In an address at the Environment and Land Court Judges’ Annual Conference on Monday, Njeru said fraudsters have in the past succeeded in acquiring and transferring property without the knowledge of the rightful owners. Something that is impossible with the deployment of Ardhisasa, an online land registration platform.
“Any time someone attempts to perform any form of transaction on any piece of land, the system generates messages and alerts the owner or owners of the attempt,” said Njeru.
The CS added that the digitization of land records for Nairobi County is nearly complete, and the same will soon begin in Mombasa and Muranga.
“We are currently working together with stakeholders including the Law Society of Kenya, the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya, the Kenya Bankers Association, and the Association of Registered Land Surveyors of Kenya in addressing some challenges experienced by users of the system,” he added.
Njeru stated that challenges emerged at the initial stages of development of the system as a result of oversight issues. Hence the State Department of Lands and Physical Planning has been working to improve the efficiency at Ardhi House and has made commendable progress in boosting the integrity of service provision.
As a result of these efforts, the CS said, title deeds are processed faster these days.
Njeru commended the Judiciary for the creation of two new divisions of the Environment and Land Court (ELC) – which are the Land Division and the Environment and Planning Division.
He said the creation of the Environment and Planning Division is timely since it will enable the Judiciary to play an effective role in the management of the environment and climate change mitigation.
“I am happy that land use planning is one of the sub themes of this conference. This will enable stakeholders to discuss crosscutting aspects of sustainable land use and explore ways of balancing the interests of different groups with respect to the usage of land,” he noted.
The conference was graced by Chief Justice Martha Koome, Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu, Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri, Director of Law Division at UNEP Prof. Patricia Kameri-Mbote, National Land Commission Chairman Gershom Otachi, among others. BY CITIZEN DIGITAL