NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 23 — The Ministry of Lands has called for parliamentary support in increasing budgetary allocations to accelerate the ongoing digitization of land records.
Lands Secretary Sarah Maina, who represented Principal Secretary Nixon Korir during a meeting with MPs in Mombasa on Friday, stated that budget cuts under the Supplementary 1 Financial Year Budget had reduced the allocation to Sh130 million, down from the proposed Sh447.7 million for the 2024/25 financial year.
Maina explained that they had informed the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Lands that the digitization process requires sufficient funding to sustain the progress made so far.
The Ministry is seeking additional funds to digitize the land registries for Mombasa Island, Mombasa Mainland, Baringo, and West Pokot.
“We have successfully sorted, organized, batched, and scanned 14,902 land registration records, 10,839 land administration records, and 25,434 yellow, green, and white cards,” she noted.
However, she emphasized that the current funds were insufficient to cover all planned activities.
She explained that the reduced budget would only be enough to fully digitize Mombasa Island and scan records for Mombasa Mainland.
“The Mombasa Land Registry consists of Mombasa Island and Mainland. Digitization began in late May 2024, but progress has been hindered by the limited budget,” she added.
Members of Parliament present included Garsen MP Hon. Ali Wario; Changamwe MP Hon. Omar Mwinyi; Kaloleni MP Hon. Katana Paul Kahindi; Kuria West MP Hon. Mathias Robi; Kilome MP Hon. Thaddeus Nzambia; Nominated MP Hon. Denar Joseph Hamisi; Nairobi MP Hon. Esther Passaris; and Kirinyaga MP Hon. Joseph Gitari.
Also present were Director for Adjudication and Settlement Kennedy Njenga, Chief Land Registrar David Nyandoro, Director for Planning Cyrus Mbogo, Director for ICT Leonard Maritim, and Head of Public Communications Jibril Adan.
Source: capitalfm
