Rwanda - Context and Land Governance

Currently, all land in Rwanda is registered and titled [5]. With the help of development agencies, Rwanda designed and implemented a programme that registered all land over a period of less than six years. Rights of women and other vulnerable groups are protected by Rwandan land laws [6]; land co-ownership, especially for married couples, is recognized in title issuances where the names of two couples all appear on land title with an equal percentage of shares.

The country has institutionalized the land sector from the national level to the sector level. It has a stable and sustainable land administration system that is increasing the level of land governance in the country. In post-conflict Rwanda, the country had ensured many land-related problems resulting in prolonged displacements and secondary occupations that were later legitimized by the government. Rwanda thus envisaged land governance as a contributor to sustainable peace and security. In 2005, the country embarked on major land reform measures after a new national land policy was passed, new land law promulgated, and a national land office was established [7]. Land transactions including the buying and selling of property have been digitized. Some land services can be obtained through a digital method.The Land law in Rwanda provides a way through which land can be acquired; these are through state-given inheritance from ascendants, buying/selling, donations and others [8].

Since 2004, Rwandan government have envisioned land reform as a sustainable solution to land claims and successive legitimate land rights that resulted from two separate waves of enormous displacements [9]. In 2004, a national land policy was established [10] followed by the Organic Law in 2005 replaced by the Law governing land in Rwanda of 2013. Through land new policy, customary holdings were recognized but they are to be converted into leaseholds from the State through the Land Tenure Regularization (LTR) programme.  This programme resulted in all land in Rwanda being titled. Customary holding in Rwanda was abolished as land registration became mandatory. It was up to the State to give land to people whose land rights had not yet been acknowledged.

Land tenure in Rwanda has a long history, which includes the pre-colonial era, colonial era, post-colonial (Independence era) and post-genocide era.

In the pre-colonial era, Rwandan consisted of customary two systems of land ownership that co-existed in different regions of Rwanda, that is Ubukode (lineage had right to claim the land they had cleared) practised in the Northern and the Western part of the country and Igikingi (a system of acquiring and owning from royal distribution) commonly practised in the Eastern, Southern and some parts of Western part [12]. All over the country, land rights were granted on behalf of the King and these rights were transmitted from generation to generation.

During colonial period, as Potel (2014) [13] noted, a new form of land tenure was introduced. That is formal tenure system was based principally on written laws. What is vital to note here is that this form of land tenure did nothing to protect the rights of local indigenous Rwandans but only the interests of religious institutions and colonial companies, especially mining corporations. This formal tenure went hand-in-hand with customary tenure that was enjoyed by all local people.

Similar to the colonial period, the post-colonial Rwandan land tenure security was a dual system, meaning including by formal and customary systems  throught the the country. However, formal as mostly used in urban areas where as customary in rural areas [14]. This dual system co-existed from 1962 to 2004 when Rwanda embarked on country wide land reform.

After formalization of land sector in Rwanda, there are only two types of land tenure which are leasehold and freehold. The land law defines leasehold as a long-term contract between the State and a person to exploit land in return for a periodic agreed fee payment. Freehold is a type of land tenure granting full and indefinite rights over the land [15]. All Rwandans owning land can be granted freehold title to land reserved for residential, commercial, social, cultural or scientific [16]. However, this freehold shall only be given to only developed land where infrastructures are erected and limited to only land with the area not later than 5 hectors [17].

The Rwandan land law also states that foreigners are not entitled to freehold [18].  Though for a group of individuals co-owning land, a business company, an organisation or association with legal personality, freehold title can only be granted if at least 51% of its stake is owned by Rwandan citizens, except for land designated as Special Economic Zones [19].  Special economic zones (SEZ) is a program designated to address some of the domestic private sector constraints such as availability of industrial and commercial land, availability and the cost of energy, limited transport linkages, market access and reduced bureaucracy and availability of skills. Designated, serviced land is provided for small and large scale industrial development, as well as reliable, quality infrastructure, competitive fiscal and non-fiscal regulations and streamlined administration procedures [20]. This means that if a foreigner buys land from a Rwandan that had a freehold, the land tenure is changed to leasehold that is renewable after 49 years, if that land is not located in SEZ.

The majority of Rwanda is rural and over 70% of the country’s total land surface is exploited for agriculture and livestock activities [25]. The total arable land is about 52% (1.4 million hectares) of the total surface area of the country and another 17% (0.47 million hectares) are under permanent pasture [26]. Landholdings are very small with more than 60% of households cultivating less than 0.7 hectares, 50% cultivating less than 0.5 hectares, and more than 25% cultivating less than 0.2 ha. This constraint is aggravated by the fact that most farms have multiple, scattered plots, many of them tiny. In addition to the small size of farms and plots, crops are grown on steep slopes up to and above 55% [27].

The relationship between Rwandans and their land has changed a lot after the Land Tenure Regularization Program. In Kigali City, and other urban areas outside Kigali, the land value has increased accompanied with land use shift, from agriculture to residential. Khan, et. al (2013) found that land value in Rwanda has increased and will still be the case in the coming years [27]. Fosudo (2014) explained the interconnection between the Land Tenure Regularisation Program and the land use change in Rwanda as shown in the figure 2 below [28]. He stipulated that human decisions became a major determinant for land use change through the various modifying activities associated with their tenure status.

Figure 2 Relationship between LTR and Land use change [30]

In Kigali City, the land development is monitored through the master plan developed in 2013. This document, accessible on www.masterplan2013.kigalicity.gov.rw, was developed in order to gather, harmonize and update all the previous plans. This allowed translating the broad long-term strategies into detailed land use and zoning plans to guide the urban development. The master plan is consulted before issuing the permission to do any development on the land.

Expropriation is one of the techniques used to support land development and attract more investors. Expropriation is preceded by land valuation exercise where the value of the land and any development above is determined using market price. The GoR's Expropriation Law provides a list of activities leading to the expropriation in public interest (roads, public schools, hospitals, water pipes, etc) [36]. Having in the list “activities to implement land use and development master plans” may leave a room to private investment activities to be considered as public interest [37]. In this case, small land holders may be relocated in the interest of private investors, and compensated using the market value instead of them imposing prices as sellers. Some issues are observed during expropriation such as delays in compensation as reported by Legal Aid Forum (2015), though the law says 120 days from the day when the amount of compensation was determined [38]. However their data also showed that delays in payment have been decreasing in recent years and was on average falling within the allocated time. Other issues include the absence of a clear provision in the law addressing expropriation of part of a property where the law does not consider that the remaining portion may no longer be suitable for the actual or intended uses by the owner [39]. There are also variations in compensation paid by the expropriating entity, project type, and other issues. The Legal Aid Forum (2015) found that many expropriated households invest their compensation in long-term assets, or into savings if they are not required to purchase or construct a new residence for resettling [40].

Article 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda prescribes monogamy as the “Civil monogamous marriage between a man and a woman is the only recognized.” Article 4 of the Land Law (2013) complements the land policy and clearly prescribes the respect and recognition of land rights for men, women, and heirs without any discrimination based on sex. It states that “All forms of discrimination, that are based on sex or origin, in relation to access to land and the enjoyment of real rights shall be prohibited.” However, it continues to say that “The right to land for a man and a woman lawfully married shall depend on the matrimonial regime they opted for.” Also the inheritance and succession law talks about matrimonial regimes, liberalities and succession. It thus grants equal inheritance rights to male and female children of the deceased’s property.

The various clauses on the protection and recognition of widow and female children’s rights over land are stipulated in the new land law, land policy, inheritance law, and the national constitution. There is optimism that its implementation should increase the security of tenure for those people. The government effort to establish legal systems which protect women against land grabbing has substantially contributed to the recognition of their rights over land. 

The Land Tenure Regularisation program gave women/wives rights to be registered on land certificates with the equal percentages of rights with men/their husbands [44]. This means that land rights cannot be transferred without the prior consent of the wife in the family. The consent is provided by submitting a signed form requesting the land bureau office to transfer rights while also specifying reasons for transfer. Despite the benefits of this programme, there are still different challenges associated with the land tenure regularisation provisions, in particular for women in Rwanda. These challenges vary from societal perspectives to implementation of legal provisions.

These are instances where a woman is not legally married but is living together with the man and they have children. During land registration, some women managed to register themselves on the parcel and obtain land rights. However, there are many instances where men prohibited these women from being registered on their land and, thus, the land was registered under the husband as the sole proprietor. In this case, the wife may find herself landless because the husband has the right to sell the land without consulting his wife. The example of Bernard’s case best explains this:

This case of cohabitation also has negative effects on a woman in case of separation because she has no legal rights to claim any portion of land. The land is registered in the man's name only.

As field research shows, for the full enforcement of land rights and the promotion of tenure security for women, widows and female orphans, there is a need to empower women and female descendants and make them more capable of defending themselves against the practices of land grabbing and/or land deprivation. This entails giving them more training and education on their land rights as enshrined in the land laws. By observing and analysing many of the cases brought forward by rural villages to local authority, there are some cases where rights of illiterate widows and female orphans are still denied by their relatives, because those widows and female orphans are not aware about what is the status of the current laws in terms of their rights with regards to succession and inheritance. Many women think that they can have rights over land if their relatives provide them with such rights, and do not have any information about the way to claim and defend their interest in land. Thus, a grassroots mass mobilization and sensitization programme for women, widow and female children about their rights over land is still recommended.