The Ministry of Lands has bowed to months of public pressure and partially reopened registries across the country.
“The following services will be offered at the customer care centres of our registries countrywide; registration of bank charges, registration of bank discharges, registration of court orders and verification of sureties,” Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney announced Wednesday in a public notice.
The dispute over the land registries started before the first reported case of the coronavirus was announced in the country after the ministry attempted to close all registries.
According to the notice, the closure was intended to run from February 24 to March 13.
“This closure was challenged by the Law Society of Kenya as it was not preceded by any notice and neither were the reasons for the closure disclosed. Further, no provisions had been made for registration of time sensitive documents and those that attract penalties and interest in the event of delays,” says lawyer Eric Theuri.
Subsequently, the court granted orders to re-open the land registry.
However, after the first reported case of coronavirus, the ministry moved forward to close land registries, with Ms Karoney announcing: “The ministry wishes to communicate that all registries and land offices will remain closed for a further 14 days as advised by the National Emergency Response Committee on the Management of Covid-19 .”
After being closed for 14 days, the land offices and registries across the country were to re-open on April 29, but in a newspaper notice by the CS, the closure was extended by another 14 days.
“The ministry has failed to recognise that land is not just property, but a means of generating capital. Closure of lands registries for over two months has caused unprecedented difficulties to the owners of the capital,” Mr Theuri laments.
This closure of land registries has stirred protests countrywide.
In Laikipia and Nyandarua counties, residents say that the move is blocking the delivery of essential services.
The lands office in Nyahururu town, that serves Nyandarua, Samburu and parts of Laikipia, has now been closed for two months.
“The last time I was here, I was told that they were going to reopen in the next 14 days. My area chief informed me that the office has been opened, but today I have been told that the closure has been extended,” said Ms Hannah Wanjiku, adding: “It is unfair to travel all the way from Kinangop to Nyahururu, spend close to Sh800, and return home without getting services.”
OTHERCOMPLAINTS
Ms Wanjiku told the Nation that her family is seeking to subdivide and sell their piece of land to raise funds to pay her husband’s hospital bill.
“We urgently need the money so that we can manage to foot my husband’s medical bill. Our efforts to also get a loan from a financial institution have been fruitless due to lack of proper documentation,” she added.
Mr Nahashon Mwangi, another resident who is seeking to bail out his son from remand, noted that he has been visiting the registry to seek services without success.
“My son has been in remand for the last two months now. When I presented my title deed at the court, I was directed to get a valuation certificate,” added Mr Mwangi.
An officer attached to the Nyahururu Thompson Falls GK Prison also blamed the current congestion at the facility’s remand to closure of the land registry.
“We can only hold between 400 and 600 inmates. But we are currently overstretched,” said the officer.
At the same time, land dealers have decried loss of businesses due to the closure of the offices.
“The continued closure of land offices is killing our livelihood because operations have been grounded,” said Mr Joe Wagura, a director at Pixol Arc Limited Lands Surveyors.
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