AERG/GAERG week-Genocide survivor students building for the homeless survivors. Several other families do not own a home
In 2013 a private contractor was tendered to build 15 houses for genocide survivors in Sumbure village, Kanazi cell, Nyamata Sector in Bugesera district, each estimated about Rwf12 million.
The contractor (Dieudonne Uwizeyimana) constructed the houses to the roofing level but left half of them incomplete with no doors, windows and non-plastered walls inside the rooms, let alone the incomplete outside kitchens and toilets.
Bugesera district officials back then reported that the entrepreneur breached the contract requirements as a result of lack of financial capacity.
For genocide survivors like Dancille Uwamariya they had long waited for the new homes and had no time to wait for the completion but decided to enter the houses pending completion because they were homeless.
Though Uwamariya has since been able to have a place to sleep, a parliamentary report Committee on Unity, Human Rights and fight against Genocide has showed that there are still many genocide survivors who don’t have houses despite the promise to have all of them own one. .
In 2018, the Genocide Survivors Assistance Fund (FARG) had announced construction of 1,014 houses and to renovate 1,000 houses across the country that year.
The parliamentary Committee furthet showed that 1,687 genocide survivor families are still homeless.
While some families are completely homeless, others are living in dilapidated houses, MPs showed that there are some houses which were poorly constructed just like that of genocide survivor Uwamariya from Bugesera district.
“I was saddened to see how these houses are in a sorry state because construction materials from foundation to the ceiling are substandards,” MP Leonard Ndagijimana said.
Ndagijimana suggested that the parliament should strongly recommend to the Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) to make sure that the houses of Genocide survivors fulfill standards.
In response to this, Committee chairperson, MP Elisabeth Mukamana said that parliament will add a recommendation to RHA to follow up on the building guidelines as part of its responsibility.
“When you see the houses built nowadays they are different and things are changing but we agree with this recommendation,” Mukamana said.
This is one of the situations that a parliamentary report on the Ombudsman report (2018-19) activities presented on June 9, 2020.
MPs said that 26 years after the Genocide, this is a situation that should have been solved.
All photos by AERG/GAERG week
