Govt to speed up rural resettlement programme

GASABO - Yesterday, the minister of Local Government (MINALOC), Protais Musoni, announced special strategies that have been taken to enhance the rural resettlement programme commonly known as Imidugudu. The policy to settle Rwandans in Imidugudu was adopted by government to ease the means of making infrastructural facilities such as schools and hospitals accessible to the population. Speaking at a news conference, Musoni stated that his ministry and other line ministries have formed a taskforce to ensure the implementation of this policy in the shortest possible time. “This is neither a MINALOC initiative nor my own, it’s a government policy to ensure that all citizens access these facilities,” Musoni told reporters at the conference that took place at the Ministry head-quarters in Kacyiru. According to Musoni, since the adoption of the policy in1996, only 22 percent of the population have been resettled in Imidugudu while the target was to have at least 70 percent in these settlements by the year 2020 with the remaining 30 percent being expected to reside in the cities. The minister explained that the reasons behind past failures were due to mobilization and misguided perceptions where some thought that these settlements were meant for the poor while other hindrances were brought about by lack of proper management of the policy. He however said that these inconsistencies have since been noted and the programme was going to be fast tracked.He said that mobilization will be carried out through different programmes including the integrated development programme, gender based violence programme and others which he said would ease access to education and the reach out to communities faster. “If nothing is done to combat scattered settlement in the country, these initiatives to enhance development will fail,” Musoni added. The government has established the National Task Force a joint organ composed of officials from the Ministries of; Natural Resources (MINIRENA), Agriculture (MINAGRI), Youth (MINIYOUTH) and MINALOC, to pilot the programme. “We have started with three districts in each province but the activity will spread to the whole country,” Theophile Ruberangeyo, the chairman of communal settlement task force said. The government targets 30 percent of the community to be in the settlements by the end of this year, 45 percent by 2010 and 70 percent in 2012. Ends