Residents of Kinyinya sector whose land had been valued for compensation by an investment consortium have regained it following a directive from the Prime Minister’s office. The land in Ngaruyinka village was evaluated in April 2008 by the Housing Bank and Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) in which 1028 residents were to be compensated within a period of three months, but only 127 were remunerated. The residents had since been refused to put up any infrastructure or use the land in any way pending expropriation. The directive comes after a petition by the affected residents, who complained that they were prevented from utilizing their land and yet no compensation had come through for the over one year. The residents pointed an accusing finger at Gasabo Mayor Claudine Nyinawagaga, whom they say did little to solve their problem. “All the residents whose property was evaluated but have not been compensated have full authority over their land and can use it for their personal interests but in accordance with the Law,” reads part of the letter signed by Vincent Ryamugema, the director of cabinet in the Prime Minister’s Office. The letter, dated July 3 was also copied to the Mayor of Gasabo and the Minister of Local Government. Besides payments, residents claim that since the evaluation exercise, they were barred from any farming activities on the land. Despite the directives from the PM’s office, the residents insist that the mayor should also put it in writing confirming that they have access to their land to protect the from future eviction,. “We fear to put the land to use before getting a letter from the mayor because it is her and her team that gave out the land…we are afraid that developers may take it from us if we don’t have the mayor’s letter,” a representative of the residents’ Fulgence Seminega said. The land was supposed to be jointly developed by the Rwanda Housing Bank (BHR) and the National Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR). Last month, Gervais Ntaganda, the Director General of BHR said during an interview that the reason the payments delayed was because of the Global Financial Crisis, but had promised that the payments would be made soon. However, when contacted Tuesday, Ntaganda claimed that all residents had been duly compensated. Ends
