Reforms ‘to speed up land deals’
Ms Sarah Auma, a cartographer at the National Titling Centre in Nairobi, shows President Kenyatta how title deeds are digitised. The President toured the centre on July 7, 2014 accompanied by his deputy, Mr William Ruto (second from left) and Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI
What you need to know:
- President Kenyatta thanked Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu for the ongoing reforms
- The Head of State expressed optimism that the target to digitise three million title deeds within the next three years will be achieved.
Reforms at the Land registry have increased revenue in the ministry by Sh600 million in one month, President Kenyatta said on Monday after touring the National Titling Centre at the Survey of Kenya in Nairobi.
He thanked Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu for the ongoing reforms, which had resulted in the recovery of 1.3 million files after she ordered three registries at the ministry’s Ardhi House headquarters closed for 10 days to pave the way for a clean-up of records.
NO HIDING TITLE DEEDS
“The ongoing digitalisation of the title deeds will not only increase efficiency in issuance of the documents, but will also ensure that nobody will in future hide the title deeds,” Mr Kenyatta said.
“In the last one month, the Ministry has been able to increase revenue from the previous Sh400 million to Sh1 billion and the question remains: Where was this money (which belongs to the public) going before?”
The Head of State, who was flanked by his Deputy, Mr William Ruto and Leader of Majority in Parliament, Mr Aden Duale expressed optimism that the target to digitise three million title deeds within the next three years will be achieved.
“I’m committed to this programme since the Jubilee Government wants the issuance of title deeds to be effective and speeded up,” Mr Kenyatta said amid cheers from students and staff of the Ministry of Lands.
At the same time, the President said the processing of cargo at the Mombasa Port had been reduced from the previous 22 days to five days, making goods to arrive in Rwanda within seven days from the previous 28 days.
“Due to the current efficiency, our neighbouring countries of Rwanda and Uganda are now able to save $500 billion since the cost of clearing one container has been reduced by half and is now being charged at $15,000.
