LAND REGISTRATION DATA STANDARDS, INTEROPERABILITY AND ACCESS IN KENYA. Peter Mburu 1; Lizahmy Ntonjira 2 Ministry of Lands1; Technical University of Kenya2 Pngash2000@icloud.com lizzahmymakena@live.com

INTRODUCTION This presentation hopes to answer three question; Are there any standards applied in land registration in Kenya, and thus interoperability? How accessible is land registration information in Kenya? Can the current status be improved?

LEGAL INFRASTRUCTURE Land registration in Kenya was based on legal multiplicity. There are various laws governing land registration. Each statute stipulated different modes of parcel identification, conveyancing instruments and even apply different systems because some are deed while other are title system. These conflicting laws were all repealed in the year 2012 and there is now one land registration law that calls for application of standardized land registration across the country.

LEGAL INFRASTRUCTURE Cont.d The different land registration laws are; Registration of Documents Act, (RDA), [2 registries] Land Titles Act (LTA) (now repealed), [1 registry] Government Lands Act (GLA) (repealed), [1 registry] Registration of Titles Act (RTA) (repealed), [2 registries] Registered Land Act (RLA) (repealed), [52 registries] Sectional Properties Act, - Land Registration Act. -

INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE Ministry of Lands is organized in several departments; Administration, Physical planning, Survey, Adjudication & Settlement and Lands, There are 57 field land offices spread across the 47 counties. The Government through the Ministry of Lands is digitalizing all records in these registries. 27 registries have been reorganized for digitalization while 14 registries are already ready for use under the e-citizen portal

INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE Cont.d This will interconnect all the field offices to the headquarters and it is expected that users of the land registry information can transact from any office without the necessity of traveling to a particular office just as banks operate. Other institutions that are crucial in processing land transactions all are not inter- linked. These include Kenya Revenue Authority, County Governments, National Land Commission, Environment & Land Court & other judiciary departments and some non-governmental institutions. The different authorities are either manual or where digitalized, they apply different data standards. Access to Information Act was signed into law in 2016 and all Government registries are expected to run on one Government portal.

PROCESSES Most if not are processes are now transiting to electronic workflows including payments which are now done on mpesa (mobile banking) and other online means, The processes are thus faster and more transparent because the system is able to detail all persons who dealt with a particular transaction, Land owners and other interested parties do not have to travel to the various offices in order to carry out searches because this is available online. It is hoped that in the near future other land transactions will also be online

PROCESSES The lease preparation workflow is completely digitalized and this brings about transparency in land allocation processes. The National Titling Centre was established to break the barriers amongst the various departments involved in titling. This centre is fully digital and has enabled the Ministry of Lands to process and issue 3 million titles by July 2017.

DATA ACCESS & INTER-OPERABILITY One can access LAND information either physically or online now that there is ongoing digitalization at selected land registries. In the near future, all land data standards and models, access and interoperability will be within reach. This is from the current drive and technological push from the Government and stakeholders in the land sector. In the last few years EODB rankings, Kenya has continued to improve its performance from position 129 to the present 92.

WAY FORWARD Formulate rules and regulations to fully implement sections 9 and 10 of the LRA in line with the new and emerging communication technologies (full digitalization) Design a unique and uniform parcel identifier of all lands in Kenya (away from the more than five identifications applied currently) as envisaged by the LRA and thus having a uniform titling system. Design standard formats and instruments of tilting, conveyancing and land registration so as to standardize all titles and land information across the country.

WAY FORWARD Fund the Director of Surveys to fully carry out survey and resurvey so as to standardize the cadastral maps which are a key ingredient in the titling process. Digitize all the land records in all the departments and have a digital and online platform where the registration process can take place without or with minimum human intervention.

CONCLUSION land sector in Kenya is experienced to some Data standards, access, interoperability in the land sector in Kenya is experienced to some extent in that one can access the information or exchange the same either physically or online. The Government is keen to have all different departments, authorities and field offices and the public speak on the same e-platform in the not so far future. This is hoped to culminate into e-titling for all land parcels in Kenya.

ASANTE