By:Robert Mutasi
Members of Parliament have raised serious concerns over the slow pace of implementation of the Digital Land Management Information System, five years after the ambitious digitization program was launched.
The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday put Lands Principal Secretary Nixon Korir to task to explain why only two land registries out of 83 operational registries across the country had fully digitized and migrated their land records to the digital platform.
According to the committee, the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning rolled out the Ardhisasa digital platform in the year 2021 to enhance efficiency and effective management of land administration, curb fraud and end the perennial land grabbing menace.
However, five years down the line, only Nairobi and Murang’a land registries have fully gone digital, a situation MPs termed as unacceptable and a recipe for corruption.
“Kenyans just want to know when will this Ardhisasa be fully operational and digitized. There are people who benefit from personal contact when someone needs a document fast-tracked. It should just be digital,” said Mogo Gichuki, MP Mathioya, who chairs the session.
Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda echoed his sentiments, arguing that the digitization has been deliberately frustrated from within by cartels who benefit from the manual system.
“Digitization is being frustrated internally not by lack of funds but by those who benefit from having a manual process. Because that’s where the money comes in. If it is digitized there will be no money,” she said.
Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo also weighed in, accusing ministry officials of sabotaging the program to continue soliciting bribes from Kenyans seeking land services.
Responding to the queries, Lands PS Nixon Korir attributed the delays to a review process on the system that was initiated after the World Bank started supporting the program. He said part of the World Bank project is to audit the Ardhisasa system to make it faster and more efficient, which will then require a change of law.
“In essence an honorable chair we have a system that we just need to replicate, adjust a little but run with it,” PS Korir said.
The PS assured the committee that the remaining program will now be expedited following a Sh16 billion intervention by the World Bank that will be spread over the next five years.
“This is a very important exercise that we can give to this country digitizing our land records. Nairobi has actually by digitizing land records in Nairobi we are able to identify lands with double titling that you wouldn’t have identified in the manual platform,” Korir added.
Meanwhile, in a separate sitting, Information Communication and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo urged Parliament to review the National Library Service Bill to support the digital transformation agenda by recognizing the Kenya National Library Service as a national digital repository.
“We need to add objectives on digital access to knowledge, digital heritage preservation, national digital knowledge repository, lifelong learning, AI, research and innovation,” CS Kabogo said while submitting the ministry’s input towards the bill before the Senate’s Labour Committee.
MPs now want the Lands Ministry to provide a clear timeline and roadmap on when all 83 land registries will be fully digitized to restore public confidence in land administration.
