English
Kinyarwanda
By Bosco R. Asiimwe
In life, everyone strives to own something and to be somebody. If a person has nothing significant to call their own, an achievement, or a skill, or perhaps, something unique in an individual sense, they try to supplement this as lack of something to their possessions. It becomes a physical and psychological manifestation of lack, a myth one tries and works hard to break.
Uwineza (second name withheld) has worked hard to realize her dream of owning a decent residential home for her family of five. But what could have been tears of joy ended up a shuttered dream.
On August, 23, 2019, Uwineza made her dream come true when she purchased a modern residential house worth Rwf38 million in the upscale Kibagabaga of Gasabo District.
In what was supposed to be celebrations, it turned out to be moments of sadness and tears. Simply, Uwineza had been dubbed of Rwf38 million.
In the previous month, Uwineza, a civil servant, had secured a mortgage loan of Rwf40 million. She told a broker to look for her a house to buy. The broker, in the process, met a man and woman (Eugene and Florence), who claimed to be a couple with a complete residential house on sale in Kibagabaga.
The broker connected the couple to Uwineza. Florence called Uwineza, the two met at Rwanda Military Hospital.
“She [Florence] told me that they have a child diagnosed with cancer and admitted in Rwanda Military Hospital and they were selling their house to take their child to India for treatment,” the sad looking Uwineza says. “…she seemed real and affected by her so called sick child.”
Uwineza visited the said house on sale. She approved. The land title was checked, it seemed real (at least in the eyes of Uwineza) and in Eugene and Florence’s names. They agreed on the modalities of payment; in two equal installments. Uwineza made the second and final payment on August 23.
“We were supposed to go for the land title mutation the following day but all their known phones went dead. I thought, maybe they had made immediate arrangements to fly their alleged child for treatment until the rightful owner of the house showed up few days later and brought reality to light that I had been conned.
At that moment, I felt that I had been struck by lightning. Life has not been the same. I think about it day and night, I can’t sleep, I think of how I will service a loan of Rwf38 million which blew up in thin air, I think of my children… how we are going to survive—renting, their education and other necessities—with the little part of my salary left after deducting the loan. It’s a feeling of unimaginable sadness.”
During investigations, Florence, who goes by different names, was arrested on October 21, in Kanombe. According to investigations, Florence is part of a ring of six people, who defraud unsuspecting members of the public in similar styles.
“All the six members of this criminal ring have been identified, and two of them; Florence and another one called Karim have been handed over to RIB,” said Commissioner of Police (CP) John Bosco Kabera, RNP spokesperson.
When Karim was arrested on November 12, he was also found in possession of other forged land titles, apparently for their next targets.
Karim and another suspect still at large only identified as Matwi were in charge of identifying potential targets and forging all the required documents, according to investigations.
Some of the forged documents that Karim was found with are for a plot of land and a residential house in Kamonyi District.
Apparently, the original documents of the targeted property in Kamonyi are with the bank as collateral, where the rightful owner of the property acquired a loan.
Florence describes Karim as “Umu men mukuru” loosely translated as the brain of the group.
Like Uwineza, Mutoni (another name withheld) was also fleeced of Rwf40 million after she bought a house in Kigali only to find out months later when the rightful owner came to evict her from the house she called her own.
In Rusizi District, Japhet Ndayisaba and Marie-Claire Mukeshimana, both hailing from Kigali, were also arrested red-handed in Kamembe receiving Rwf1 million from the would-be victim, who was buying a plot of land.
According to investigations, Ndayisaba and Mukeshimana, who were also posing as a couple, identified Karim as their boss.
“When you look at all fraud cases related to land and houses, those who plan are not the ones who execute and there’s always a woman and man calling themselves a couple; a woman calling herself a widow; they always employ a sense of emergency which pushes them to sell such as a sick child or close relative, or they acquired a loan and the bank wants to auction the property. In most cases these fraud rings target unoccupied property and the property is undervalued,” says CP Kabera.
Statistics from RIB indicate that 24 cases related to land and house fraud have been recorded this year, with majority of the cases registered in City of Kigali and Bugesera District. Kigali and Bugesera are targeted because of the rapid development.
“Majority of the victims who were buying plots of land were fleeced between Rwf5 million and Rwf10 million, while those buying houses were conned of between Rwf15 million and Rwf50 million. So far, 41 members of these separate rings connected to the 24 cases registered this year, have been arrested,” says Marie-Michelle Umuhoza, RIB spokesperson.
According to prosecution, majority of those arrested have been prosecuted, with the prosecution rate above 95 percent.
Fraud, deception, obtaining another person’s property by use of false names or qualifications, is punishable with an imprisonment term of two to three years and a fine of between Rwf3 million and Rwf5 million, as stipulated under article 174 of the penal code.
Forgery, falsification and use of forged documents, under article 276, is punishable with five to seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rwf3 million to Rwf5 million.
Precautionary measures
“When you are buying a property, ask all families residing next that property… it’s advisable to use the service of three people living in the neighbourhood, village and zone chiefs to sign on the buy or sell agreement. These people know or have information on rightful owners of the property you want to purchase,” CP Kabera advised.
According to Grace Nishimwe, the head of land administration department at Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority (RLMUA), a QR Code was designed to support all those in need of quick services related to lands and, partly, as a preventive measure against fraud.
“The QR enhanced the security of land titles as the information embedded in it serve to attest that the land title was issued by the competent authority.”
“Today, when you dial *651# and follow the procedure, you get all particulars related to the ownership of land; you get to know if the land and property on it is in the bank as collateral, if the land has caveat and its current and intended use,” Nishimwe said.
National Identification Agency (NIDA) Director-General, Joséphine Mukesha also advised those purchasing the property to always take extra efforts to authenticate the Identity Card of the alleged property owner.
“A genuine Identity Card has its features, including those that can be observed with your eyes like its thickness, colour and its lightness. When you compare your Identity Card and that of the person alleging to be the owner of the property you intend to acquire, you will easily notice any discrepancy, if it’s forged,” said Mukesha.
As CP Kabera advised against moving with big sums of money, one of the means used by the fraudsters is to be paid cash in hand, but rather conduct safer money transfer; Mukesha said that this provides the last resort opportunity to authenticate the Identity Card as “banking institutions can also confirm authenticity of the ID card using authentication means available.”
