The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has said that although the law regarding expropriation came into force in 2015, the country’s citizens are still being treated unfairly during the process to relocate them for purposes of general public interest.

Expropriation is done by the State in order to pave the way for public interest projects such as roads, energy projects and other public infrastructure projects.

This was said by the President of the Commission Marie Claire Mukasine during the ceremony to officially launch a report produced following a survey conducted by her commission on the respect of human rights during the expropriation process.

Mukasine said that the land price references are not annually published as required by the law and do not fully reflect the market value.

"We recommend that acceptable scientific methods in establishing and publishing the annual property reference prices are put in place and made accessible and understandable to the local community,” she said.  

The report also indicates that there are loopholes in the law and calls on the Ministry of Justice and the Rwanda Law Reform Commission in particular to amend the law as one of the ways to deliver fair citizens to all the parties involved.

"Whenever the legal 120 days elapse and the additional suggested limited delay ends, the disturbance allowance rate should be applied as a compound rate to commensurate with the market changes,” it suggests.

The Numbers

The survey was conducted in 1337 households and 57 institutions that are directly linked to expropriation.

The survey indicated that 85.8 percent indicated that they were sensitised about the process and why it was necessary while 14.2 percent said that they were not told anything.

It also indicates that 47.2 percent of the locals that are expropriated say that they were compensated on time, 16.4 percent said the compensation delayed while 29.4 percent say that they were not compensated.

Delay in payment

A previous report from the Ministry of infrastructure indicates that the government had acknowledged that it still owed monies to people who have previously been expropriated.

As of March this year, the government owed Rwf33bn in expropriation fees, in monies covering both 2019/2020 projects and some years before.

Nyarugenge district owes the most money at Rwf3.8bn followed by Kicukiro at Rwf1.1bn. 

The others that owe significant amounts include Gicumbi with arrears worth Rwf760m, Muhanga Rwf407m, Gasabo Rwf555m, Burera Rwf293, Gakenke Rwf228m, Ngorerero Rwf190 and Nyanza Rwf157.

While the above amounts are owed by the local government, the central government owes more.

Of the Rwf 33bn, Rwf31bn (97 percent) is owed by the central government. The local government owes a paltry Rwf2.7bn (3 percent).