Lands CS Farida Karoney has acknowledged that there are three key challenges that would need to be solved as the government looks forward to cancelling and replacing all title deeds.
Karoney, on Tuesday, January 12, announced that the government wants title deeds to comply with new laws as old laws had become a fertile ground for fraud and delays in service delivery.
The Land Registration Act 2012 will carter for the transition, replacing all other previous laws Indian Transfer of Property Act of 1882, the Government Lands Act (Cap.280), the Registration of Titles Act (Cap.281), the Land Titles Act (Cap.282) and the Registered Land Act (Cap.300).
The first key challenge arising from this process is the fate of titles on the contested property that have pending cases in courts.
Karoney said that these titles and some also held by hospitals shall only be replaced on the application by a proprietor, who will have to liaise with the third party to facilitate the replacement process.
However, the CS did not issue provisions and guidelines on how the process would be undertaken as some cases have dragged on for years in courts with the Judiciary even halting leasing and developments being undertaken on these said parcels.
The second issue being faced surrounds those titles that were acquired for infrastructural development. The CS said that she would issue guidelines for the lands set for developments plus those under contest.
Her ministry would consult with other land stakeholders and the provision would be stipulated to all affected individuals.
The third challenge is for those lands that have been held by banks and credit facilities as collateral for loans. The ministry said that individuals would consult the creditors to facilitate the application for title replacement.
The ministry is also struggling with raising the confidence level of landowners who are questioning the motive behind the transfers.
They also want Karoney to explain how the process would be completed within a specific period of time and effectively too, with the ministry previously facing a backlog of cases.
"We have faced a trust problem since independence. We want to restore public confidence and digitization is a priority.
"The process will be done gradually because we do not want it to be time consuming and exhausting. It will be carried out transparently and it does not involve a change of ownership," Karoney assured.
