Title deeds for 762 public schools secured, says Kaimenyi

Lands and Physical Planning Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has revealed that his ministry in conjunction with the National Land Commission have secured 762 title deeds for public schools.

Prof Kaimenyi said this on Monday during State House Summit on Land where he listed achievements of his ministry under Jubilee regime four years later.

“We received 7,600 applications for titles, out of which 762 have been completed and are being transferred to the National Treasury for the Cabinet Secretary’s signature. We have also mapped all public schools,” he said.

The move renders land grabbers who had developed an insatiable appetite for public school land powerless. In January this year, police lobbed tear gas canisters at pupils of Lang’ata Road Primary and activists who were protesting the grabbing of the school’s playground.

The National Land Commission and the Ministry of Education in February directed schools to acquire title deeds. By that time, only 7,000 of the 32,000 schools countrywide had the documents, according to NLC chairman Muhammad Swazuri.

President Uhuru Kenyatta also issued the same directive in January last year.

Prof Kaimenyi said that the ministry has also fast-tracked the registration and issuance of title deeds to Kenyans from a total of 5.6 million since independence (1963-June 2013) to 2.4 million title deeds in 2013/2014 to first quarter of 2016/2017. This averages between 112,000 and 800,000 title deeds per year.

“The 2.4 million title deeds have been processed at a cost of Sh4.46 billion. The ministry will process additional 600,000 titles by June 30, 2017 at a cost of Sh1.4 billion,” said Kaimenyi.

Another achievement for the ministry is the launch of the first phase of National Land Information Management System (NLIMS) by NLC. The lack of NLMS had over the years seen the county lacking an updated land information management system that is coordinated and integrated for effective land management.

The volume of land records and the manual system used in land transactions had made it untenable for expeditious land transactions. Digitisation of land records as part of NLIMS, Prof Kaimenyi said, commenced in the financial year 2013/2014.

“All the registries will be fully digitised in the financial year 2019/2020 at an estimated total cost of Sh5 billion. So far, the project has cost Sh1.2 billion,” he added.

The automated registration processes involve transfer of lease, transfer of land, charge, discharge of charge, sub-lease, caution, mutation, correction of names, registration of lease, power of attorney, loss of title, court order and production of digital title deeds with security features to deter forgery and enhance sanctity of title deeds.

The process of digitising 12 other land registries in Kwale, Kilifi, Mombasa, Thika, Kiambu, Machakos, Meru Central, Kajiado, Nakuru, Kisumu, Bungoma and Nairobi Central registries is about 79 per cent on average.

The 12 registries, he said, would be finalised by December 2016.