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Former Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome has urged foreigners having freehold title deeds to surrender them to the government claiming they are illegally acquired.

Wahome said foreigners with such title deeds acquired them through a corrupt process adding that the government will confiscate them.

Speaking during the launch of the National Land Management System dubbed Ardhi Sasa, Wahome said that foreigners should only have title deeds whose lease period is 99 years.

She said the constitution only allows Kenyans to have freehold title deeds but not foreign organizations or individuals.

Freehold titles

“Non-citizens who have freehold titles should surrender them back to the government before we get to them because we intend to do thorough scrutiny on the documents,” she remarked.

“Those with leasehold title deeds are expected to renew them once the stipulated period expires, failure to which the land goes back to the government,” she remarked.

Wahome also dismissed claims that the government is planning to convert all free hold titles to leaseholds saying it is practically not possible both legally and constitutionally to convert free hold titles to lease holds.

“It’s only the owner of a land who can initiate to change his or her land to leasehold, especially when there is change of use of the land, but the government cannot convert free title deeds to lease,” she said.

On the issue of land tax, the CS sought to clarify that the government was looking to levy land within cities and urban areas and not in rural areas.

“We had agreed to start levying land within cities before moving to urban areas and the proposal was only targeting people with free hold title deeds as those with leaseholds usually pay rates and land rent for their land,” she explained.

Land board sittings

The CS warned cartels who have infiltrated land boards accusing them of land grabbing. She also pointed accusing fingers at administration officers who collude with cartels to give false information during the land board sittings adding that those who will be caught trying to con people their land will face the law.

“I also urge the members of the public to expose these rogue officers so that we can have them replaced,” she added.

Murang’a is the second county after Nairobi to operationalize digital land records and the residents will be able to access services in the local land registry through a digital platform.

The system, she said, will enhance service delivery at the registry and eliminate hurdles which have rocked the land sector for many years.

 She said the ministry is working to ensure the programme is rolled out to other parts of the country adding that with little human interference in the system the security of the land ownership documents is assured.