However, some citizens in the country are yet to enjoy the benefits besides fears of losing the property some have owned for about a century while blaming the problems on land registration officers in their communities.
Espérance Mukangeze is yet to benefit anything from the good move in land management and use after nine years since the land she tills and lives on was mapped. She lives in Kaganza Cell, Tare Sector of Nyamagabe District in the Southern Rwanda.
“There are poor land title services in our sector. We have always visited the sector’s office for these years to only be told our land titles are yet to be available. We are desperate now,” says elderly Makangeze.
“The effects are so huge. Save tilling this land, we are denied a lot of services like acquiring construction permits, bank loans, subsidised fertilisers and seeds as other farmers…we have fear of losing this land as no ownership proof we have got yet. We need help to have our land titles.”
Virginie Muhawenimana strongly faulted Tare Sector’s land officer Prosper Karangwa for delaying land title transfer for the land she bought in March 2016, causing her losses over paying the service fee four times as the fee keeps expiring every three months.
“I bought a land plot at Rwf80,000 with the approval of the sector’s office and I started the land title transfer process right away but I have lost Rwf20,000 in the process without having the document,” she said.
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Karangwa blamed the delay in issuing land titles on the owners and rigorous requirements that some people have failed to provide.
“Some couples fail to provide a marriage certificate yet it is required by the law while others share the land with inmates who do not have national identity cards yet they are required for issuing land titles. Others lost their land survey papers which were provided during the general mapping process that required Rwf1,000 fee only and they cannot afford to pay private surveyors now standing at Rwf45,000. Others fail to provide proof of their partners’ death because they died in exile,” said the land officer.
“But most suffer lack of marriage certificates especially those who got married long ago like in the 1950s. Officials in charge of civil status can help with easing the issuance of the certificates because some people are now required to go to court of law when their marriage records are not available.”
Karangwa added that when a land owner provides all the requirements, the land title is issued within a maximum of 21 days.
Commenting on Muhawenimana’s case, Karangwa said she bought the land from someone who didn’t have the land title in her name while she has a brother who partakes on that land which belonged to their deceased parents.
Land Chief Registrar Espérance Mukamana told IGIHE last Thursday that marriage certificates are issued by local governments to allow both spouses feature on the land title but issuing those certificates is not such hard because most of the marriages done before 1994 do not have written proofs.
“Neighbours of the couple can witness their legal marital union and that is considered. Local governments should ease the issuance of those certificates to help citizens and I know it is easy in many parts of the country. Land officers should also consult with civil status officers to help those people. For us, we have the requirements but local leaders determine how people access those requirements,” said the national land official.
Ms. Mukamana added that land title transfer has been made easier through Irembo portal where it takes a maximum of seven days from the previous 12 days and encouraged the citizens to report land officers who give them poor services when they have submitted all the requirements.
Rwanda has 26,338 square Kilometre of surface with an estimate of 11.4 million land parcels demarcated while 8.4 million titles were issued by 2015.
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