Services at Land Ministry worse under Jubilee- survey

Provision of services at the Ministry of Lands has worsened since the Jubilee administration took office, a new survey shows.

The survey conducted by the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI), which advocates for good land policies, laws and practices, said Kenyans in all parts of the country seem dissatisfied with the level of services offered.

“Moreover, no improvement at all has been noted within the last 100 days that the new officers and the National Land Commission have been in office. Indeed, a frequent complaint, particularly in Ardhi House, is that services have got even worse,” the report released at the Nairobi Safari Club Tuesday said.

The survey sought to gauge services based on the ease of accessing information; timeliness in provision of services; cost of services provided; ease of land dispute resolution and existence and level of corruption at the lands registries, as the indicators of service.

With regard to access to information, more than half of the respondents (51.1 per cent) felt that the process was fairly easy while 48.4 pc were of the view that it was difficult to access information.

Nearly a quarter of the respondents (24.7 pc) felt that carrying out transactions was timely, while 74.3 pc said the process was slow.

The cost of transactions at lands offices was fairly ranked with 53.95 pc of the respondents stating that service fees are affordable while 44.4 pc felt that the cost is unaffordable.

In matters pertaining to land dispute resolution, 46 pc of those interviewed said the process was difficult while 15.2 pc indicated it was fair.  Thirty-eight per cent did not know as they had never approached the Ministry for dispute resolution.

Increased frustration

On corruption, 48.9 pc complained that corruption levels were high at the registries, 27.1pc said graft levels were low while 24.1 pc said they did not know.

“The report concludes that service delivery in the country has not had much improvement. This is in comparison to previous studies conducted by the Institute. There continues to be increased frustration among citizens at all levels of service delivery,” LDGI's Ibrahim Mwathane said.

The survey noted that corruption was deep rooted and most times resulted in the poor performance of all other service delivery areas.

“Citizen’s lack of knowledge on their land rights, obligations and responsibilities has resulted in poor services in the lands sector as most registries were perceived to be inefficient and unaccountable,” its said.

The report recommends expedient devolution of land administration and management institutions. This will increase efficiency and reduce time taken in service delivery and consequently reduce costs incurred by citizens in accessing these services.

Digitise land records

Goodwill and support from the government in terms of budgetary allocation to the land administration and management institutions is vital to facilitate their establishment and ensure efficient roll out of services, it said.

"This shall help such institution establish structures of operation and guidelines for service delivery. In addition, budgetary support will ensure funds for training existing staff to ensure they are motivated,” the scorecard said.

It said computerisation of the processes in lands offices and digitisation of land records, which the government has committed to, will increase efficiency and reduce transaction times. This should be fast-tracked.

The LDGI said the government could easily address issues with no financial implications like attitude change among staff, introduction of customer care desks and sporadic inspections by accountable officers and those from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

The land experts said corruption should be dealt with from the top, a service charter implemented, brokers wiped out and computerisation of records.

"The Institute wishes to inform the Ministry and the National Land Commission that without addressing the regular complaints on service delivery, their efforts in other aspects of land administration and management in Kenya will have little public impact and appreciation,” the report said.

Governors and County Commissioners, the report said, “would do well to complement the efforts of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the National Land Commission for effective and sustainable results.”

Some 809 respondents were interviewed in 27 counties around the country.