Members of Broadborders, a land buying company in Murangá have lauded the ongoing government’s move to digitize operations at the land registries.
They said digitization process will help to end endemic corruption which has rocked the Lands Ministry for many years among other ills.
Led by Jane Wanjiru, the members said the process will also assist in solving succession cases which have denied many families opportunities to develop their ancestral land.
They said the move has come at a time when many people have lost their hard-earned money after they were defrauded by brokers, who have dominated land registries over the years.
They observed that in the past, manual land search could take a long time but with digitization, the process is expected to take only a few minutes.
“The government’s move to have all records in the land registries digitized is a big relief. Many families have suffered under the hands of unscrupulous people who purport to help in accessing title deeds. Most land registries have been marred by brokers,” they observed.
Another member, Mary Mwangi observed that the process of digitizing operations at land registries will give locals confidence to invest in their lands.
She recalled that in the past a parcel of land could be allocated to more than one owner, thus prompting court cases which usually take a long time to be determined.
The CEO Broadborders Company Jeremy Karimeri speaking during issuance of title deeds to more than 1,000 of their members observed that with digitization of land records, accessing of title deeds will be easy.
He noted that people will be able to do land search at the comfort of their homes saying it will no longer be mandatory for one to visit the land registry for the same.
“We welcome President’s Mashujaa Day speech where he talked of digitization of land registry. This will not only help people get title deeds easily, but will also boost investment as people will be confident when they invest in their lands,” added Karimeri.
He further requested the government to crack down on some land buying companies which are defrauding innocent residents of their money purporting to be in a position to buy them property.
“There have been many cases of people who claim to be selling land but in reality, they don’t have anything for sale. People need to be careful of these people and only buy land from well-established and known companies,” cautioned Karimeri.
The Murang’a County Executive for Health Joseph Mbai who was among recipients of the title deeds said the county administration has started a programme aimed at solving succession cases observing that many families have been unable to conclude the cases due to lack of required legal fee.
“In Murang’a there have been many succession cases and the county administration currently is registering them. Lawyers have been assigned to help such families achieve justice,” he added.
By Bernard Munyao
