TIG wants convicts’ work valued

The national secretariat of prisoners’ wants the entire public to accord the genocide convicts work, Work of General Interest (TIG), its prescribed national value. The secretariat official Friday expressed this at a one day meeting with civil society representatives at Hotel La Palisse Nyandungu, Kigali. Anastase Nabahire, the Assistant Executive Secretary of TIG national secretariat urged them to consider TIG serving prisoners as national developers but not as devastators.“They already pleaded guilty and asked for forgiveness. They are serving half of their sentences outside jail and working for the public interest.” Nabahire said. He warned that unlawful use of these prisoners jeopardises the government plans to utilise them in rebuilding the national economy which they ruined fourteen years back. “You have a role to ensure that TIG’s national policy that is aimed at punishing genocide convicts while serving public interests, achieves its goals” Nabahire told the participants. Statistics indicate that of the 45,777 charged genocide convicts, at least 34,810 are serving their punishment countrywide. Their work is currently equated to Frw8 billion. However, according to him, some convicts are reportedly dodging their punishments allegedly with the help of some local administration authorities. He cited out an incident of an elderly convict in Kamonyi district, Southern Province who dodged his toil penalty in Burera District, Northern Province by sending there his son. Nabahire called upon civil society members to be watchdogs of TIG to ensure that the culture of impunity is completely eliminated. He added that forgiving them is not enough without them playing big role in helping those that pardoned them of crimes they did. Nabahire urged that convicts’ families should be given rights to benefit from national developments without being liable to crimes they didn’t commit. Claver Rwaka, President of the National Federation of disabled people, also attended Ends