Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Rwanda: Senate Puts FARG and Police On the Spot

By Nasra Bishumba
The New Times-Kigali
October 28, 2009

Kigali — Two reports presented to the Senate, have detailed malpractices that may expose corruption tendencies in FARG and the Police, The New Times reports.

The reports dig deep into the malpractices that negatively impact service delivery in the organisations.

The Senate was on Monday informed by Senator Agnès Kayijire, the President of the Committee on Social Affairs, that more than ten years since its inception, the Fund for Genocide Survivors (FARG) still faces major challenges and appealed for immediate intervention by the government.

Kayijire, who presented the report on FARG, informed the Senate that the survivors' fund which was set up in 1998, is still struggling in the sectors of education, health, housing and project funding.

According to Kayijire, one of the major problems discovered in FARG is the existence of ghost students.

The findings indicate that last year alone, 492 students were listed and funded by FARG and yet documents to support these claims were not available.

In related cases, a total of 100 students were twice listed as FARG beneficiaries and 276 other students were registered as boarding students only for it to be discovered that they were day scholars.

Kayijire's committee also found that schools had made business out of FARG. Mentioned in the report is College Indangaburezi of Ruhango district, which has 1,505 students, with 1,020 of whom are survivors of the Genocide under FARG support.

Another discovery was Kabuga High School of Gasabo district, which is home to 1,112 students, 777 of whom are beneficiaries of FARG and College de l'Espoir/Gasogi where 687 of its 915 students are FARG beneficiaries.

Kayijire says most of FARG's problems stem from the fact that it lacks a verification system. She however, said that FARG is putting up a data base with an information bank that will have all the beneficiary's details to curb forgery.

However, not all was ugly with FARG as the senatorial committee pointed to some progress in the housing section of the Fund's services.

"From 1998 to 2007, the issue of housing genocide survivors made great strides with 11,352 houses complete out of the 14,000 that were needed," the report says.

It adds that at the beginning of year 2008, of 15,122 houses that were needed, 8,802 had been built.

Between 1998 and 2008, FARG had spent approximately Frw9 billion on housing genocide survivors.

POLICE
The report on Police, presented by the Foreign Affairs committee, pointed out that the method used to prepare traffic exams was flawed, saying that it provides leakages, since there is never rotation of those who sit and mark.

The Senate also heard that the officers who prepare the exams are the same ones who mark, making it easier for them to fall prey to bribes.

The report also says that the traffic police seems to be more keen on collecting revenue for the government, than educating and disciplining road users.

In 2008 alone, the Traffic Police Unit made slightly over Frw 1.3 bn from traffic offenses and services it offers. In the first half of this year, the department had made approximately Frw 814M.

The Committee also pointed out that some of the penalties that the police hands down to traffic offenders are too high and are contrary to what the law stipulates.

On the Rwf 25,000 charged when one is found driving during Umuganda, the law actually stipulates that the offender be charged Rwf 5,000.

The Senate was also informed that for one to acquire all the driving permit categories, they would at least part with almost Rwf 500,000 in bribes and about Rwf 200,000 to acquire a temporary driving permit (provisoire) without necessarily passing through the official channels.

However, the Committee found that though there are the above mentioned discrepancies, the traffic police had helped curb the number of road accidents.

The report noted that the number cars had increased three fold since 2003 from 22,014 to 67,593 in 2008. However, the number of road accidents had reduced from 4,525 in 2003 to 2,406 by last year.

Related Materials:
Rwanda: Corruption reaches unseen levels; opposition grows

Rwanda: Country's Anti-Corruption Policies Should Be Emulated

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 8:19 PM