We want to see land transfer fees changed or reduced

We want to see land transfer fees changed or reduced– Nkurunziza By The New Times July 16, 2012Share

The Director General of Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA), Emmanuel Nkurunziza. The New Times / John Mbanda.The Director General of Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA), Emmanuel Nkurunziza, has said they are planning to remove or reduce land transfer fees which continue to be a burden to Rwandan citizens.

The New Times’ Frank Kanyesigye caught up with Nkurunziza who explained about the formal ownership of land in the country and his institution’s achievements and challenges.

Below are the  extracts: 

Q: Land registration was completed, why the initiative to kick off this programme?

A: The land registration was based on the national land policy which was put in place in 2004. It was established after analysing the key land issues in the country and one of the things that were identified was lack of tenure security.

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Gov’t to sensitize public about Land transfer procedures

Emmanuel Nkurunziza

Rwandans need to be sensitised about the formal procedures of land transfers in the country, says Emmanuel Nkurunziza, the Director General of Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA).

He made the remarks this week in an interview with The Sunday Times.

“We have finished registering land and the next stage is to carry out awareness and communication to enable the public understand the proper procedures of land transfer if they want to transfer their land from one person to another,” he said.

The land registration process that was completed last month saw 10.3 million parcels registered countrywide. Out of this, 10,600 families involved in land wrangles were recorded.

Most of the land conflicts are largely among family members who failed to agree on sharing land especially in polygamous families.

“We have come to realise that people don’t know proper procedures of land transfers. They sell their parcels to others and forget to sign a transfer agreement at the office of the land notary,” Nkurunziza noted.

He stated that, if people want to transfer their land, they are required to sign a transfer agreement at the office of the land notary who is the district land officer. Basing on that form; the land body would be in position to change ownership from one person to another.

The awareness campaign will focus on explaining to the public how to transfer their land after a transaction, get land titles, and transfer from the original holder to the new one among others.

Land demarcation and adjudication was supposed to end by June this year while the issuing of land titles is set to end by December 2013.

People who want to transfer their land; pay a notarisation fee of Rwf 20,000 but the land body wants to see the fee scraped or reduced.

“We are working out a model where we can exempt some people from this fee or reduce it to make sure it is commensurate to the value of the property that has been transacted,” said Nkurunziza.

In 2004, the government enacted an organic law on land to guarantee a safe and stable form of land tenure. Prior to that, the country never had a proper land policy.

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15054&a=12422

Malawian delegation visits local NGO

Malawian Ombundsman Justice Tujilane Chizumila (L) chats with the deputy Ombundsman of Rwanda Bernadette Kanzayire on arrival. The New Times / File.

Governments should consider combining forces with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to serve the interest of the population.

The observation was made by the Executive Secretary of the Ombudsman of Malawi, Ellos E. Lodzeni, at the headquarters of the Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD).

Lodzeni is part of a Malawian delegation on a week-long visit to the country led by his country’s Ombudsman, Justice Tujilane Chizumila.

“From what we have learnt, CSO`s and governments should coordinate since they are both working towards a common goal of serving the interests of citizens,” said Chizumila said.

His observation came shortly after an interactive meeting between RISD staff and the delegation. RISD is a local NGO dealing with land related issues. The organisation has a pact with  the Office of the Ombudsman among other institutions and organisations.

“Although local authorities get down to the grassroots, CSO`s have mechanisms through which they get information concerning challenges the population face,” he said.

During the visit, the delegation requested for further information on how the local ombudsman’s office deals with private individuals and RISD’s role on the same.

The Malawians noticeably pointed out that their ombudsman’s office solely deals with public issues.   

The Director of RISD, Annie Kairaba, highlighted her organisation’s activities in solving land related issues especially those involving vulnerable people.

“In case we consult some ministries concerning challenges citizens face and they fail to respond, it is very easy for us to seek the intervention from the office of the ombudsman because of the MoU we have,” Kairaba explained.

She explained that RISD had played a significant role in building the capacity of the “Abunzi” (mediators) saying they have been effective in solving land disputes during the on-going land reforms.

http://www.risdrwanda.org/spip.php?article157&var_mode=calcul

Public urged to make good use of mediators

Tharcisse Karugarama.

The government wants over 90 per ent of cases to be settled by community mediators to enable higher legal officers concentrate on other development projects in the Ministry of Justice.

This was said by the Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama, while addressing Mageregere residents in Nyarugenge District.

Karugarama said the government wants Rwandans to solve conflicts within their respective communities by local mediators, commonly known as Abunzi, without necessarily going through courts.

Community mediators are  traditionally based services aimed at helping reduce cases that are handled by the mainstream courts of law.

“This business of taking your cases to courts is a waste of time where you move from court to court yet it could be solved by mediators,”

“We are currently building more capacity for the mediators so that they handle all the cases emerging from the communities hence seeing all Rwandans having access to quality justice,” Karugarama said, adding that courts will only handle cases that the mediators cannot handle. Some of them include cases involving money above Rwf3 million and murder cases.

There are over 30,000 community mediators in the country with every district having access to a justice bureau that provides free legal services to the local mediators.

Speaking to The New Times, one of the residents, a 60-year-old and a father of six, John Murisa, said the local mediators have helped his village.

“The mediators have contributed much towards unity and reconciliation in this area because cases are settled by residents themselves,” Murisa said. However, some mediators said they lack basic training on how to handle some of the cases.

“If we could have thorough training on some cases related to finance and land conflicts which we normally receive, it would improve our operations,” Jean Pierre Habimana, one of Mageregere’s local mediators, told this paper. 

A survey conducted recently by Transparency International-Rwanda (TI-RW) on behalf of Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), indicates that 75.9 percent of people who refer their cases to local mediators have full trust in the committees.

The survey indicates that public satisfaction with the mediators’ activities to provide justice stands at 76 percent with their integrity rated at 81.5 per cent. The overall performance stands at 77.2 percent.

Article by Fred Ndoli, Newtimes.
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15037&a=55321

LandNet Rwanda Chapter to receive a delegation from South Sudan to learn about the Land Reform Process in Rwanda.

LandNet Rwanda Chapter is the first and the only network in Rwanda that deals with land issues. It is therefore viewed by various actors as a major opportunity in Rwanda in strengthening the capacity of civil society to engage in policy issues, as the best way towards sustainable development.

It is in this regard that on 13^th June, 2012, a delegation from South Sudan which has been in Rwanda from 11^th to 14^th June 2012 to learn from experience of Rwanda on the Land Reform, is visiting LandNet Rwanda Chapter members to discuss and learn from the experience of LandNet members on the role and contributions of the CSO in the Rwanda Land Reform. The visit will be held at Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), the current coordinator and host of LandNet Rwanda chapter.