Land cartels face bleak future as digitisation of lands records take shape.
The first phase of the digitisation of land records in Kenya will be complete by the end of 2020, Land Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney has said.
Speaking during the Association of Women Accountants in Kenya (AWAK) meeting held at the Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort and Spa in Mombasa Wednesday, the CS said the ministry is working with a multi-agency team to set up the system.
She added that the records will be put in a secure digital space with some 66 land registry offices in the country set to be fully digitised.
“Many Kenyans have suffered because their land documents in the registry have been disappearing. We want to secure the online platform to hinder the crooks from replicating the same trend,” Ms Karoney said.
The CS said some problems the ministry wants to face out include missing files and one piece of land having several title deeds.
She said important services such as survey and registry records will be the first to be digitised.
“It can take up to 10 years to fully digitise but we will do it service to service. We want people to access services from the comfort of their homes with different access levels and security levels,” the CS said.
She added that Kenyans should use their land productively to benefit themselves and the country at large.
“Land is an economic resource that can be used to transform lives and not to keep it for economic status,” Ms Karoney said, adding that citizens should use the resource wisely as Kenya’s population is growing and as such, with proper use of land, the country can sustainably provide enough food for its people.
“The population is growing day by day and we should open our eyes to see how we can sustain ourselves as a country by putting idle land into agricultural use,” she added.