GACACA AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The release into the community of tens of thousands of detainees, most of whom are young or middle-aged Hutu males, is commonly viewed as bolstering the nation's workforce, particularly in the agriÂcultural sector.
There is consequently a strong connection between reducing the number of detainees in Rwanda's jails and fostering ecoÂnomic development. As highlighted in this section, all three groups of sources analysed discuss gacaca's role in increasing the economic well-being of Rwandans.The material needs of the population after the genocide are immense, as many people still suffer from a lack of food, adequate shelter, clothing and access to medical care. The extent to which anxiety over materÂial well-being consumes the population is underscored in the findings of surveys conducted by Gasibirege and Babalola. Of 1,676 Rwandans asked to identify the country's major social problems after the genocide, 81.9 per cent cited poverty and economic hardship, while only 12.6 per cent cited the trial of genocide suspects and 4.4 per cent listed emotional problems resulting from the genocide.[412] The researchers emphasise that their findings are not intended to undermine the importance of the population's legal and psychosocial needs after the genocide but rather to highlight that everyday material deficiencies also require a remedy. â€?[M]ost of the problems of poverty', Gasibirege and Babalola argue, â€?are perceived to be directly linked with the genocide and thereby expected to be resolved through the gacaca process. Concomitantly, with efforts aimed at resolving the issue of the trial of genocide suspects, attention to poverty alleviation would minimize social unrest and help ensure a lastÂing peaceful environment in the country'.[413]
This section shows that official, popular and critical sources interÂpret gacaca as fostering economic development at three different levels: individual, community and national. As a result, these sources argue that gacaca will contribute to economic development in three distinct ways.
First, some sources argue that gacaca will enable the release of large numbers of able-bodied prisoners into the commuÂnity, thus bolstering the national workforce, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, many released detainees, if they are found guilty of relaÂtively low-level genocide crimes at gacaca, can commute part of their sentences to group labour, which involves work programmes designed to benefit communities in a tangible, material sense. Second, some sources argue that releasing detainees will minimise, for both the govÂernment and detainees' loved ones, the maintenance costs associated with providing food, clothing and shelter for suspects in prison. Third, according to some sources, gacaca will improve the material wellÂbeing of many genocide survivors through compensation, either from the government or convicted perpetrators.This section argues that, primarily, commentators on gacaca, and especially Rwandan observers, associate gacaca with economic develÂopment. To a lesser extent, the government also argues that economic development is an important objective of gacaca, while the population appears in the main to reject this claim. Analysing the views of the three groups of sources, this section argues that in most instances the link between gacaca and economic development is overstated and that too many factors beyond the remit of gacaca affect the population's material conditions.