March 22, 2024
Lands PS Generali Nixon Korir has directed Registrars and other Lands officers to ensure fraudsters who come with fake titles to lay claim on other people’s land are arrested.
The PS said anyone who presents a fake title deed at any Lands office counter should be immediately handed over to the police who are working closely with the Department for Lands and Physical Planning.
“People who present fake money are arrested on the spot, the same should happen to those who present fake titles with the intention of defrauding other people,” said the PS.
PS Korir was speaking at the Isiolo Ardhi House where he visited to inspect the progress of the ongoing exercise to digitize land records in the Isiolo registry which holds records for Isiolo and Marsabit counties.
The PS thanked the staff who are undertaking the exercise for the commendable progress they have made but warned them against any laxity that might create any sort of error in the process.
“If any problem is detected in the records relating to any particular parcel of land even if it is 20 years from today, the first question we will ask is, who was responsible for digitizing this record, ” said the PS while addressing the staff.
He urged staff tasked with the digitization of Lands records in various counties to be thorough and vigilant as they convert manual documents into digital formats.
He said the purpose of digitization and automation of Lands records is to strengthen security of ownership and mistakes during the digitization exercise should not be allowed.
PS Korir, who was accompanied by senior officials from the State Department, said the department has embarked on an exercise to replicate the achievements made in Nairobi in other parts of the country.
On Thursday, the PS visited Muranga County where staff have completed more than 90 percent of the process of digitizing close to 300,000 land parcels. The PS said trial runs of the Ardhisasa system will be conducted in the next few days after which the system will be launched by CS Alice Wahome for use by the public.
PS Korir said the department will dispatch teams to Lamu, Tana River and Mombasa Counties.
He said the department projects that by the end of the next five years the process of digitization and automation of Lands records will be completed nationwide.
Lessons learned from the inception of the new digital technology in Nairobi has allowed the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning to improve the Ardhisasa system and the digitization exercise which forms the database for the platform.