The plenary sitting of the Senate that was held virtually on Thursday, April 1, requested the Government to provide a roadmap of how it will settle compensation arrears owed to the expropriated people. The Senate said that the expropriated people should get fair compensation for their property. Senators made the resolution after hearing the explanations of the Minister of Infrastructure, Claver Gatete, about the issues that they had identified in expropriation. The Senate also requested the Government to improve the planning process for road construction and expansion projects such that in case of budget shortfall, the projects can be implemented phases and in a manner that respects the rights of the expropriated people. It also requested the Government to ask entities that prepare projects of public interest to comply with the expropriation law provisions by allowing residents participation in their property valuation. Senators said that some people have raised issues of unfair and untimely compensations, where some projects start before residents are compensated. The issues, senators observed, have also been recurrent in different reports including that of the Ombudsman, the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), the National Commission for Human Rights and the Auditor General. Gatete said that the Government reassured that the government was working on resolving the issues. Senator Juvenal Nkusi, the Chairperson of the Committee on Economic Development and Finance, said; The lack of fair expropriation compensation violates rights to property that is enshrined in the constitution.” Gatete indicated that in partnership with local administrative entities, the Government is consolidating data about all the arrears so that they are budgeted for. “We are improving the planning for projects of public interest,” he said, pointing out that comprehensive feasibility studies will be done well before construction and other related activities. According to the 2015 law relating to expropriation in public interest, every project must have a budget to compensate the affected residents. It also stipulates that the approved fair compensation shall be paid within a period not exceeding 120 days from the day of its approval by the District or City of Kigali Council or the relevant ministry. As of 2020, the Government had an accumulated Rwf33 billion in expropriation arrears to people countrywide, mainly from public infrastructure projects, according to estimates from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
