Hundred Of Billions Of Transactions Pending In Land Registry
By Zipporah Umile
Hundreds of billions of transactions are said to be pending in Land Registry due to an inefficient digital system.
Ardhi Sasa, a Ministry of lands reform initiative aimed at enhancing service delivery in land administration and registration is said to be marred with uexplainable delays that have resulted in collapse of services at the land registries.
Speaking during an LSK protest against the Ministry of Lands on Friday, Vice Chairperson at Law Society of Kenya, Faith Odhiambo stated that the Ardhi Sasa faulty online system resulted to land owners’ inability to access credit through loans from banks and saccos.
‘Banks, Saccos and financial institutions are unable to disburse credit with an estimated amount over 100 billion in loans frustarted due to inability or delay in registration of charges.’ Odhiambo stated.
Principal Secretary at State Department for Lands, Nixon Korir who met the protestors at his office in Ardhi House said that a team has been formed in the ministry of Lands to unclog pending files that have delayed transaction.
PS Korir also promised the advocates to resolve the issues surrounding the functionality of Ardhi Sasa system in the next 60 days.
‘We are now sitting with the developer of Ardhi Sasa to look unto this matter and see how we can improve its efficiency. PS Korir said. ‘We are also sitting with a land administrator to enumerate the challenges of the functionality of the system and propose solutions.
Other challenges experienced at the land registries include inability to conduct researches and verify land ownership records and loss of government revenue in the form of stamp duty.
The National Land Information Management System, known as Ardhi Sasa, was launched by former President Uhuru Kenyatta on April 27, 2021.
The system is a digital land resource management platform designed to enhance the security of land records, speed up transactions and curb fraud.
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