This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
Nairobi, Kenya - July 3, 2020
The Ministry of Lands has set up legal committees to aid in determining land ownership wrangles emerging from the planned transition of the current manual lands records to a digital land registry.
Land Cabinet Secretary Faridah Karoney emphasized that the legal teams will help in sorting out ownership status of public land that may have been irregularly allocated and cases where the ownership of land parcels across the country is undocumented.
According to Karoney, the process of transitioning to a digital land registry will lead to disputes due to multiple title deeds for the same parcels of land in Nairobi. The ministry intends to use the process to determine the real owner by examining development plans, survey plans, and land administration correspondence.
However, Karoney noted that the process of cleaning up the records has revealed many title deeds that are based on nothing, which are expected to cause disputes.
The Lands CS reiterated that computerization will reduce duplication in the storage of information and allow the land registry to assess its performance and improve its services.
She also highlighted the security features of the National Lands Information Management System (NLIMS), which includes high-end cyber security experts, encryption of data, and multiple layers of firewalls.
Senator Gideon Moi and Susan Kihika proposed the ministry consider deploying Blockchain technology as a secure mechanism for the NLIMS.
CS Karoney stated that while the ministry plans to use Blockchain in a second phase, the current system is being built with several layers of security and encryption.
