BUJUMBURA July 27th (ABP) – “Allowing women to have access to land ownership is allowing them to be economically independent”. These are the words of Dr. Alexis Manirakiza professor at the University of Burundi (UB), Monday July 25, 2022 in Bujumbura, during the presentation of his study entitled “Equal access of Burundian women to land ownership” which was sponsored by CDE-Great Lakes, a Think Tank working in Burundi to promote economic freedom as a solution to poverty within the framework of the project “Why woman?” (Why the woman).
It indicates that according to the general people and housing census of 2008 (RGPH, 2008) and according to World Bank statistics (BM, 2016) 90% of the Burundian population lives from subsistence agriculture and this figure rises to 95% in rural areas, 85% of the Burundian population whose main source of income is agriculture. He believes that access to land ownership for women would increase their financial inclusion insofar as it will be easy for them to obtain credit, by pledging their land, which is not yet the case.
Dr. Manirakiza further specifies that the statistics of the Bank of the Republic of Burundi (BRB, 2015) show that the rate of financial inclusion of women was respectively 30.6%, 30.3%, 28.3 % in 2013, 2014 and 2015 while that of men represented 69.4%, 69.7% and 71.7% over the same period.
According to him, access to land ownership in favor of women makes it possible to achieve an integral development of the country, because he pointed out, “to develop women is to develop the whole of society”.
She added that the studies that have been done show that women with access to landed property contribute a greater proportion of family income than men (USAID, Honduras, Tanzania) and that “malnutrition is reduced by half when women have access to land ownership” (USAID, Nepal).
Dr. Manirakiza indicates that women are often victims of domestic violence, especially when they raise their voice against the squandering of goods necessary for the functioning of the household. And given their economic dependence, he added, they end up resigning themselves and taking the blows from, where allowing them to have access to land ownership would allow mutual respect between spouses.
According to him, all these reasons should normally convince the political authorities to put the proposal for the law on inheritance back on the legislative agenda. The problems they invoke to entrench the status quo (demographic growth, dependence on land, land scarcity, land disputes) should not be considered as insurmountable obstacles but rather as challenges to be met, and this is possible if there is a real political will, he continued.
In a speech delivered shortly before the presentation of this research study, the Executive Director of CDE-Great Lakes Mr. Aimable Manirakiza indicated that, like African women, Burundian women face many obstacles which prevent them from escaping the precarious living conditions that characterize them in both rural and urban areas. Under these conditions, he added, it becomes difficult to make these women real actors of development and citizens in their own right.
In Burundi, he continued, the issue of inheritance is the only important matter of Burundian property law that is not yet governed by Burundian law. In this case, it is the custom that applies at the level of the courts so that women, girls and widows can regain their property rights or not.
That challenge remains a headache for the Burundian jurist because, applying the legally acceptable solutions, according to the international legal instruments which Burundi has ratified and according to the Burundian Constitution, implies a real legal revolution at the level of the courts, he said. points out.
And to believe that inheriting and owning property without discrimination through a legal decision rendered by the courts and tribunals in Burundi provides powerful legal incentives that help allocate economic resources and legally empower owners to improve their lives by taking decisions about land use and capture all resulting revenue streams.