Kenyans will now access land related services using a new online system spearheaded by the government.
The new system was implemented to curb corruption and make land services seamless.
The ministry has announced that from 3 April 2018, applications on registration of land documents, transfer of ownership on land, issuance of consent to transfer, automated valuation requests and all payments will be done online.
Prospective land buyers will also be able to search and verify ownership of land online before they purchase any property.
The digital land system will be accessible through the eCitizen portal and more services will be added online in the coming months. The cabinet secretary hopes that by 2020, all land related transactions will be fully online.
Earlier in March the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) released an audit report of the lands ministry which highlighted the risk posed by weak manual systems, and its impact on the process of acquiring title deeds.
According to the report, storage of land records is the biggest loophole for corruption in various land registries across the country. The manual system makes it easy for unscrupulous persons to hide or change documents.
Land registries hosts title duplicates running in the thousands and it shows the fraudulent acquisition of land by many Kenyans, the report said.
It recommended digitisation as a measure to curb corruption and preserve land records.
The digitisation changes will affect the Nairobi and Central Kenya registries. Other registries will be streamlined in the future.
Farida Karoney, the newly appointed cabinet secretary for lands and physical planning, vowed to automate the systems at her ministry when she took office in February this year.
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