The Ministry of Lands and Housing has embarked on digitizing all lands registry records for ease of transaction across the country, its Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), Gideon Mung’aro has announced.
Mung’aro said Nairobi and other neighbouring counties were already fully digitized and that the government was rolling out the same countrywide so that by the year 2021 all land registries would be fully digital.
Speaking in Nanyuki town on Saturday, after witnessing the handing over of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) equipment and agricultural equipment to the Laikipia Lands office, funded by the European Union (EU) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Mung’aro said that it was now possible for people to conduct a land search in Nairobi online, thus limiting the time one would have used to have the same done manually.
”We want to limit the interaction of lands officials with clients as much as possible so as to limit cases of corruption,” Mung’aro said.
The CAS added that the government was in talks with the EU to extend the donation of the equipment to all county lands registries to ease in mapping and documentation of parcels of land.
The GIS equipment included computers equipped with Global Positioning Systems, a server, a container for records storage and phone tablets for field officer carrying out the mapping.
He further said that the ministry had embarked on sensitising people on community land rights ahead of the digitization exercise to avoid tussles emanating on communally owned parcels of land.
The Laikipia Governor, Ndiritu Muriithi hailed the GIS and agricultural equipment, saying they would go a long way in assisting in mapping of land and proper planning of urban areas in the region.
“With this new equipment, we can now make better plans for our urban centres since we have a better and efficient filling system of our records and thus faster and efficient processes,” Muriithi said.
The National Lands Commission Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Kabare Tache said that nine counties had also been issued with the GIS equipment through funding from the EU to the tune of 11 million Dollars, adding that it would mark a major milestone in managing of land records in the country.
The CEO added that the equipment would help in identifying land parcels easily and help in improving of access to social amenities across the country.
The EU Ambassador to Kenya, Simon Mordue, who was also present said that the donation was meant to make a big impact on the local economies through easier access to land records.
The FAO representative to Kenya, Gabriel Ngalema said the GIS equipment would help in resolving the numerous land disputes in the country and in getting County Development Pans, while the agricultural machinery would assist in conservation agriculture for better yields to farmers and stem post-harvest wastage.
The agricultural equipment included jab planters, animal-drawn planters and motorcycles for extension officers.
By Martin Munyi
