Lands Committee Inspects National Lands Commission ICT Insfrastructure
The National Land Commission has cited lack of funds as a roadblock towards digitization of public land records.
The National Assembly Committee on Lands, chaired by Hon. Joash Nyamoko, inspected the National Lands Commission (NLC) headquarters today as part of budget oversight.
Committee Members met with NLC Commissioners, Hon. Esther Murugi and Hon. Kazungu Kambi and CEO Mrs. Kabale Tache.
During the inspection tour Members of the Committee visited NLC,s ICT infrastructure center at the Headquarters in Upperhill to assess the progress of implementation of the digitalization of public land records.
Currently, only three counties are connected to the digital system, highlighting the need for further expansion. The government has emphasised the importance of digitizing the public sector, and NLC is committed to this initiative.
According to documents scrutinized by the Committee, NLC is in the process of implementing a robust legal management system and digitizing over 5 million legal records, which centralizes legal documents, streamlines case management, and addresses historical land injustices.
“As the custodian of public land, how many public land records do you have? Do you have the physical records of public land?” asked North Mugirango MP, Hon. Joash Nyamoko.
Regarding Kenya’s Natural Resources, CEO, Mrs. Kabale Tache briefed the Committee regarding the development of a Geoportal for Natural Resources Inventory which will include satellite imagery, surveys and land use planning to enable sustainable land resource management practices.
“We have plans to achieve a seamless and heterogenous system by digitizing 30,000,000M land related records through the Ardhidsasa system. However we need further funding to actualize this,” said CEO Mrs. Kabale Tache
During the meeting, Hon. Paul Katana questioned the timeline for extending this initiative to cover all 47 counties and expressed concerns about the missing records of land parcels acquired by the government.
Sentiments echoed by NLC Commissioner, Hon. Kazungu Kambi who emphasized the need for revenue generation and independence from Treasury funds. He also expressed the Commission’s commitment to resolving land acquisition issues related to government projects and highlighted the importance of adhering to legal procedures.
Hon. Rachel Nyamai raised concerns about the necessity of adhering to the law in land acquisition by the government, especially when funding is limited. She suggested that projects should be halted if adequate funds are unavailable.
NLC reaffirmed its commitment to developing a comprehensive digital public land inventory database to georeference all public land, ensuring seamless integration and efficient land resource management practices.
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