Economy

Kaimenyi appoints team to review title deeds law

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Land secretary Jacob Kaimenyi. PHOTO | FILE

The government has formed a task force to rectify anomalies in land dealing processes after a court said three million title deeds issued in the past three years were illegal.

Land secretary Jacob Kaimenyi said the task force’s main role will be to come up with relevant regulations that recognise citizen participation, Community Land Registration and the role played by the National Land Commission (NLC).

The task force led by the Land ministry’s chief legal officer, Terry Gathagu, has two months to complete its work. The court gave the government 12 months to comply with the law.

The regulations have to be subjected to public scrutiny and presented to Parliament for debate and eventual presidential assent before becoming law.

Other members of the task force are parliamentary counsel Catherine Ochanda, Land Adjudication and Settlement deputy director Priscilla Nyaga, principal registrar of titles Sarah Maina, Nairobi City County attorney Gad Owuoda, Peter Mwangi (Law Society of Kenya), Joyce Kariuki (Kenya Institute of Planners) and Ministry of Land principal valuer Rose Karago.

Last week, Prof Kaimenyi called a Press conference to reassure the investing public that title deeds, lease certificates and grants given by the government were legal, arresting fears that the government had presided over irregular deals.

“We are also alive to the order of the court in Petition No. 54 of 2015 by Antony Otiende Otiende vs Public Service Commission; Sarah Njuhi Mwenda; and, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development which has directed us to formulate Regulations within 12 months of the order,” he said.

Mr Otiende and Ms Njuhi successfully moved the court in asserting that issuance of land ownership documents was illegal since NLC had been denied an opportunity to add their input.

This, they said was mandatory and that no mechanism had been put in place to engage members of the public before any decision on public issues on land was made.

High Court Judge Joseph Onguto ruled that while he had found that the government erred by excluding the NLC and denying Kenyans a chance to present their input, the expected confusion ensuing from his judgement compelled him to suspend the order nullifying the title-deeds, grants and leases issued since 2013.

Justice Onguti proceeded to give the government 12 months to regularise processes leading to issuance of title deeds, lease certificates and grants failure to which future land ownership documents would be rendered illegal.