STATUS OF LAND REFORM

UNCLAS KIGALI 000463

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DEPT FOR EB/IFD/OMA AND EB/IFD/ODF
DEPT FOR AF, AF/C AND AF/EPS
DEPT PASS TO USAID FOR AFR/EA, PPC, AND AFR/SD

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E.O. 12958: N/A


TAGS: ECON ELAB PGOV EAGR RW
SUBJECT: STATUS OF LAND REFORM


SUMMARY
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1. Land ownership has been a major issue of conflict
throughout much of Rwanda's history, and 80 percent of
current legal disputes involve land. The GOR adopted a land
law in 2005, which made it the final owner of all land in
Rwanda and provided for leases of up to ninety-nine years;
however, many issues remain unresolved. A series of
complementary laws have recently been drafted to clarify
some of those issues, with the goals of resolving and
preventing conflicting land claims and establishing a land
system which fosters economic development and investment.
Various donors, most notably UK's Department for
International Development (DFID) and USAID, have been
involved in the development of the land law.


2. As with many reforms, Rwanda's land reform will
inevitably benefit some while disadvantaging others,
especially as there are so many competing claims and the
issues are extremely complex. Nonetheless, the current
proposals are generally seen as progressive and well-
considered. While the majority of farmers have plot sizes
smaller than the new minimum of one hectare, provisions have
been made for communal ownership. Futhermore, more specific
guidelines and processes have been defined for government
expropriation, in direct response to initial complaints on
the 2005 land law. Finally, land valuation now includes
both the land itself and the property on it. While the
government's restructuring and need to clarify some issues
have delayed implementation of the land law, the GOR
recognizes the need for land reform and is attempting to
prevent further delay so as not to hamper economic
development. END SUMMARY.

BACKGROUND
--------------

3. Land is the foundation of the national economy, as an
estimated 82 percent of the population is engaged in
subsistence agriculture and most of the territory of Rwanda
is farmland. In Rwanda two additional factors make land a
highly important and contested issue. First, Rwanda has the
highest population density in Africa, creating tremendous
pressure on land in a country where most of the population
lives in rural areas and where agriculture remains the
central economic activity. Second, Rwanda is recovering
from massive population shifts caused by decades of ethnic
strife and the 1994 civil war and genocide, which resulted
in displaced populations and overlapping claims to land.
Land remains a key point of contention and insecurity in
Rwanda.


4. The average size of a household farming plot in Rwanda is
just 0.6 hectares. A cultivation plot economically viable
for a Rwandan household should be at least 0.9 hectares,
according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO). Traditionally Rwanda's small farmers
divided their land between their children. Given the small
size of the average plot, this customary practice is no
longer sustainable. Further exacerbating the problem, the
population is projected to double to 16 million by 2020.
This will place further pressure on the already tiny plot
sizes.


2005 LAND LAW
--------------

5. President Paul Kagame signed an important law outlining
the use and management of land on July 14, 2005. The law
stipulates that the government has sole authority to
regulate ownership and use of land. According to the
Minister of Lands, the 2005 Land Law aims to: (1) formally
recognize land rights and support a land market; (2) resolve
uncertainty over landholdings caused by the country's post-
conflict situation; and (3) encourage consolidated use,
increased productivity, and improved stewardship of land.


6. In April 2006, the Rwandan Cabinet established a Land
Task Force to oversee the implementation of the Land Law.
It works under the authority of the Minister of State in
Charge of Land and in coordination with the DFID Land Reform
Team. The existence of the Land Task Force should help
improve the efficiency and communicativeness of the Ministry
of Lands and Environment (MINITERE) and facilitate continued
collaboration among MINITERE, DFID, and USAID. The Task
Force includes a soil and land management specialist, a
lawyer from the Ombudsman's Office, a former provincial
agricultural officer, and a Housing Bank officer. These
members have been seconded to the Task Force on a full-time
basis for one year.


7. A series of complementary laws, further clarifying and
defining the 2005 Land Law, has been drafted with the aid of
USAID-funded consultants and a DFID Land Tenure Reform Team,
housed within MINITERE.

VALUATION
--------------

8. MINITERE and the new Land Task Force are revising a draft
valuation law which establishes a body to oversee the market-
based valuation of land and establishes a professional
association of valuers. The valuation profession created by
this law will also support Rwanda's growing land market. A
key change is that valuations will now include the actual
land itself, and not just the property on it.


9. The law aims to establish a mechanism to determine market
prices for land and replacement value of improvements (such
as buildings). MINITERE plans to finalize this draft by the
end of 2006. Currently, most land valuation is based on a
series of outdated improvement schedules developed a decade
ago.


EXPROPRIATION
--------------

10. An expropriation law, drafted with the assistance of
USAID-funded consultants, has been approved by the
Cabinet and has been submitted to Parliament. Its
purpose is to define expropriation and the public
interest in an attempt to regulate conditions under which
the government can expropriate land. The draft law
provides a thorough and participatory process for
determining the value of expropriated land. Under
earlier legislation, landholders were only compensated
for the value of improvements to their land, but not for
the value of the land itself. The current draft
legislation states that landholders must be compensated
for the value of the land itself in addition to
improvements, and that compensation should be based on
market value at the time of expropriation.


11. According to the new land law, the land leased to
individuals must be used in a "productive" way, which is
defined by the law as using the land to farm a crop in a way
that protects it from soil erosion, safeguards its
fertility, and ensures its protection in a sustainable way.
If the land is not "productive," it can be expropriated by
the state after a written warning that it a) has remained
unused for three or more years, b) has been allowed to
degrade, and c) has been requisitioned by the government.
Francois Ngarambe, the president of the Genocide Survivors
Organization, Ibuka, expressed concern over the implication
of this provision on orphans who lost their parents during
the genocide, but have not had the means to make their
inherited land productive. However, given the importance
the GOR places on supporting genocide survivors, it is
highly unlikely the GOR would intentionally disadvantage
genocide orphans. It is also possible, though not yet
clear, that "unproductive" use may include the growing of
crops that do not fit within the overall government plan
devised by the Ministry of Agriculture. Senior government
officials have emphasized, however, that they expect to be
able to convince farmers to voluntarily shift to crops that
will provide higher incomes.


LAND COMMISSIONS
--------------

12. The Land Law calls for land commissions to be
established at the "national, provincial, and district and
town level." The duties, composition, and organization of
these land commissions will be defined in an upcoming land
commissions law. As a result of the recent local government
re-districting, however, the commissions will likely be
created only at the national and district levels, with the
district-level commissions having contact with the sector
level through possible sector land committees. These sector
land committees would conduct any necessary field work or
local consultations, but their decisions would be subject to
the approval of the district land commissions.


LAND TENURE
--------------

13. The GOR is drafting a land tenure law, with assistance
from DFID and USAID-funded consultants, to more clearly
define the land rights of citizens and investors and the
tenure system. The GOR is currently defined by law as the
final owner of all land in Rwanda, offering leases that
"shall not be for a period of less than three years or more
than ninety-nine years." The 2005 Land Law also attempts to
encourage consolidation of agricultural plots to improve
commercial viability. The law prohibits subdivision of a
parcel of land reserved for agriculture smaller than one
hectare. This provision of the law is geared towards
preventing the dividing of land into unsustainably small
plots, given that 82 percent of Rwandans are engaged in
subsistence farming, with an average plot sizes of a sub-
optimal 0.6 hectares. Rwandan families are generally large,
and this limitation has the potential to create conflict
among possible inheritors, given the relative dearth of off-
farm employment opportunities.


REGISTRATION
--------------


14. A two-tiered land registration system has been proposed
to ensure proper registration: a less formal system for
rural areas and a more sophisticated system for urban areas
and high-value land. Currently, two separate systems are
used within Rwanda -- one by the City of Kigali within the
city limits and another by MINITERE everywhere else in the
country. The DFID team has been working with the City of
Kigali to better understand the workings of its system. A
requirement that the city decentralize these duties to the
new district level, however, has delayed the process.


15. The land rights recording system overseen by MINITERE is
straightforward within the Ministry, but is murky at the
local level. The existing system is set up to issue land
rights certificates to landholders who have received
allocated land from the government for a specific purpose
(such as a plantation or a hotel). This system has also
been used to recognize existing land rights if the land in
question is to be used in accordance with a specific-use
plan. The procedures were not established for the purpose
of recognizing and recording land rights generally, but
seemingly have been adjusted for such use if requested by
landholders. Under the existing system MINITERE issues land
rights certificates based on the recommendation of the
relevant local authority. The Minister of State in Charge
of Land stated that while local authorities are expected to
investigate the validity of a land claim, no specific
requirements exist to guide their investigation. The
Minister acknowledged that in some cases this lack of
guidance has resulted in unfair land giveaways and collusion
between local authorities and persons interested in land,
with the latter seeking to have land rights certificates
issued without a proper investigation. MINITERE is
committed to preventing such abuses and correcting problems
if they occur.


WOMEN'S RIGHTS
--------------

16. The 2005 Land Law states that men and women shall have
equal rights to land, but does not offer guidance on this
point, making reference merely to the existing inheritance
law, rather than improving the ability of women to claim
land.


17. Women in Rwanda are heavily involved in, and dependent
on, agriculture. Despite their use of and dependence on
land, their access to land generally hinges on their
relationships with their birth or marital families and they
rarely hold land in their own right. Women's land rights is
a particularly critical issue in Rwanda where 34 percent of
all households are headed by women as a result of the civil
war and genocide. Women seek to support themselves and
their families in an environment of general land pressure
and insecurity while at the same time facing customary
restrictions on landholding. Such customary restrictions
include limits on women's acquisition and retention of land
rights through inheritance, purchase, or other means. In
order to gain access to land, many women joined agricultural
associations after the 1994 civil war, which have access to
land through rental or temporary provisions of land from the
government, but also usually lack long-term land tenure
security.


18. The government has already taken steps to strengthen
women's rights through an Inheritance Law, passed in 1999,
that grants women equal inheritance rights and also provides
for the protection of property rights within marriage. The
reach of the law is limited, however, both because it
contradicts customary practices and also because it applies
only to legal, officially registered marriages, which are
uncommon in rural areas, and only to legitimate children.


19. USAID and DFID do not currently have plans to directly
address gender in the context of land rights. Additional
steps are needed to support women's land rights, such as
amendments to legislation to protect women in informal/non-
registered marriages, and the children produced in these
marriages. It will also be critically important to continue
and expand civic education on the new land law and to
provide women access to legal aid. Education and legal
assistance could be provided through Rwanda's women's
associations.


IMPLEMENTATION
--------------

20. A pilot implementation project is planned for the autumn
of 2006 in four districts. The laws will be further refined
based on this pilot project before nationwide implementation
and drafting of subsequent legislation on land use planning,
land market professionals (surveyors and valuers),
condominium development, land taxation, and public land
management.


21. On May 2, at the beginning of the Senate extraordinary
session, Senator Joseph Karemera complained that delaying
the implementation of the land law is stalling development.
Karemera argued that many Rwandans are hesitant to carry out
any developments until the legislation is clarified. In
addition, Karemera complained that individuals are not able
to get financial loans for development projects because
until the land reform is finalized, Rwandan banks are not
accepting land as collateral.

COMMENT
--------------


22. Well-managed land reform is crucial to long-term
reconciliation and stability in Rwanda, and it is
encouraging to hear reports that the GOR is progressive,
open, and eager to move forward on this issue. Despite
progress, key issues must be resolved, such as unclear
definition of land tenure types, controversial provisions on
consolidation and land use restrictions, and vague guidance
on the resolution of land disputes. International
consultants plan to address these issues in an ongoing
participatory process with the GOR.


23. The 2005 Land Law and anticipated complementary
legislation seek to revitalize commercial agriculture by
encouraging consolidation of landholdings into larger, more
commercially viable plots of land, which will tend to favor
large land owners and pastoralists. This shift away from
subsistence farming is inevitable and desirable if Rwanda is
to escape its current poverty. Commercial farming will help
the GOR increase its tax base, but it has the potential to
adversely impact small farmers who make up the vast majority
of the population. The GOR will need to implement a strong
public outreach program to sensitize small farmers and to
promote off-farm, urban opportunities.


24. Enforcement of the new law will be a challenge,
considering the precedence given to customary laws over
state laws in rural areas, the lack of functioning
commercial courts and judges, and the heavy backlog of court
cases. If the rural population is to understand and accept
the new laws, special effort must be made to raise awareness
of the new policy - both in rural communities and among the
local authorities responsible for implementing it and
resolving disputes.


ARIETTI