Parliament summons environment minister over land issues

The Chamber of Deputies has adopted a resolution to summon the Minister of Environment to provide explanations to issues identified in land management and use. The decision was made on Wednesday, May 04, 2022 as it adopted its Committee on Land, Agriculture, Livestock, and Environment’s assessment of the performance audit report of land management in Rwanda that was produced by the Auditor General. The Committee was handed the report on April 23, 2021 for analysis. As part of the exercise, the Committee toured 13 audited districts from October 10 to 15, 2021, assessing land management issues that were identified by the report. While making a presentation on the analysis to the Plenary Session, Committee Chairperson, MP Marie Alice Kayumba Uwera said that one of those issues identified by the report include lack of land use plan at sector and district level since the development of the first national land use masterplan and development of 2010. That situation resulted in different consequences including the mismatch between district development and land use, the discrepancy between the national industry masterplan and the city development masterplan. Others are factories set up in residential areas, changing the planned land use without the approval by the district councils – for instance in Kamonyi, Muhanga, Bugesera and Rulindo. Also, the report revealed that seven audited districts, namely Rubavu, Musanze, Rulindo, Muhanga, Kamonyi, Nyagatare and Bugesera had no land use plan. There was also an issue of poor land service delivery, and many land titles that were not given to those entitled to their ownership. The audit exposed many land titles issued in 2011 and 2012 and are still kept in sectors instead of being given to their owners. Yet, there was no plan and a clear approach to address this issue. Again, it was exposed that there were delays – ranging from 30 to 689 – in providing land services to citizens. Still, the audit found that land committees were not working effectively in all districts and sectors. MP Albert Ruhakana said that currently, residents are still living in areas hosting factories. He suggested that more than one ministries should be called to respond to different issues in land management and use. “Residents were not expropriated from the area where industries were built, yet factories continue being set up. Such issues are in Muhanga, Rwamagana, Musanze and other places. I think that the Ministry of Trade and Industry should also indicate to Parliament why factories are built without the relocation of residents because it is a major concern to the health of people,” he said. Expropriation and fair compensations Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies also requested the Minister of Trade and Industry to expedite the solution to the problem of residents in Muhanga Industrial Park who are not given compensation, yet they are to be expropriated. The Lower House said that those residents cannot repair their residential houses; they are exposed to harmful gas emissions, and are inconvenienced by the machinery noise from the industrial park. Some residents, Ruhakana said, expressed concern that the new masterplan resulted in changing the intended land use from agriculture to construction, which implies an increase in land tax that can be a problem to some residents. “This issue also needs attention. We should look into it by engaging the responsible ministry – either the Ministry of Finance and economic Planning in charge of taxation, or the Ministry of Local Government which is in charge of social welfare,” he said. MP Germaine Mukabalisa said that there has been long delays in paying expropriation compensations to residents, which is not fair as it is in contradiction with the expropriation law [which was enacted by Parliament in 2015]. “Some residents have been waiting for their expropriation compensations for 10 years. I think that addressing this issue should be a task given to more than one ministry,” she suggested.

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Parliament summons environment minister over land issues