Members of Parliament are calling on the government to fast-track the compensation of citizens who are displaced from their land to pave way for development projects, if rights to property are not to be violated.

Legislators are worried that such people could be getting a raw deal as compensation processes drag on, putting the lives of many families in peril.

Ministry of Local Government officials appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Unity, Human Rights and fight against Genocide early this week to explain why it takes the government long to pay off affected families.

Hundreds of families have over the years been displaced from their land in different parts of the country to pave way for Imidugudu infrastructure projects such as hydro-electric plants, roads and from land earmarked for investment.

However, appearing before the committee, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Local Government in-charge of Social Affairs Dr Alivera Mukabaramba did not promise any urgent measures to resolve the issue even when hundreds of families remain stranded.

Dr Mukabaramba said that while the government has done its bit to resolve the issue, some of the disputes that delay the compensation process arise from the citizens, who fail to agree on the modalities of the land expropriation.

“Some of the people who are yet to be compensated have problems among themselves. For example, you have people who give away their land to get an equivalent  elsewhere and disagreements arise on the acreage.

“Others are child survivors of genocide whose parents had land elsewhere and it was taken over by others or the government and they are coming up now to lay claim. However, we are looking at how to resolve these problems.

“There is also land which was given away to vulnerable families, and the owners resurfaced later, yet these new families cannot afford to pay, so the government has to get land to give the original land owners or money equivalent to the land and this can get complicated,” she said.

The head of the committee François Byabarumwanzi said that there were many families who gave away their land more than five years now but are yet to be compensated.
“Why are these cases pending for so many years? Why can’t the government resolve these issues which are likely to infringe on people’s rights? The government said these issues were to be resolved but this is taking too long,” he said.
The 2012/13 Ombudsman’s report indicates that there is a “considerable” number of cases of people or households which have not been compensated after surrendering their land to the government or district authorities to pave way for projects.

READ: Displaced land owners at Vision City deserve fair compensation

According to the Ministry of Local Government, the cases involving compensation are complicated, even embarrassing to the government.

In some cases, the people were nowhere to be seen and their land was either given to other families or used for government projects such as schools, energy projects, local governance offices  only for them to surface later, claiming ownership.

Fabien Kamanzi, a resident of Gasibo, lost his farmland when the government took over Kanyonyomba marshland to start a rice farming scheme in 2007. Several residents  and two co-operatives — Iriba and Tuzamurane —were affected but they are yet to be compensated.

“These people have gone to all government institutions to seek compensation but they are yet to receive compensation.”

Dr Mukabaramba said that the issue was brought before the ministry. Gatsibo district put together a report of the damages and what should be compensated.

“The Ministry of Agriculture argued that the said people and co-operatives were carrying out their activities in a swamp, which is, technically, government land. So it is now the job of the Ministry of Justice to prove that indeed this land was owned by government,” said Dr Mukabaramba.

The affected farmers argue that whether the land was owned by government or not, they had invested in it and should be compensated. The government, on the other hand, said that it can also charge them for the years they used the land.

According to Fred Mufuruke, the head of territorial administration at Minaloc, the issue has now been left to the law.

“These people say they had farm facilities, dams, etc which cost them money to build hence should be compensated. But now it will be up to the courts to determine the way forward, The laws will stipulate if people who use government land for some time are compensated or they pay the government instead or they just hand over the land when it is needed. This is really the issue at the moment,” said Mr Mufuruke.

The Ministry of Agriculture is in a dilemma on what to do next, whether to compensate them or use the law to end the standoff. Dr Mukabaramba said the government only displaces people from land when it has interests.

Most of the people affected were displaced to create space for Imidugudu, markets, schools, bus parks, resettling returnees, prisons or cemeteries.

“These are for public benefit; they are for the people but sometimes the compensation takes long because people want to make a lot of money out of the government. Sometimes they see the size of the project and feel like they were cheated,” said Dr Mukabaramba.

Outstanding cases

There have been a number of cases of delayed compensation especially in the City of Kigali. Some residents of Kacyiru were last year displaced to pave way for a new bus stop but the compensation process delayed, affecting families and businesses.

Last year, Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) and Gasabo District were embroiled in a standoff with residents of Gaculiro who refused to vacate land earmarked by the district authority for the construction of a housing estate — the Vision City Estate project.

About 40 families are still resisting eviction and are disputing the amount of compensation due to them. To date, the standoff, which started in 2007, is yet to be resolved with some landowners insisting that they are being given very low prices for their land.

“Some families have buckled under pressure and are taking the money but a number of us are saying we cannot give up. Some feared that since RSSB had fenced off the land, they could forcibly lose the land to government,” one of the landowners who preferred anonymity told Rwanda Today.

The latest case involves residents of Gahanga who are supposed to pave way for the construction of a new stadium and hotel to be completed by November next year but over 20 households are yet to receive their compensation yet construction work has begun.

Law 18/2007 of 19/04/2007 regarding displacement of citizens to pave way for development for the good of public interest stipulates that expropriated property should be compensated in a period of 120 days after evaluation.

MP Liberata Kayitesi urged the government to resolve compensation cases, some which date five to six years ago.