• Over 70 % not registered

The Mayor of Kigali City, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, has revealed that within one year, the city would have registered all residents’ properties in a move to have them formalized. She named the properties to include houses which will be numbered upon registration.

This came up Wednesday in a Nyarugenge District public meeting that brought the mayor together with all local leaders within the district and residents.

The district officials were given a chance to seek redress for different problems faced by residents. It emerged during the session that most complaints arising from the public were related to real estate.

The Mayor revealed that currently about 70 percent of Kigali City residents don’t have legal papers justifying their properties, a fact that, according to her, may result into a big misunderstanding within the community if no strong measures are taken.

"Your property should be yours even when you don’t have legal papers,” she said, explaining why such a move is necessary to avoid repetition of the problem in the future.

She later explained in an interview that the process to register resident’s properties will be carried out with the help of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA), starting with picturing and numbering people’s homes in all their villages.

Almost all the questions that were brought before the city authorities in the meeting were related to family misunderstandings over property and expropriation issues, a number of them dating from the period just after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.

It was also clear that a number of residents could have been misled during the process of claiming back their properties, some of them not even knowing exactly what the law stipulates about their rights to property.

The City Mayor was also quick to point out that many residences are built in disorder and should be rectified, but with respect to people’s rights.

She however expressed satisfaction about the importance of such meetings, pointing out that it is one way to hold local leaders more accountable, urging them to closely follow up people’s problems.

Ends