An agronomist and two agro-dealers in Burera District have been arrested for alleged gross malpractices including forgery in the selling of government distributed maize seeds and fertilisers meant to increase production.

Those arrested are Nestor Nizeyimana, agronomist of Kagogo Sector, Jean Baptiste Habyarimana and Cyriaque Dusabimana, both government accredited agro-dealers of Kagogo and Gitovu sectors, respectively.

Agro-dealers are entrepreneurs accredited to sell and distribute seeds and fertilisers on behalf of the government, on a subsidised price.

The District Police Commander of Burera, Supt. Alex Fata said that the arrest of the trio followed an inspection by a joint committee that unearthed "inflated prices and forgeries.”

"There was information that the dealers were acting contrary to the set standards by the Ministry of Agriculture. So, a committee composed of district authorities and security organs including police and army was set up to look into this issue. It later came to light that these dealers were inflating prices and cheating farmers,” Supt. Fata said.

"This prompted thorough investigations. During investigations in Kagogo and Gitovu, we found out that the two accredited dealers had increased maize seed price from Rwf460, the set standard price by the ministry, to about Rwf1000,” he added.

"We also found out that they had forged signatures of ghost beneficiaries while in other cases, they would trick beneficiaries to just sign and they [agro-dealers] fill in the quantity for them, which is higher than what was sold.”

These, the DPC said, are acts of embezzlement.

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