Lands Ministry staff caught sneaking out title deed

By James Mbaka

Nairobi, Kenya: Police Tuesday evening arrested a casual member of staff at the Ministry of Lands who was caught sneaking out a title deed in a major breakthrough in unearthing a racket that is smuggling crucial documents out of Ardhi House.

Another woman was arrested on Friday after she was found sneaking files out of the lands registry as the ongoing 10-day audit discovered some 10,000 files which have been missing for many years.

Tuesday, police apprehended another woman after officers manning the gates and who were conducting a normal search on employees leaving the building after work found her with the title deed belonging to Malindi Municipal Council.

Langa’at Deputy OCPD Mwangi Kuria said the suspect was locked up at the Capitol Hill police station for interrogation and would be arraigned in court Wednesday.

He said they were also interrogating another employee in the ministry who was found with 10 title deeds in his bag as he exited Ardhi House Tuesday.

The central registry at Ardhi house is currently closed to the members of the public for a 10-day audit as the ministry plans to digitize its operations to promote efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

Officers at Ardhi House who did not want to be named told The Standard that some ministry officials apprehensive that they could be nabbed due to their involvement in corruption deals were secretly smuggling files and title deeds suspected to be illegally signed.

Documents targeted are those signed by National Lands Commission (NLC) which has opposed the closure of the central registry.