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Rwanda: Government to Boost Land Redistribution Commission
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The New Times (Kigali)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Godfrey Ntagungira
Kigali
The government is planning to boost the land redistribution commission to supplement its current staff with 20 army and police officers to facilitate the expedition of the redistribution exercise.
This was revealed by the Minister of Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi, during an exclusive interview at his offices in Kimihurura.
He revealed that the new staff will help the commission to accomplish its task in the four districts of Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Kayonza, and Kirehe by November this year. The land taskforce is comprised of members from Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF), National police and some technical personnel from the ministry, the Eastern province and concerned districts.
Kamanzi said that the new officers will first be trained for two weeks to acquire skills and techniques applied in the exercise. He revealed that over 1,238 people have benefited from this exercise in the four districts mentioned above. The exercise to redistribute land in the province was launched by President Paul Kagame in January; an activity in which several high ranking officials saw their land shared out with the landless. Of the total beneficiaries, 32 were found to be bogus, forcing the commission to redistribute the land to the neediest. "The land is not enough to the continuing growth in population," explained the minister adding that the solution is to employ modern methods of farming for better output.
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He said the most serious challenges the commission was facing is that the local population and some few local leaders do not always speak the truth that would help the commission indentify bona fide beneficiaries.
The minister revealed that in the third phase of the exercise, the commission would send an advance party to the districts of Kayonza and Kirehe to gather necessary information. On the case of the Rwandans who were recently evicted from Isingiro forest land reserve in western Uganda, Kamanzi said that the land commission doesn't cater for emergency cases. He stressed that the government will find ways to resettle them.
The minister pointed out that land sharing could also bridge the gap between Rwanda's rich and the poor and establish a land system that is secure for all Rwandans.
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