the construction of the One Dollar Complex, which is supposed to provide shelter to at least 200 orphans of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.The multi-storey complex being built in the upscale Kagugu suburb in Gasabo District was financed by proceeds from a drive dubbed One Dollar Campaign, launched in 2009, by Rwandans in the Diaspora and later embraced by the entire nation.The MPs on Wednesday showed their dissatisfaction over the project, as officials from the National Commission for the Fight against the Genocide (CNLG), presented their 2012-13 report to parliament.The project which was scheduled for completion in 2010 has been marred by alleged mismanagement.MP Zeno Mutimura, who was Rwanda’s envoy to Tanzania when the campaign was launched, spoke of how he rallied the Tanzanian Diaspora and friends of Rwanda to contribute to the project that up to now has not yielded any fruits.“This is an issue of accountability to Rwandans and our foreign friends who participated in the One Dollar Campaign,” said Mutimura.The Executive Secretary of CNLG, Jean de Dieu Mucyo, acknowledged the gravity of the issue but noted that high-level meetings were being convened to address the matter.“The problem was that the building started from the basement and yet we had not budgeted for that. The funds were, therefore, depleted before completion,” Mucyo said. “But this issue was examined and other experts were brought in and recently, another contract was signed and I think that in March next year, it will be ready,” he added.Meanwhile, concerning the report, John Rutayisire, the president of CNLG told lawmakers that during the reporting period, 13,784 remains of victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi were discovered and given a decent burial. A lot of research, he said, was conducted, among others, on the psychosocial state of the orphaned youth survivors of the 1994 Genocide, 19 years after.In the same period, he said, of the 114 survivors who appealed for help from the CNLG, 56 of them lacked appropriate shelter and were assisted. He said in the previous period, FARG built 1,048 new houses and in 2012-2013, an additional 486 units were built, while 367 houses were refurbished.However, much to the lawmakers’ chagrin, he said that a team instituted by the prime minister had identified over 13,000 other houses that needed repairs. Lawmakers were also irked by the revelation that survivors still grapple with concerns over property disputes. This was after Rutaysire noted that during the 2012-13 period, 1, 200 property cases were registered countrywide. About 357 were immediately solved and 845 were put in line for follow up and a timeline was set up by districts, Rutayisire said.During the 2012/13 budget, CNLG was allocated Rwf1.6b and 95 per cent of it was used, according to the report. Rutayisire said challenges like limited budget, Genocide deniers worldwide, trauma cases, lack of capacity in filling and scanning Gacaca documents among others pose serious obstacles to CNLG . Plans to address these, he said, include continued advocacy for an increased budget allocation, increased advocacy to fight Genocide deniers wherever they are and increased advocacy to help improve the wellfare of Genocide survivors.