Relief food and cash transfer not transparent, anti-graft watchdog says
Wednesday March 03 2021
BPR branch in Kigali. A number of lenders in Rwanda have come up with loan products and services intended to give relief to their distressed customers. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA
More Rwandans are at the risk of missing meals as the impact of Covid-19 pandemic continues to bite.
This is partly because number of Rwandans who take two meals a day decreased from 42.9 percent before Covid-19 hit in March 2020 to 16.2 percent this year due to high cost of food and delays in receiving government support, Transparency International Rwanda report indicate.
Experts are now cautioning the government that if social protection schemes are not extended to the most vulnerable households in a timely manner, long term impact will be grave.
The report is based on a survey of about 1,253 households whose members are beneficiaries of Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), a social protection initiative designed to improve the welfare of the most vulnerable.
The survey was conducted in the districts of Bugesera, Burera, Gasabo, Gatsibo, Gicumbi, Huye, Kamonyi, Kayonza, Kicukiro, Musanze, Nyabihu, Nyamagabe, Nyarugenge, Nyaruguru and Rubavu.
The study also found that when the government distributed food to the vulnerable during Covid-19 lockdown, there was a 35 percent leakage of the assistance in some districts. Some beneficiaries were hit hard.
“I had a one-month baby when the lockdown kicked-off. Following the suspension of the VUP-Public works, my husband lost his job and the family was much affected. As a mother, I could not get enough meals and sometimes I ate nothing the whole day. Fortunately, the health center is near my home and it was not difficult to go there,” one of the VUP beneficiary recounts.
The report says the problem was exacerbated by delays in transfer of funds to VUP beneficiaries who are typically the most vulnerable and poor. VUP beneficiaries, economically vulnerable citizens, are usually get cash transfers from the government.
Respondents in the survey attributed the delay in funds to “lack of transparency and fairness in the distribution” process. The delay and leakage in funds and assistance has impacted the vulnerable groups’ living conditions especially in the Covid-19 pandemic and caused lack of financial capacity to meet their basic needs.