Africa-Press – Rwanda. Nationwide efforts to address unregistered land and land demarcation errors have now reached Eastern Province, according to officials.
A nationwide land tenure regularisation programme was conducted from 2009 to 2013, which included land demarcation.
However, the technology used during that period lacked precision, and some landowners did not register their land for various reasons.
The National Land Authority (NLA) states that the current efforts aim to ensure landowners register approximately 1.5 million parcels of land across the country, as these were previously temporarily registered as state property.
Although the state assumed ownership of unregistered land, rightful owners can still reclaim their property by presenting evidence of ownership.
The government also plans to leverage technology and other strategies to rectify land demarcation errors nationwide by 2027.
Pothin Muvara, Registrar of Land Titles in Eastern Province, said a four-month exercise to address land issues would focus on correcting demarcation errors and registering unregistered land.
“We are partnering with institutes such as Landesa to tackle these issues,” he noted.
By utilising 10 GPS stations distributed nationwide, demarcation errors will be corrected with an impressive accuracy of one to five centimetres.
More GPS devices are set to be procured to enhance boundary data capture, while efforts to identify errors continue across various districts.
Some districts, including Nyagatare, Bugesera and the City of Kigali, have already allocated budgets for the necessary materials.
Meanwhile, Kayonza, Nyagatare and Kirehe are collaborating with partners to address boundary corrections.
The government is set to spend Rwf2.2 billion to correct land boundary errors and fully automate land services on Irembo platform.
The correction of demarcation errors is a nationwide initiative, with corrections carried out at the district level.
Each district will actively participate in identifying boundary issues to ensure planning is based on accurate data.
So far, Eastern Province has collected the necessary information and is now considering strategies for correcting the errors.
Although the number of errors exceeds the capacity of available surveyors and land notaries, officials say there are plans to augment the workforce by involving interns with surveying backgrounds and engaging private surveyors.
“There were also demarcation errors recorded when the government began land registration. These have caused disputes among landowners who are unaware of the discrepancies. Some errors were also recorded along the Rwanda–Uganda border,” said Cleophas Nsabimana, Land Manager in Rukomo Sector, Nyagatare District.
Stephen Gasana, Mayor of Nyagatare District, said the district has partnered with the land authority and other stakeholders to assess cases of unregistered land and demarcation errors.
During the 2024/2025 fiscal year, about 8,700 demarcation errors were corrected across 10 districts.
Districts are identifying boundary issues to ensure planning is based on accurate data regarding the number of remaining errors nationwide, according to the National Land Authority.
At the beginning of 2025, lawmakers gave the Ministry of Environment, which supervises the National Land Authority, a three-month period to outline plans for addressing the issue.
Grace Nishimwe, Director General and Chief Registrar of Land Titles at the NLA, stated: “Land demarcation error rectification, which we carry out systematically, will not incur any fees for landowners.”
Land demarcation errors as a source of disputes
Jossam Potel, Director of Landesa—an institute that works to secure land rights—said that since a large part of Eastern Province was previously uninhabited, “the demarcations were not clear during the initial land registration exercise.”
“Therefore, there are demarcation errors that must be corrected. Eastern Province districts share common issues in this regard,” he added.
“For instance, two neighbours are supposed to own one hectare of land. However, you may find that one has 1.5 hectares while the other has only 0.5 hectares in the system due to demarcation errors. This causes conflicts, especially when owners seek loans from banks that require land as collateral,” he explained.
“The one with the larger plot is granted a loan. If they fail to repay it, the bank must sell the land. Then the land is auctioned, even though part of it belongs to another person. This triggers disputes,” he added.
So far, he said, 54,000 land titles have been issued following the resolution of land-related issues.
“These include 37,000 titles in Kayonza and 21,000 in Kirehe District,” he noted.
He said that conflicts related to demarcation errors dominate land disputes.
“Of the 27,000 land-related cases in Kayonza and 14,000 in Kirehe, those involving demarcation errors are the most prevalent,” he said.
Addressing unregistered land
Approximately 13% (around 1,371,951) of the total demarcated land nationwide is still provisionally registered under the Government of Rwanda, as the owners either failed to register or remain unidentified.
Potel explained that, for various reasons, some owners did not register their land.
“When land is not registered, it cannot be exploited productively. The owners lack land titles, as the government temporarily assumed ownership. Conflicts may arise when someone sells such land and the buyer cannot register it due to the provisional state ownership. We are working to resolve such issues in Nyagatare, Kayonza and Kirehe, where owners can now register their land,” he said.
There are over 23,000 unregistered plots in Nyagatare District.
He added that some land in model villages was also not registered to the residents living there.
“Plots were designed and demarcated in 77 villages housing 2,500 people, but they were not registered to their owners. The exercise is ongoing to assist owners in registering their land,” he noted.
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