“The principal object of the Bill is to amend the Land Act, 2012 in order to provide that where public land has been allocated to a public body or a public institution by the National Land Commission for a public purpose or where land set aside by persons or land buying companies for a public purpose, the Registrar for Lands under the Land Registration Act, 2012 shall issue a certificate of title in the name of the body, public institution or the relevant ministry as the case may be,” the Bill states.
The Bill, sponsored by Ruiru MP Simon King’ara seeks to amend Section 12 of the Land Registration Act, 2012.
The proposed law compels the registrar to issue a title in the name of the entity in the case of the incorporated public entity.
Upon registration of land and in the case of an unincorporated public entity, the Bill dictates that the registrar issue the title to the Treasury Cabinet Secretary as trustee.
Where land has been allocated to a county government, the title is registered in the name of the county.
The Bill comes at a time the Auditor-General continues to raise the red flag over prime public properties without title documents.
A number of key State corporations including the Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya National Highways Authority, Kenya Railways Corporation, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, and the Kenya Revenue Authority have been flagged as parastatals without ownership documents. Such parcels have either been grabbed or encroached.
Others without title documents are Parliament, Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), National Cereals and Produce Board, Kenya School of Law, and the Bomas of Kenya.
Parliament in June directed CEOs of State corporations without title deeds to their properties to put caveats on all the parcels of land that are in private hands.
The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee said most corporations have no titles to vast parcels of land. The KWS, which has 222 pieces across the country was found to hold documents for 45 parcels only.
