Fix legal gap on reparations

Editor,This is in response to the story, “Govt blocks controversial auction of Kigali building”, (The New Times, March, 11).

Monday, March 11, 2013
The building that is at the centre of a legal tussle over reparations to Genocide survivors. The New Times / File.

Editor,This is in response to the story, "Govt blocks controversial auction of Kigali building”, (The New Times, March, 11).It looks like the Ministry of Justice is just dealing with symptoms rather than the real cause of the matter. The matter here is lack of uniform laws concerning reparation.  Over the past 18 years, Genocide survivors have been grappling with this failure which the Ministry of Justice is responsible for.This clearly shows the legal gap in reparations. Any court provides reparations to survivors as they wish because there is no principle or law regarding this issue. The crisis meeting the minister convened looks to be a minute response to a wider issue.The law on reparation for survivors is of immediate priority if the minister wants to solve the issue in a more sustainable way.In the same vein, one wonders where the money this building has been generating over the past 18 years went to and how it was used. This sum should be the starting point to repay the Commercial Bank of Rwanda (BCR) and the Genocide survivors.Thanks The New Times for providing us with great and impartial news. You are certainly the leading newspaper in Rwanda.

Al, Kigali