Rwf 13bn spent on Genocide survivors’ houses -FARG

KIGALI - The Fund for Genocide Survivors (FARG) has revealed that Rwf 13.3 billion has so far been spent on availing decent accommodation to genocide survivors since the fund’s establishment in 1998. This was revealed by the Fund’s Executive Secretary, Ildephonse Niyonsenga during a media briefing on the status of the project. “So far, there are 173,663 vulnerable survivors who still need assistance,” said Niyonsenga. At the same function, a report on how funds meant for the construction of houses for survivors and vulnerable groups were used, was unveiled. The report, compiled jointly by officials from the Ministry of Local Government, FARG, Police, Prosecution, Army, the National Security Service and the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide, says that the government has so far constructed houses for 38,657 vulnerable families of Genocide Survivors. However, according to officials, the Rwf 13.3billion spent on the houses by FARG is not the overall amount since there is a lot more money that has been spent but cannot be justified. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Eugene Barikana, said that the government started constructing houses for Genocide Survivors in 1995, but up to 2000, there were no clear statistics of houses constructed and that that is why there is no exact amount of money that have been spent on houses of survivors since 1995. “Until 2006, there were many houses that were constructed, some were constructed well others were not; this is why we have cases in court of people who embezzled funds meant for survivors’ housing,” he said. Information from the Prosecution indicates that 46 cases of embezzlement have been recorded so far, and among those, 26 are in court or have been completed. He added that the issue of mismanagement of funds meant for survivors’ houses dominated the 2008 National Dialogue which prompted setting up the audit team. “This new report follows another that was commissioned by the Senate unearthed enormous mismanagement of funds meant for survivor’s houses and blamed top officials in the local government for being responsible of mass mismanagement. Ends