Lands ministry wants orders stopping digitisation lifted

The Ministry of Lands wants the High Court to lift an order obtained by the Law Society of Kenya  (LSK) stopping the digitisation of land transactions.

In an application, Lands Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri argued that the public will be disadvantaged if the court does not stay, set aside or vary the orders obtained by the LSK on April 18.

In a sworn statement, Dr Muraguri said the orders, as extracted by the lawyers’ umbrella body, are open to various contradictory interpretations.

He wants the court to clarify the order to avoid causing confusion in land registration. Dr Muraguri said  that, whereas one order allows the application for 14 days only, or until the next mention date, another grants LSK orders stopping the process pending the hearing and determination of the case.

The PS defended the digitisation as an internal administrative process aimed at making land administration and management efficient, accountable and transparent.

AUTOMATED

He said government services are being increasingly integrated and revenue collection automated. Consequently, the systems cannot just be switched off and returned to manual because that  will not only be retrogressive, but will also lead to  loss of revenue and delays, if not the total collapse, of the applications undergoing  processing.

Dr Muraguri said  that as a stakeholder, the LSK was actively involved in the digitisation of land records, and the  concerns identified during the engagements have been addressed by the Ministry.

“The digitisation  is  conducted in collaboration with the National Land Commission under the National Land Information Management System (NLIMS) and has been a participatory process involving stakeholders, including the public...,” he said in a sworn statement.

MANUAL TRANSACTIONS

Justice Wilfrida Okwany had stopped the process after  the LSK accused the ministry of failing to consult the relevant stakeholders as required.

Through a notice published on April 4, 2018, the ministry said it was discontinuing manual transactions at both the Nairobi and Central registries.

It said  that all property transactions, including searches, application for registration of all documents, cautions, and withdrawal of cautions, must be done online.

But the LSK argued that the move is illegal and likely to undermine the integrity of the land registration  and the sanctity of titles.

The LSK said the regulations establishing  the legal framework for electronic conveyancing  are pending before Parliament.

But Dr Muraguri argued that the process started in 2014, when the ministry embraced technology for backroom administrative procedures, leading to  improved service delivery.