Manual land records unreliable and inaccurate

Franco Odhiambo

Land is a basic requirement for development. Therefore, information relating to it must be readily available whenever it is needed.

Land-based information is wide and varied. It includes information on natural features such as water bodies, soil types, mountains, forests and man-made features such as settlements, communication lines and plantations.

Statistical data collected through various sources and superimposed with land-based information creates thematic information. The thematic information shows demographic trends such as voting patterns, population distribution, land holdings and male to female ratio among many other mappable statistical information.

Access To Information

The Constitution states that every citizen has the right of access to information held by the State. It also says every person has the right to the correction or deletion of untrue or misleading information that affects that person.

With regard to the above, information about land should be accurate and readily available to the consumer to enhance development projects.

Cadastral Information

The most sought after land information is the cadastral information, which shows land ownership and its attributes. However, conducting an official search in the land registry might take up to two weeks because the land register is either missing or misfiled.

The land registers were initially compiled in a binder designed to keep the registers intact under lock and key. However, the binders no longer exist and many land registries use ordinary files to file land registers. This does not augur well, considering the sensitivity of land matters.

Some requirements when conducting official searches such as identity card/passport, PIN certificates and original or photocopy of the title deed makes the process tedious despite the argument that the requirements are measures to control fraudulent dealings.

Apart from the official search, other cadastral information necessary are the property maps to confirm the existence of the said property on the ground and its location. However, many property maps are outdated due to delayed updates or revision.

The requirement of issuing title deeds after a map has been amended is a good move that will ensure proprietors follow up the issue of amendment. This will in turn reduce boundary disputes as the property existence will have been confirmed and the risk of overlaps, encroachment and registration of erroneous land survey eliminated.

However, the slow pace of map amendment results in delay of obtaining land ownership documents, which does not favour most developers who require the documents to get development permission and approvals and also use the same documents as collateral in financial institutions.

Although the Ministry of Lands has promised to convert the manual land-based information into computerised geographical-based information system, the process is slow. This increases the risk of vital land information disappearing before all land records are fully computerised.

The writer is a survey and mapping professional at Maptechconsult.