A report released Wednesday by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission revealed that land records at various registries in the country are handled by interns, casual labourers and persons termed as volunteers and without supervision.
EACC noted several irregularities ranging from the wrong issuance of land and title deed plan numbers to inaccurate surveys, irregular map amendments, double registrations of parcels and forgeries in land transactions.
The report stated that unauthorised people undertake duties such as retrieving of files, the filing of land records and conducting land searches, which has exposed the Ministry to fraudulent activities.
Other loopholes found in the report include inefficiency in bulk title processing at the National Titling Centre and lack of record management policy.
[caption caption="A view of Ardhi House"]
[/caption]
Additionally, the report highlighted unauthorised access to land records, the absence of a system of tracking records, existence of parallel and duplicate records and also those that are missing as challenges that face the Lands Ministry.
EACC also questioned the qualification of land surveyors noting that work submitted at the Survey of Kenya Deed Plan Office had errors.
“Correspondence from the regional surveyor in Kakamega, for example, cited 96 mutations, with errors that included duplication of parcel numbers, encroachment on other parcels, missing access roads and differing shapes and measurements,” the report stated.
"But at the time of the assessment, the board had not undertaken compliance audits of survey work, citing limited resources. This has resulted in some inaccurate survey jobs being submitted to the ministry without action being taken against errant surveyors,” it added.
According to the report, some unscrupulous ministry officials have been taking advantage of frequent lack of crucial materials for printing maps in the Lands Ministry to swindle money.
[caption caption="Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney (centre), CAS Gideon Mungaro and EACC chair Eliud Wabukala"]
[/caption]
The report was launched by Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney, Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri and EACC boss Eliud Wabukala.
