The political economy of land reform in post conflict Rwanda (1994-2020)

Insecurity over land ownership in Rwanda was a critical part of the tension between communities. Addressing insecurity around land has consequently been one of the foremost priorities of the post-conflict reforms initiated in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Rwanda set out to address the issue of land ownership and land-related challenges through passage of several laws and policies. The 2004 National Land Policy which was reviewed in 2019 provides general guidance on a rational and planned use of land while ensuring sound land management and efficient land administration. A wide- ranging program initiated by the Rwandan government between 2008 and 2012 to map and title land parcels for the entire country has played an important role in improving service delivery and reducing corruption risks. The main objective of this research was to explore the political economy of land reform programs in post conflict Rwanda and the specific objectives were arranged according to the variables of the study and they include the following; to assess the political economic land reform programs, to explore the political impacts of land reform programs and to evaluate the economic impacts of land reform programs in Rwanda. Desktop approach with the aid of secondary datasets was used in this research. The secondary datasets consisted of data collected mainly from Government institutions like Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority, Rwanda Governance Board, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda and district offices and the internet mainly journals with documents related to; land distribution, land sharing, land redistribution, legal and institutional framework, Land Tenure Regularization Programme, agricultural reports, Land reform programs, political economy, and post conflicts amongst many others. The findings indicated that; Rwanda set out to address the issue of land ownership and land-related challenges through passage of several laws and policies. The Land Tenure Regularization (LTR) programme was then established to register and administer land ownership in Rwanda. The major impact of the new land administration reforms lay in the more effective processing and transaction handling of land titles. It was concluded a well thoughtful land reform great impacts the political economy of the country and it is obvious that the benefits are enormous as the outcomes of implementing it are being used in various ways that are contributing to the economic development of the country. The impressive economic benefits of the reform serve as a motivation for other African countries to go the Rwandan route. It was recommended that there must be a mechanism to secure landowners’ rights, provide land accessibility mechanisms which is equitable to all and more efforts should also be put into streamlining land services; that is the whole process of legal land registration, transaction, and ownership