Contrary to popular belief, not all people who had big chunks of land in the Eastern Province had grabbed it, Nyagatare District Mayor, Robert Kashemeza has said.

The New Times’ GODFREY NTAGUNGIRA sounded out the Mayor, who is also a member of the land redistribution commission, on a number of issues concerning the land re-distribution exercise. Below are the excerpts.

TNT: How many people have so far benefited from the land redistribution exercise?

Kashemeza: Over 2,227 people have so far benefited from the exercise. The beneficiaries are grouped into two categories; in the first category we have those who got land for cultivation, while the second category is composed of those who were given land for livestock farming. There are 2,171 beneficiaries in the first category and each got one hectare. While 56 were given land for livestock farming.

TNT: Some people whose land has been redistributed say they had not grabbed, but bought their land, some as early as before the 1994 Genocide. Is it true all the redistributed land had been grabbed?

Kashemeza: My answer is no. There are scores of people who were given land by previous local leaders, and a few who bought the land using their own finances. Another category is those who lived in the area before the 1994 Genocide.

Let me put this right; the commission does not consider how one acquired the land, what we are stressing is sharing land with the landless irrespective of the mode of acquiring it.

There are many people who were given land officially by their leaders and there are others who bought it using their finances, but despite the circumstances under which they got land they have to comply with a collective principle.

TNT: What criteria did you use to determine the amount of hectares one received? I understand some have got one, others two, while others got more than that?

Kashemeza: The amount of land to be redistributed was reached at in a meeting we held with President Paul Kagame on 25 June 2007 at Umutara Polytechnic hall with all parties concerned. In the meeting we resolved that the maximum of land was 25 hectares only to those who had bigger chunks of land.

For those who need land for cultivation, it was agreed that they would be given one hectare each, but again the fertility of the area also determines how much one gets. Let me give you an example in sectors of Karama, Gatunda and Tabagwe, their soil is very fertile. That’s why you heard some people were given a different size of land than those in Karangazi or other places across the district.

TNT: There are cases of people complaining that they have been deprived of all their land and at times relocated to other places, often very far from their residences. What is your take on that?

Kashemeza: Such cases happened in sectors of Karama, Tabagwe where livestock farms are located in the middle of residential areas where people need land for cultivation. These Sectors being best suited for cultivators, it explains how we came up with that scenario.

We gave them the opportunity to determine any place of their choice suitable for livestock farming and many liked where they were relocated. And again, there’s this opportunity to choose where they want to settle, a good example of one Sam Nkusi whao was relocated from Nyagatare district to Rwangingo in Gatsibo district, I got reports that the place is good and he liked it.

TNT: Assuming a parent and his children own different hectares of land, in the redistribution do you consider both separately or you treat the case as one. In that case can one of them be denied the right to the recommended hectares on the account of the other?

Kashemeza: The exercise is not about giving an inheritance to the children of someone. What happens for example for a parent with seven sons, they get a family head among them who gets the 25 hectares and others get 10, this applies for those who had big land.

We give them time to select someone they trust among them, for us we don’t indulge ourselves in their home affairs because our job is not to give land as their family inheritance.

TNT: Have you had cases where a person refuses to comply with the directives of the land commission to vacate his /her plot after being redistributed? If yes how do you handle such a case?

Kashemeza: So far people have positively responded. We only got one case in Karama where Maj. John Sengati refused to comply with the commission, but the institution he belongs to [RDF] will handle the case. I’m not an authority on that so I won’t give more details since the major belongs to another institution. However, the commission is very flexible but principled.

TNT: What impact do you expect after the commission accomplishes its task in Nyagatare district?

Kashemeza: If all things go as planned, we expect to have finished the exercise by May in Nyagatare alone.

TNT: What other positive results do you expect after the exercise comes to an end?

Kashemeza: Despite the distribution of land to landless residents, this exercise would reduce land related problems, and secondly at the end of this exercise we expect the production from land to peak.

TNT: What do you have to say about the people who benefited from the first phase of land redistribution exercise which was presided over by President Paul Kagame?

Kashemeza: They have already resettled in their newly-acquired land after giving original occupants time to prepare.

What we are going to do is to sensitize them not over - stock their land. We shall sensitize them on how to adopt modern methods of farming to get more production from their land.

Ends