EASTERN PROVINCE NYAGATARE — Hope for land in the redistribution exercise across the province seems to be slipping fast, after the land commission scrapped 32 people off the list. Coming a month since the exercise kicked off in January, presided over by President Paul Kagame, those affected reportedly used under hand methods to get land. Those who were scrapped off the list include 16 from Kayonza, nine from Gatsibo and eight from Nyagatare district. They were revealed by fellow residents during the second phase of the verification exercise. Governor Theoneste Mutsindashyaka and the land distribution commission are moving across the province; verifying whether the earlier beneficiaries were all genuine. During the verification, residents are asked to expose those who didn’t qualify in the first place. They are being exposed by their fellow residents and after verifying right away the affected people are replaced. The residents help us to second new eligible beneficiaries, Mutsindashyaka told The New Times recently. The affected residents tricked the commission, he suggested. According to the guidelines, the commission was meant to consider as first priority, Rwandan returnees from Tanzania, evictees from Gabiro School of Infantry, people living with HIV/AIDS, Genocide survivors and others who missed land during the previous redistribution exercise. It emerged that some people with big chunks of land had registered their farm workers and relatives as beneficiaries to retain their plots.Ends
