Land Reform in Rwanda

- Technology & the Land Tenure Regularisation Process –

Notes on the PowerPoint presentation

Bahar Dar Workshop 11-12 May 2009

Bert Koppers

Project Director HTSPE

  1. Although the total area is 25,300 Km2, the total useable area, i.e. excluding lakes, swamps, national parks, etc. is only 20,635 Km2, which gives an average population density of 479/Km2. There are however big variations in population density; it varies from 640 people/km2 in the North West to 466 people/Km2 in the South East of the country.
  1. Parcel Size varies with population density: In the West and theNorth West the average parcel size is as little as 0.17 Ha, whilst it is 0.77 Ha in the East of the country. It is estimated that Rwanda has up to 8 million land parcels.
  1. Linked to the Organic Land Law (OLL) are a number of other laws, amongst others the Expropriation Law, and Presidential and Ministerial Orders and Decrees. At present a number of Orders still have to be enacted, for example the Presidential Order determining the length of lease for different categories of land (OLL, Art. 24) and Ministerial Order on land sharing (OLL, Art. 87). The Regulatory Framework is therefore a work in progress, which, of course will be changed and adjusted over time. For the Land Tenure Regularisation (LTR) process initiated in four pilot areas during 2008, this was both a blessing as well as a curse. The LTR field trials had to work in a partial legal limbo but this allowed the trials to inform and even shape law.
  1. We can not stress enoughthe low technology and low costapproach for LTR.The field trials were part of a DFID sponsored project to assist the Government of Rwanda with the Land Reform Process. The tendency to use a high technology high cost approach under project mode is a well documented mistake HTSPE wanted to avoid at all cost.Rwanda still has a low capacity and low institutional base, i.e. new institutions, in the land sector, which will take time to build up and gain the necessary experience to operate the land administration system. Capacity building or investment in Human Resources is on average a costly and time consuming affair. Technologies to be used need to take this into account.
  1. Using 1:2000 maps, the demarcation process was based on general boundary principles and viewed as a social process, not a technical one. As a matter of principle therefore community involvement in the demarcation and adjudication of parcels is an absolute precondition.

The claimant, his/her neighbours and members of the land committee and representatives of the village would walk the boundaries of the plot to be surveyed to determine whether (1) claimant had indeed a right to claim the parcel, and (2) the boundaries of the parcel were acceptable to the direct stakeholders, i.e. the claimant and the neighbours. In case agreement was reached a claims receipt or Interim Land Certificate was issued. In a situation where no agreement could be reached, a small minority of the cases, the issue would be referred to the village abunzi (court) for further hearing and possible settlement.

In the case of gazetted State land the fixed boundary approach was used.

The LTR Process has been laid down in a LTR Manual that was constantly amended during the field trial period.

  1. For the demarcation process Para Surveyors were recruited and trained locally. No formal qualifications are required to become a Para Surveyor; they had to be able to read and write and read from maps. At present there 25 trained and experienced para surveyors who can be used as trainers for other Para Surveyors.This Training of Trainers principle allows the training of hundreds of new para surveyors in a very short time period at very little cost.
  1. Experiments with 1:1000 images from Quick Bird satellite imagery were carried out.Although it could be done, it was at the limit of what is technically feasible.TheQuick Bird resolution (60 cm) is problematic especially in high density urban areas and hence 1:1000 from low altitude aerial photography was preferred in those areas.
  1. Although high population density & land scarcity provide an important impetus for formal land registration, people will only favour this option if, on balance, (1) it is perceived to bring them net benefits, and (2) they trust the State to adhere to the law and not to be able to infringe on their rights with impunity, i.e. there needs to exist the fundamental principle of security of contract. People need to be able and willing to successfully defend their land rights in a court of law against any infringements of third parties, including, and most importantly, the State and its representatives. The ultimate infringement is either unlawful expropriation of land or an expropriation law that disproportionally favours the State and its representatives over its constituents.

Net benefits of LTR for the people are largely determined by the cost that are normally linked to formal registration, registration, property and transfer taxes, and the level and scale of the limitations imposed upon the use and disposal of the property through various planning and land use laws.

Whereas the Rwanda case has shown that the field part of LTR can be implemented quickly and very cost effective, it is imperative that dispute resolution and full registration and titling should be equally transparent and to be undertaken as fast as possible without comprising due process.