Minister must not relent on reforms to fight corruption in our land registries
What you need to know:
- One needs to search history to find out when the land sector last received such policy attention. I cannot possibly recall when a sitting President last visited the Ministry of Lands head office.
- Customers with issues that call for subsequent follow-ups should be given a reliable communication avenue so that they can call to confirm status without having to physically visit the offices.
Hate or like her, Mrs Charity Ngilu has changed the game in the land sector. It is no longer business as usual at Ardhi House and the Ministry of Lands.
The vigour and energy she has displayed was last seen during Amos Kimunya’s tenure in the same position (January 2003 - February 2006).
She is lucky; the President has given her unprecedented support. The significance of the following developments may have escaped the attention of many.
During a special Cabinet meeting of April 27, it was approved to issue three million title deeds and digitise land.
In his Madaraka Day address to the nation, President Kenyatta underscored his government’s commitment to improving land registries to ensure efficient transactions. Last month, the President visited Ardhi House twice to assess the progress of the initiative to streamline the records office.
One needs to search history to find out when the land sector last received such policy attention. I cannot possibly recall when a sitting President last visited the Ministry of Lands head office.
Coming in a space of weeks, these actions are unprecedented and the country needs to carefully note them for what they portend.
VALUE OF THREE TRILLION
In my view, this is correct prioritising. I have argued before that Lands is one of the key ministries and that it is a pity that previous regimes have tended to treat it shabbily. It moves a key resource, which is critical to our social-economic and political development.
If you were to attach a very conservative economic value to our approximately six million parcels, which once registered are tradable in the market place, at a nominal average value of Sh500,000 each, one is looking at a real estate portfolio of about Sh3 trillion, about twice our national budget.
One can, therefore, appreciate what an additional three million registered parcels in our database translates into in economic terms. Against this context, delayed and pending land titling programmes, must be seen as regrettable lost opportunities to our economy—which brings me to the second point.
It has been reckless of us as a nation to allow millions of land records to accumulate in a disorderly and disparate state in our Nairobi and county land registries.
By allowing the records to be disorganised, we put in jeopardy this trillion-shilling economic base.
We not only make it difficult for banks to access the parcels for trading, but also for experts to aggregate the records for social and economic planning. We leave the records exposed to saboteurs, who can change or destroy records and fuel land cases as a result.
This is why the President is right in supporting Mrs Ngilu’s efforts to put our land records in order. This is why we need to support the effort.
RELIABLE COMMUNICATION AVENUE
But Mrs Ngilu must know that she is walking a treacherous path. She will be ruthlessly held to account if service seekers do not begin to count direct gains when they apply for official searches, development approvals, and registration documents.
I have encountered some who have obtained quick solutions to their issues even as others complain that no one has got back to them weeks after they filed their requests at the tents outside Ardhi House.
The ministry must create an effective means of ensuring that issues that can be resolved without revisits are expedited.
Customers with issues that call for subsequent follow-ups should be given a reliable communication avenue so that they can call to confirm status without having to physically visit the offices.
Moreover, customer traffic could be eased considerably if desk officers are obliged to promptly respond to official correspondence since many of the enquiries relate to fairly straightforward issues.
Mrs Ngilu must also now give attention to the frustrations reported in registries in Thika, Kiambu, Kajiado, and Machakos, which are under pressure from Nairobi’s imploding peri-urban development.
In the medium and long-term, the ministry must embark on a comprehensive computerisation programme suitable for managing our land administration system. Mrs Ngilu and the President must not relent on this.
Mr Mwathane is a consultant in surveying and land information management. ([email protected])
