Digital registry will help stem unprocedural land acquisition

Land tenure and ownership in Kenya has been characterised by greed and grievances; often leading to violent outcomes.

Besides unresolved historical land injustices enumerated in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report (TJRC), modern day land grabbing by a powerful cabal has exacerbated the crisis.

The now rampant cases of unprocedural land acquisition, point to unbridled impunity of land cartels whose influence has grown exponentially over the years.

The fact that the government had admittedly revoked 4,000 irregular tittles by November 2016 only demonstrates the unfettered reach of the tentacles of land grabbers.

The lands registry had at one point morphed into the proverbial Bermuda Triangle where files mysteriously disappeared or were swapped and shuffled like a pack of cards in a poker game.

This perhaps explains the scepticism that has met digitisation of land records at the Ministry of Lands.

While officials at the Ministry are confident that digitising the lands registry will increase transparency and reduce fraud, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has been sceptical about implementation of the automated system.

But their fears are not farfetched if the prevalent fraudulent acquisition of land and illegally obtained titles are anything to go by.

It is thus imperative that the Government’s renewed vigour in fighting graft be channelled towards cleaning the lands docket as well. 

As a long-time member of the National Realtors Association in the US, I have witnessed the efficiency of the electronic system in US county land offices.

Though the Kenya Professional Realtors Association is backing the lands registry digitisation as a requisite step towards checking fraud in titling, it is critical for the digitisation process to be consultative by bringing the LSK and all other industry players on board.

Indeed, the consideration by the Ministry of Lands to move the land registry on to a blockchain platform will further tighten the loopholes that encourage rampant vices such as land grabbing and violent land conflicts.

Only recently, a family in Kilifi County that has been fighting over ownership of a disputed 24-acre land was roughly evicted pending the hearing of the dispute on June 25, 2018 at the Malindi law courts.

This was reported to be two weeks after burying its patriarch Bruce Joseph Bockle who died while undergoing treatment in India.

In February, Esmond Bradley Martin, a foreigner with Kenyan citizenship was murdered in a ploy believed to be engineered to pave way for the grabbing of his 20-acre piece of land in Karen. Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti attributed the American conservationist’s murder to a land tussle and investigations are on-going.

In yet another case, Guy Spencer Elms, a lawyer in Nairobi who was in 2010 appointed an executor and issued with a power of attorney for a will by the late Roger Bryan Robson prior to his death in 2012 is in court fighting alleged grabbers.

Roger had property located in Karen and Upper Hill in Nairobi inherited from his parents and which are estimated to be worth over Sh500 million.

As reported in local dailies, Roger signed his last will and testament stating that his estates be sold and proceeds shared between his nephew and charitable institutions in Kenya that focus on environmental conservation.

Digitisation will rid the country of such land invasions where powerful crooks take advantage of weak registry systems. Proper systems reflecting trail of ownership for all parcels of land need to be implemented to safeguard the vulnerable and help unlock the value of land as a factor of production.

According to Hernando De Soto, the author of Mystery of Capital, questionable land ownership and tenancy is a major stumbling block to the economic progress of most developing countries.

Questionable tenancy and ownership of land often deters potential investors from injecting capital.

Hernando posits that most of these countries hold resources in defective form: houses built on land whose ownership rights are not adequately recorded, unincorporated businesses with undefined liability.

This is contrary to other developed countries where every parcel of land and every asset is legally represented and the sanctity of property rights respected by both state and individuals.  

- The writer is the Executive Director of Kenya Professional Realtors Association and the author of Kenya Real Estate Principles and Practice