Sectors to certify land transactions

Delivery of notary services in transactions involving land and other immovable properties is set to improve significantly following the publication in the Official Gazette of a law that decentralises the services to the sector level. This means that notaries for land transactions will gradually increase from the current 30 (corresponding the number of districts) to 416, one each sector, thereby taking the vital service closer to the people. The new law came into force late last month, according to officials. Land, a major factor of production, is tipped to play a major role in the country’s socio-economic transformation, especially after a nationwide registration process that culminated into the issuance of land titles to owners for the first time in Rwanda’s history. “Now that we have the law in place districts are expected to expedite the process to recruit or appoint notaries at the sector level…we hope this will result in a significant drop in the backlog of land transaction cases,” Eng. Didier Giscard Sagashya, deputy director general (lands and mapping) at the National Natural Resources Authority (RNA) told The New Times. He acknowledged that members of the public waited longer to access land related notary services, a situation he attributed to the small number of officers previously mandated to provide the service. Under the previous arrangement, the process to validate documents about land transactions stared from the district level, by the notary, also known as the district land officer. After a transaction is certified at the district level, it is then forwarded to the NRA for further examination and subsequent entry into the Land Management Information System. ‘Flexible law’ However, the new law decentralises more land services to the sector level, with the notary at the sector having powers to certify and authenticate contracts for transfer of land titles and other immovable properties. The new legislation is also flexible enough to avoid situations where those seeking notary services fail to get attended to because the person in charge is out of office, Sagashya said. In case a sector notary is absent from duty for two days their services will be provided by a counterpart in a neighbouring sector in the same district upon the approval of the district mayor. The law also allows for the increase of notaries in a given district but that can only happen after the line minister has given the green light to the district mayor. Sagashya said that after the recruitment of the notaries for land and other transactions involving immovable assets, they would embark on a capacity building drive to empower the officers with the required skills and provide them with the necessary equipment. The New Times understands that the Southern Province has already recruited the notaries in need and they would be commencing training in their new roles effective July. It also emerged that some sectors may not necessarily recruit new officers; rather they will assign the responsibilities to existing staff. This is the case in Nyamagabe District, Southern Province. “In our structure, we already have land settlement and infrastructure officers at the sector level, who can easily carry out this new responsibility. We may not need to recruit new staff,” said Philbert Mugisha, the district mayor. All notaries are required to take the oath of office before a competent authority. Gasabo woes The New Times last week reported that clients seeking land-related services at Gasabo District had gone for six months without being attended to following the dismissal of the former district notary. Gasabo mayor Willy Ndizeye admitted to the anomaly, blaming instructions from the Ministry of Public Service and Labour that barred recruitment of public servants until the next fiscal year, which starts next month. Sagashya said Gasabo notary cases accumulated so much the notaries of the other urban districts of Kicukiro and Nyarugenge could not make a significant difference when they were called in to offer support. “Besides, these too had their own cases to attend to.” But those awaiting notary services from Gasabo may soon see their woes addressed after it was decided that, effective today, district notaries from across the country will converge at the district for one week to clear the pending cases. This, Sagashya said, is part of the ongoing national ‘Land Week’ which has seen district notaries move from one jurisdiction to another to lend a hand in easing pressure on the one officer previously mandated to provide the notary services to an entire district. The ‘Land Week’ was launched on May 27, and besides clearing the backlog of applications it also helps address land land-related disputes as well as sensitise people about land rights.