Women holding title deeds. Thousands of applications for title deeds are
lying untouched at Nairobi’s Ardhi House due to lack of a Commissioner
of Lands. PHOTO/ANTHONY OMUYA
Thousands
of applications for title deeds are lying untouched at Nairobi’s Ardhi
House due to lack of a Commissioner of Lands, lawyers said Thursday.
People
who have applied for new title deeds from different parts of the
country cannot be issued with new ones because the transitional clause
in the constitution vested powers to issue title deeds in the office of
the Commissioner of Lands
.
.
Lawyer Benson Nyenjeri from
Robson Harris and Company Advocates said those adversely affected are
property developers who seeking sub-leases for apartments constructed on
title deeds which were initially single-dwelling that have been
converted to multi-dwelling.
“Others are those who have
converted their agricultural land into residential plots and those who
want to change their residential plots into commercial plots,” he said.
The
Commissioner of Lands, Mr Zablon Mabea, was transferred to the Ministry
of Interior in January and replaced by the acting Director-General of
Lands Peter Kahuho.
However, confusion is stalking the Lands ministry over whether Mr Kahuho should be gazetted to sign land titles.
“Categorically,
there are no new leases being signed. This is not an interim measure;
it has to be properly done to avoid legal landmines,” a Lands officer in
the ministry told the Nation.
Mr Kahuho was recently
appointed to replace former Commissioner of Lands Zablon Mabea who was
transferred to the Ministry of Interior.
Under
transitional clauses in land laws, Mr Mabea, a presidential appointee,
had been a signatory for titles endorsed by the National Lands
Commission.
However, the new officer appointed by the
Public Service Commission cannot sign land titles in what the ministry
admits is a legal vacuum.
The Public Service Commission
(PSC) Chairperson Margaret Kobia said the process of appointing the
Chief Land Registrar and three other senior officials in the ministry of
Lands will start afresh after the first round failed to attract enough
qualified applicants.
“The number of applications was
few against the requirements, we will now begin the exercise afresh on a
date to be set,” Prof Kobia said.
On Monday, Law
Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua, said land transactions are
grinding to a halt because of the feuding between Lands Cabinet
Secretary Charity Ngilu and National Land Commission chairman Mohamed
Swazuri.
Mr Mutua said issuing of title deeds, transfer
of land ownership and renewal of land leases was being done as
“discretionary guesswork.”
Ms Ngilu and Dr Swazuri’s wrangles over who has the power to register the land documents.
Differences
between the two officials have also delayed the enactment of new land
rules and regulations, the appointment of land registrars.
Reacting
to the raging controversy Lands cabinet secretary, Ms Charity Ngilu,
confirmed that there are no new registration documents that have been
issued by Government for Registration.
“Sections 160,
161 of the Land Act and Sections 108 and 110 of the Land Registration
Act require that any new forms can only come into place after
regulations have been approved by Parliament,” she said in a statement.
Ms Ngilu said the Ministry was still in the process of finalising its regulations and therefore it cannot issue new forms.
“The
titles that were signed by the former Commissioner of Lands will have a
new signatory once we complete the regulations,” she said.
She said all the other processes of land allocation are continuing as per law.
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