26 contractors sued over survivors houses

The Genocide Survivors Fund (FARG) has dragged to court 26 companies that had been contracted to build houses for vulnerable survivors, for either doing shoddy work or abandoning the projects unfinished.The contractors, who are battling cases in the High Court, are supposed to refund close to Rwf 598.3 million which the government lost in the process.Theophile Ruberangeyo, the Executive Secretary of FARG, while appearing before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), yesterday, explained that the housing scheme was affected between 2004 and 2005, when the fund was diverted to cater for tuition fees of student survivorsAmong the companies facing the wrath of the law are KCC owned by one Vedaste Ngarambe, which is supposed to refund Rwf102 million, SEGH owned by Lambert Byemayire – (about Rwf 98.6 million) and ECOS, belonging to Jean Damascene Sesonga, who is supposed to reimburse about Rwf 49.5 million.Others include Saint Joseph in the names of Joseph Mwanangu [Rwf43.4 million], CARE owned by James Rugundana [Rwf 42.8 million], ERDECO owned by Sabin Ineza [Rwf 37.6 million] and SOTRAGEC which is supposed to refund Rwf 34 million.The companies are said to have used substandard equipment, built cheap houses compared to what were required to, or abandoned the projects.FARG has already spent Rwf 20.3 billion on the construction of houses for vulnerable survivors since 1998.A total of 25,763 houses were also built during the same period, however, the contractors did shoddy work and the houses are currently inhabitable.Juvenal Nkusi, the chairman of PAC, lashed out at FARG, saying the current status of houses casts doubt if those responsible were competent enough.“It is a pity looking at some of these houses now; they are not worth the billions spent, there is little to be happy for in this scheme,” said Nkusi.Each house was budgeted for Rwf 2.2 million, but the Auditor General valued each construction unit at Rwf 900, 000.Some of the houses built were grass thatched, which has since seen the government spend other millions to replace them during the anti-Nyakatsi campaign.The legislators also tasked FARG officials to explain the circumstances under which some of funds meant for FARG were channelled to other projects in districts.The 2011 AG report showed that about Rwf 212 million meant for FARG was spent on other projects in five districts, including Rwf 60 million used in Kicukiro District.They were also questioned on why some of the selected beneficiaries didn’t get support, but instead supported other people who did not qualify.Ruberangeyo, however, said they didn’t have time to put together all the records. He added that a steering committee was also put in place to conduct a household survey on the status of each of the houses that were built and the list of people responsible for any loss that was incurred, which is scheduled to be completed next month.“We are in the process of recovering all the funds and bring to book all people responsible for the losses. We hope the report will give all the details on who did what, what was supposed to be done and the way forward,” said Ruberangeyo.

National

26 contractors sued over survivors houses