Kanngondo slum residents commonly known as Bannyahe in Remera, Gasabo district adjacent to Nyarutarama ‘s luxury residential neighbourhood, have agreed to push the contested collective expropriation process into a court battle against the City of Kigali.
Through this repatriation exercise, since 2017 an estimated 800 people have been asked to evacuate from the slum to create public and community-interest facilities for a real estate developer.
The group was to be relocated to a newly developed housing estate in Busanza, Nyarugunga field, Kicukiro district-Kigali in the compensation process.
Although some beneficiaries agreed to the agreement, others pursued legal arbitration proceedings on the grounds that the estate homes in which some had tenant houses were not equal to their former properties in the slum areas.
The expropriation process ended in a 2018-2019 two-year court case in which the residents asked Gasabo Intermediate court to order the town of Kigali to compensate them financially or return their land.
However, on legal grounds of filing a joint case and suing the wrong authority, the Gasabo court ruled in favor of the town of Kigali asking more than 1,000 inhabitants to vacate the Bannyahe area, which is largely situated in protected wetlands, which also puts the occupants at high risk of losing lives.
Jean de Dieu Shikama, a Kangondo resident, has filed a solo lawsuit against the town of Kigali seeking Rwf2.7 m for delays in paying compensation after evaluating his property at Rwf54.2 m despite failing to win the earlier case.
The legislation allows the individual to be charged within three months after the property of an individual is assessed for expropriation, although delays come with a fine of 5 per cent added to the overall cost of the property at the time of assessment.
“I am asking to regain my property rights. I want the court to order the City of Kigali to pay this compensation because of the delays which makes the project invalid,” Shikama said.
His plea comes with a separate fee of Rwf5million and Rwf 1million to cover the expenses incurred in finding a lawyer and preparing the trial, respectively, during the time they were in court.
According to the case file obtained and signed by the City of Kigali, the city authorities must appear before the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court this Thursday, June 04, 2020, to hold a pre-trial conference – where both parties can present their legal arguments before proceedings.
On the same day, the town of Kigali will also face the other two cases of Kangondo expropriation brought to the same court by David Munyeshuri and Emmanuel Sayinkuye- who are both demanding cash compensation.
Some of the people who were previously interested in this case have tentatively pulled out their plan to contest a court case, according to credible reports from the Kangondo.