Ministers to appear before parliament

Three Cabinet ministers will, today, appear before the Chamber of Deputies to give explanations on issues that fall under their respective dockets. The Minister of Local Government, James Musoni, will look to update lawmakers on the progress in efforts to fix anomalies cited in the country’s ambitious Vision 2010 Umurenge Programme (VUP). VUP is an integrated social protection programme to accelerate poverty reduction countrywide and, according to Musoni, it is one of the three flagships of the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS). “MPs have done their own research and we will be with district mayors who are in charge of the day-to-day running of the VUPs. This is a meeting where we will be exchanging ideas on how we can do better,” the minister noted as he recounted his expectations of the session. On June 22, the lower chamber’s standing committee on agriculture, livestock and environment brought to light anomalies in the programme. From December 2010 to January 2011, the committee conducted a field trip to ascertain its standing. Glitches, highlighted in June, included shortages in necessary VUP guiding documents, understanding of the programme by local leaders and lack of follow up reports, and “unnecessarily” lengthy funding channels. The Minister of Infrastructure, Albert Nsengiyumva, and the new State Minister in charge of Energy and Water, Emma Francoise Isumbingabo, will also appear before the Chamber of Deputies, to explain what MPs suspect are damning glitches in the handling of the Rukara hydro power project, and other issues around the energy sector. Their appearance follows last week’s decision by parliament to summon the officials overseeing the sector, after it emerged that the government had privatized the Nyamagabe-based plant, after an earlier aborted deal. Ends

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Ministers to appear before parliament