How safe are these title deeds?

President Uhuru Kenyatta flanked by Lands CS Charity Ngilu issues a title deed for Taveta Police Post. [PHOTO: FILE / STANDARD]

As the mad rush to issue title deeds in parts of the country continues, questions are being asked about the sanctity of the documents. Only recently, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that 800,000 title deeds were ready for issuance.

In some quarters, that might be seen as a great achievement since only 5.6 million title deeds have been issued since independence.

But the move is causing concern in some quarters. First, the land laws enacted in 2012 stripped the President of powers to issue title deeds and order extension of leases as used to happen before.

Currently, turf wars between the National Land Commission (NLC) and Ministry of Lands over who has powers to issue title deeds and renew expired leases raises confusion.

At one time, NLC Chairman Muhammad Swazuri declared land leases and title deeds issued by the ministry as null and void. Dr Swazuri further warned that any titles issued after March 1, 2013, which did not bear the commission’s seal were not legal documents and should not be used for any transaction.

It was reported that some work at the Ministry of Lands was paralysed for three months due to differences between Ngilu and the commission.

Land transfers, leases and the signing of tittle deeds ceased as the duo fought over everything — from routine issues of office space to who had the power over land administration.

 CRISIS

The crisis was ignited after Ngilu allegedly transferred gazetted officers — former Commissioner of Lands Zablon Mabea, Chief Lands Registrar Wambugu Ngatia and Director of Survey Euphantus Murage in October 2013.

Even attempts by the parliamentary committee on land to reconcile Ngilu and Swazuri have been futile as both insist their authority is derived from the Constitution.

A fresh row recently erupted between Ngilu and NLC following failure of Supreme Court-mandated mediation.

The Supreme Court sanctioned talks hit a snag with Ngilu disowning a report by a committee tasked to identify their disputes and recommend solutions to end the wrangles.

Whereas Ngilu sought more time for dialogue, NLC insisted that the mediation had failed and wanted the Supreme Court to go ahead and issue an advisory opinion on their mandate.

According to the mediation committee report, control of records and access to land registries are the main issues that sparked a row between Ngilu and the NLC.

The report of a joint technical team established by the commission and the ministry also listed processing of grants and leases and management of public and private land as areas of concern that need to be resolved.

The standoff that has delayed implementation of the much-talked about land reforms is also blamed for the absence of approved regulations to operationalise new land laws.

Even as confusion reigns over who has the mandate to issue titles, President Kenyatta recently announced issuance of nearly one million title deeds.

The President, who was speaking at the National Titling Centre in Nairobi, flagged off several vehicles to deliver the title deeds countrywide, saying the move will resolve perennial land conflicts.

Ngilu gave assurance that the titling centre would produce safe, secure and tamper-proof title deeds and 814,743 new titles were ready for issuance.

—The writer is an advocate of the High Court