Details around the property case raised by one Adolphe Riberakurora, a resident of Ruhango District, during President Paul Kagame’s citizen outreach programme on August 25 have emerged. Citizen outreach is an initiative by President Kagame to have interactions with ordinary citizens mainly focused on local government service delivery. He is on a four-day tour in Southern and Western Provinces. While addressing his issues to the President, Riberakurora claimed that Eugene Mutangana, the Head of Conservation Department in Rwanda Development Board, had illegally grabbed a property based in Nyarugunga Sector in Kicukiro District, allegedly registered to the complainant’s mother. The property, Riberakurora said, consists of a plot of land and a house. Speaking to The New Times, Mutangana said that it was his first time hearing about the man or any of his allegations. “I bought the property through auction with the district’s office [Kicukiro District] in 2019 and I have all documents proving the property purchase agreement and payment in full to their bank account,” he said. Mutangana said he later sold the property. He added that if anyone wanted to raise claims around it, they should deal with the district’s office as he bought it through legal channels, adding that he has all the documents to the effect. This was reiterated by Yolande Makolo, Government Spokesperson, who said the property had been designated an abandoned asset since 1994 and was bought legally by Mutangana. Using her Twitter handle, she said the issue was followed up promptly and clarified at a meeting in Huye District on the evening of Thursday. “The man who raised the complaint in Ruhango is the legal proxy of a Rwandan living abroad, in Canada. He is only allowed to adjust property documents,” she noted. In this case, Makolo explained, when the rightful owner shows up with a claim, the law says the District will pay the property's value minus a 10 percent legally allowed government fee. “What the complainant or legal proxy omitted to say was that the amount (proceeds of the auction) is being held for the rightful owner, as it is no longer legally possible to retrieve the property.” She added that the funds remain in the district’s account and will be given to the rightful owner when they make a claim. A plot of land or property is temporarily registered to the government after the owner has failed to register it and they can get it back once they prove ownership to a committee in charge of land management and use at the cell level. In most cases, they belong to people who are outside the country, people who could not get the land or property titles in time, or others who are still in court sorting out issues around their land titles.
