Karongi District Identifies Over 500 Plots Wrongly Registered as State Property

Karongi District authorities have revealed that more than 500 land plots belonging to residents were mistakenly registered as state property, assuring affected families that the issue is being thoroughly investigated and will be corrected.

This development follows the district’s launch of a week-long land dispute resolution initiative, aimed at addressing long-standing land registration problems across all 13 sectors of the district.

Land Officials Moving from Sector to Sector

During the campaign, land officials have been engaging residents directly at sector level, allowing anyone with a land-related complaint to submit it for review.

The exercise first covered the sectors of Gishyita, Mubuga, Bwishyura, and Rubengera, where officials identified 501 parcels whose Unique Plot Identifiers (UPIs) were recorded under state ownership despite belonging to private individuals.

District Mayor Muzungu Gérald confirmed that a comprehensive report has already been submitted to the Ministry of Environment, requesting correction of the errors.

District Calls for Rectification

“The Ministry of Environment is responsible for updating the land registry. After reviewing the cases and confirming their validity, we submitted an official request for these plots to be restored to their rightful owners,” Mayor Muzungu said. “We also found cases where people had registered state land under their names, which must be corrected through the same procedures,” he added.

He emphasized that each case requires careful historical verification to establish the rightful owner and identify how the error occurred.

Errors Rooted in Past Registration Gaps

Investigations show that land registration mistakes date back to earlier national land mapping and registration processes.

According to Eliakim Habinshuti, a former land and forestry officer in the former Gitesi commune, some residents deliberately attached state-owned land to their private plots during registration.

Additionally, current land officers in Karongi explained that some residents never reported their land during the initial registration, while others received jetons (proof-of-ownership slips) but failed to present them during formal registration, resulting in temporary classification of their land as state-owned.

Over 600 Hectares of State Land Registered Under Residents

The district’s assessment further revealed that across all sectors of Karongi, more than 600 hectares of state land were registered under private citizens indicating errors in both directions.

Authorities stressed that the state only registered the affected plots temporarily, as a way to ensure every parcel of land in Rwanda had a designated entry in the national registry.

The district assured residents that no one will lose their land and that all corrections will be made transparently and in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment.