The government has kept manual records in 57 land registries since 1895. As a result, the process has been tedious and slow in a sensitive ministry of Lands. Lands cabinet secretary, Farida Karoney vowed to fast-track transformation in the lands ministry. She is set on making the land registry system transparent, accountable and fast through digitization.

On April 3, 2018, Ms Farida Karoney launched digitization of lands registry at Ardhi House. Former Cabinet Secretary Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi had also made strides in the digitization of lands registry system. The first phase which ended in September last year saw Central Registry at Ardhi house in Nairobi start digitization. Other registries that benefited in the pilot phase include Thika, Kiambu, Meru, Bungoma, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kajiado, Machakos, Kwale, Kilifi, and Mombasa.

Improve Service Delivery

The automation of land registration system will improve efficiency, boost government revenues and secure land documents. Digitization will help create a national spatial data system that will be easy to access through electronic media. Services that are available on the digital system include the application of land search to authenticate and validity title deeds. It will be possible to do land transactions electronically making it accessible even to third parties like banks. Other services that now online include the transfer of ownership, payment of land rates and rent, registration fees and stamp duty to KRA. These services will be available through the ecitizen portal. However, according to Ms Farida Karoney, Nairobi digital land registry will be in operation immediately and the rest of the county by 2019.

Curb Corruption

According to Transparency International, the land ministry is one of the most corrupt institutions in Kenya. Registration officials will make files disappear in a bid to solicit for bribes. There are also numerous cases of multiple ownership of land in Kenya which has caused many disputes. This happens because there are corrupt officials who collude with cartels to create double titles for huge pieces of land they want to grab. Also, in some cases where land belongs to the community, cartels take advantage and sell or lease that land without the consent of the concerned community. Digital land registry will be foolproof and incorruptible which in turn will help secure land tenure. Landowners are advised to visit their local registry offices to have their properties validated on the ecitizen portal.

National Titling Center

According to the president’s delivery unit, the government has established a one-stop shop to handle all land matters. The National Titling Center will provide services such as land survey, land adjudication, and land registration services. The centre will make use of geospatial data to guide in mapping and survey operations in the country.

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Notable changes

Digitization of lands registry system is comprehensive and productive. Doing a land search will take less time than before when officers had to go through paper records. It will enhance storage, easy retrieval of lands records and public access to lands registries. Consequently, people can now have confidence when doing land transactions and get credit easily.

Digitization will also help solve land disputes since operations in land adjudication will run in a transparent manner. Past land transactions will be available online to third parties such as bank and mortgage lenders to confirm ownership of a piece of land or pre-existing liens on any property offered as collateral.

Not without hiccups

The Law Society of Kenya has come out strongly to oppose the digitization move by Ministry of Lands. In a letter to the Ministry, the LSK says only lawyers are legally allowed to facilitate land transfer where they normally charge a conveyancing fee. This culminated on April 18, 2018 ruling by Justice Wilfridah Okwany. She ordered Lands Ministry to stop digital land transactions until the case filed by LSK is mentioned in 14 days. LSK is however ok with keeping land records online, online payment and processing of land rates, rent clearance and stamp duty.

Furthermore, LSK warned that the digitized registry system is prone to manipulation. They want all stakeholders affected by the automated registration and conveyancing system to be involved in implementation.

The World Bank through blogs.worldbank.org warns against viewing computerization as a miracle cure to all the ills of past land administration systems. Nevertheless, Ms Farida stated that the Ministry has deployed several layers of protection that there will be no unauthorized access to lands records

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