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[KIGALI, 8 June 2006] – Thousands of genocide survivors, whose school fees should be paid by a solidarity fund, no longer attend school and live in difficult conditions, said six members of the Rwandan Parliament in a report published this week by the New Times.
The members of parliament, quoted by the Rwandan bi-weekly official journal, point out that there is no mechanism to identify who receives the government-endorsed fund. They say the number of survivors unable to go to school is close to 4000.
“There is no audit, this has resulted in other people illegally benefiting from the funding, while the would-be beneficiaries are losing out”, Elysée Bisengimana - a signatory of this report – asserted. After four months spent investigating in a dozen districts, the members of parliament claim that a great number of survivors who had returned to school between 2002 and 2004 have now stopped attending classes.
They give the example of some 1897 students in Butare district, who have only 18 textbooks between them. Four of them have been able to stay as boarders and 220 have received 1000 FRW (approximately 2 USD), to cover their transportation expenses. During the breaks, these students receive no financial help. The report claims that this has led some of the girls into prostitution.
The investigators also noted the state of disrepair of the houses built to shelter these genocide orphans. Cases of harassment by ideologists of the genocide have increased, as their living conditions have grown worse.
Questioned by the New Times, Jean Marie Viannay – executive secretary of the genocide survivors’ support fund – stated that 28 900 persons who had unduly benefited from this support were struck off the lists in 2001, 33300 in 2002, 53015 in 2003, 68035 in 2004 and 70000 in 2005.
The fund has strengthened its administration and increased the number of investigations but “it is a terrible phenomenon”, Viannay commented to the New Times.
The members of parliament, stressing the fact that the government gives 5 per cent of its annual budget to the victims’ support fund, suggest it should increase this allocation to 12 per cent. The representatives will be discussing this proposition at the end of the week.
pdf: http://www.hirondelle.org/arusha.nsf/LookupUrlEnglish/0311353B4096DF3443...Association: Hirondelle News Agency