A woman in Kamonyi District dragged her husband to police after learning that the latter had sold their only family cow donated to them by the government under the Gir’Inka programme.
“The trio shared the money from the sold and slaughtered a cow and to cover up the shoddy deal, Tugirimana bought a small calf from the market and took it home to replace it with the sold cow…however, we are still investigating the case for more details but at the moment, the trio are held at Rukoma Police station,” said IP Kayigi.The Express News Rwanda
Drama ensued on the morning of August 14, when Jeannette Nyirashimimana encountered a shocking experience after finding a small calf in the kraal which her husband, John Tugirimana, had bought without her consent. She hurriedly asked her husband where the calf came from and where the family heifer was.
In the process, Nyirashimimana learnt that her husband had sold the heifer and bought a calf. Although Nyirashimimana didn’t endorse the sale, she expected her husband to have saved some money from the trade but unfortunately, he didn’t have any money on him
Upon learning about the shoddy deal, the seemingly unhappy Nyirashimimana reported her husband to police.
According to the Southern Region Police Spokesperson, Inspector of Police (IP) Emmanuel Kayigi, police immediately started the investigation that indeed proved that Tugirimana connived with two local leaders to sell the cow which was later slaughtered.
“Tugirimana together with Martin Dushimimana who is in charge of social development in Kigarama village and Emmanuel Rukundo who is in charge of the security in the same village sold the cow to Emmanuel Yatubabariye (a village chief of Remera village) who immediately slaughter it which is also illegal because he doesn’t own an abattoir.”
“The trio shared the money from the sold and slaughtered a cow and to cover up the shoddy deal, Tugirimana bought a small calf from the market and took it home to replace it with the sold cow…however, we are still investigating the case for more details but at the moment, the trio are held at Rukoma Police station,” said IP Kayigi.
The suspects in the case risk being charged with abuse and misappropriation of the gir’inka programme
The Girinka project, an anti poverty government programme aims at giving a cow to every poor family. Under the programme, when the first beneficiary’s cow gives birth, the calf is passed on to a poor person in the neighbourhood until everyone who deserves, receives a cow.
In her complaint to the police, Nyirashimimana said that her husband denied the community the benefits by selling the heifer that was due to conceiving while her family was particularly denied the opportunity of getting milk from the cow.
The Gir’inka programme was set up with the central aim of reducing child malnutrition rates and increasing household incomes of poor families. These goals are directly achieved through increased access to, and consumption of milk, by providing poor households with a heifer.
Gir’inka programme was launched 11years with a target to distribute 350,000 cows to poor households by 2017.
The Express News Rwanda