30% of the land registered countrywide

The Registrar of Land Titles has so far registered 30 percent of the land around the country. This was disclosed, yesterday, by Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunzinza, the Director General and Registrar, National Land Centre, while speaking to The New Times after the demarcation and adjudication of the British High Commission premises in Kigali. “We started the exercise in July last year and, today, we are operating in all 30 districts; we have so far covered about 30% percent of the land countrywide,” he said. He said that out of the country’s estimated 8 million plots of land, over 2.4 million plots have been registered so far.Nkurunziza explained that the centre is currently demarcating and registering peoples’ plots to be able to implement the national land tenure reform programme as provided for by the National Land Policy and the organic law determining the use and management of land in Rwanda. “This programme is aimed at improving land tenure security by putting in place an efficient, transparent and equitable system of land administration,” he noted. He stressed that the benefits of land registration include certainty of ownership; increased productivity, particularly in rural areas; decline in land disputes; and use of land title as collateral. “We call upon the people of Kigali to register their plots of land; we are aware that they are very busy with work during weekdays but we are working on weekends too to ensure that they come up and have their lands demarcated and registered,” he said. According to Stanislas Kamanzi, the Minister of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources, the government made it a policy to register all land in the country. “When you register your land, you have full ownership. You can sell it and transfer your land title to another person if you want,” he said. Prior to 2005, all the land belonged to the government. He added that the land centre targets to register all plots of land in Kigali City and 50 percent of the land in other parts of the country by end of next June. Speaking after the demarcation of the UK High Commission’s premises, the UK High Commissioner to Rwanda, Nicholas Cannon, hailed the exercise, describing it as a critical tool for the people of Rwanda. “We (the UK) are strong supporters of the land tenure regularization programme and we have been supporting it since it began,” he said. Ends