Between 15 and 20 percent of land in the country has been identified by the National Land Management and Use Authority as having not yet been registered, officials have said. This was revealed on Monday as the Land Week was launched at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) in Kigali that saw hundreds throng the venue to get their land registered. According to Pothin Muvara, the registrar of lands in the Western Province and coordinator of the Land Week, people should change their mindset and register their land. Land registration reduces land disputes among Rwandans and can be used as collateral for loans among other positive impact, he said. According to Muvara, in most cases people acquire land as inheritance and don’t bother registering it, living ownership in limbo. He said that during the Land Week, at least 3,000 people will receive their land titles while another 6,000 will get advice on how they can proceed to get land titles. While some people claim that the process of acquiring land titles is rather cumbersome and discourages land owners, Muvara said that there is a new online system which will be introduced soon and was optimistic it will make it easier for people to get land titles in just a few days. He said that the system dubbed; “Land Query Notification System LQS) which will be used by sector officials and will be connected to Irembo portal which he said will make it easier for service seekers “That online system will make it easier and faster for land owners to get land titles,” he noted. “But people who are yet to get their land registered should go to their local administrations to seek help. Until then, they are not the legal owners of their land,” he added.
