EAC urged to streamline land tenure system

More efforts are needed to preserve and manage land in Rwanda as well as in other East African countries.This, according to Natural Resources minister Stanislas Kamanzi, will minimise disputes related to land, a critical resource that has a major impact on regional economy.Minister Kamanzi made the remarks on Monday while opening a meeting by experts in land-related issues from EAC institutions of higher learning in Kigali. It was organised by National Institute of Higher Education-INES Ruhengeri.Kamanzi said that such meetings will help increase capacity in land-related issues, but urged the experts to ensure the results of what is discussed benefit the EAC citizenry.He shared the achievements registered by the Rwandan government in dealing with land-related issues like the law governing land-use management. “A new law determines the use and management of land in Rwanda. Specifically, Chapter 3 of this Law provides explicit measures and instruments that govern land administration and management,” he said.“These procedures and mechanisms precisely cater for land allocation, acquisition and lease, land registration, transfer of land rights, foreigners’ rights on land, land sub-lease for agricultural, forestry and livestock production, land use management and its protection, as well as land administration and management institutions.”Sharing experiences Dr Deogratias Niyibizi, the rector of INES-Ruhengeri said Rwanda was in talks with other countries, whose universities have advanced land-related faculties ‘to help us with experts’. “We will also share experience leading to the contribution of citizens development, while understanding land rights and making it more productive,” Niyibizi said, adding that as universities, they will maintain this form of partnership, especially in the area of research to find solutions to land related problems.The annual workshop, organised under the theme “Land tenure reforms for sustainable development,” brought together experts from five EAC countries, plus Ethiopia, Sudan the US and the Netherlands under the aegis of the East African Land Administration Network (EALAN).