Alert over forged land titles

MUHANGA – Banks and other financial institutions should be wary of the prevalent forged land titles so as to take appropriate measures while offering loans to their clients.The warning was sounded by Eng. Didier Giscard Sagashya, the Deputy Director General in charge of land and mapping at the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA).This was during an interview held on the sidelines of training on laws regulating the land registration process which brought together members of districts’ land commissions from across the country.According to Sagashya, four people have been discovered only in Kigali trying to use forged land ownership certificates to secure loans in banks.“Banks approached us after they suspected the fraudulent loan seekers. After a thorough analysis of the documents, we realised they were actually forged,” he said, noting that the cases would be submitted to prosecution for further investigations.“It is the responsibility of banks to verify that the certificates are genuine wherever they are to offer loans. When in doubt, we are ready to help them verify the authenticity of such titles.”When The New Times contacted Kigali based commercial banks’ management, they said the practice is now being dealt with.“We had two cases of that kind, but since the introduction of land registration, we haven’t yet had such fraudulent cases again,” the Chief Operations Officer of Bank of Kigali, Lawson Naibo, told The New Times yesterday.He added that now the bank verifies the land titles with the land registration office before sealing the deal with a client.KCB Rwanda’s Managing Director, Maurice K. Toroitich, also said the bank was aware of such fraudulent incidences.“We know such incidences exist and that’s why we don’t approve a loan on just land security, we now first confirm with land administration authorities,” Toroitich said.Sagashya, noted that in order to curb such illegal actions, they are looking into ways of connecting banks and financial institutions to the Land Administration Information System (LAIS), a web-based tool used in the process of land registration and certificates issuance.LAIS was introduced to create a more efficient, cost effective, quick and transparent land registration processes.In 2004, the government formulated a national land policy that will help guarantee a safe and stable form of land tenure. Before then, Rwanda had never had a proper land policy, according to officials.In order to define and decide how the land registration process should be carried out, a ministerial decree determining modalities of registration was enacted in 2008, with land registration process getting underway a year later.One of the benefits of the land registration had been that of enabling residents to acquire bank loans.The issuance of land titles is set to be completed by December 2013.Land rowsDistricts Land Commissions are composed of five persons, as per the Presidential order determining the structure, the responsibilities, the functioning and the composition of land commissions.The Commissions have the responsibility, among others, of advising authorities and the population on how to settle land related disputes.Opening the training, the Minister of Natural Resources Stanislas Kamanzi, urged the attendants to contribute to solving land rows and noted that their role is very important in putting an end to disputes arising between individuals, in most cases family members, over failures to agree on who should gain the title as the land owner.In the past, land officials had complained that conflicts among family members are the main challenges to the land registration process. Sagashya said this is still a challenge and attributed it mainly to polygamy.

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Alert over forged land titles