Kenya: Committee Queries Delayed Rollout of Land Record Digitisation

What the report says

Kenya’s Public Accounts Committee has questioned the pace of the country’s land records digitisation programme, citing concerns that the delay is affecting service delivery and leaving the sector more vulnerable to fraud. The issue came up during review of audit findings for the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning, with Principal Secretary Nixon Korir and other officials appearing before lawmakers in Nairobi to answer queries.

According to the audit report cited by Capital FM and carried by AllAfrica, the National Land Management Information System, known as Ardhi Sasa, has been slow to roll out across Kenya’s land registries. The report said only Nairobi and Murang’a had been fully digitised and migrated to the system out of 83 registries nationwide. Korir told the committee that the system had also been introduced in Mombasa Island and Isiolo, indicating that implementation was broader than the audit report reflected.

The matter matters because digitising land records is generally seen as a way to improve efficiency, reduce paperwork and strengthen controls over ownership and transactions. In this case, the committee’s concerns highlight the gap between policy plans and on-the-ground implementation, as well as the scrutiny now facing the land ministry over the pace of reform.