Lamu,KENYA:The first phase of digitizing the functionality of the lands Ministry will be completed by August this year.
This is according to Lands PS Mariam Elmaawy who has said the lands Ministry is in the process of digitizing all land documents in the country in a bid to secure them.
Speaking during a consultative forum on Devolution in Lamu town on Monday,Elmaawy urged Kenyans to embrace available laws and protect their lands from fraudsters.
She noted that many people have a tendency of exposing details of their title deeds to anyone without knowing that the same could be copied and used to dupe them of their lands by fraudsters.
The PS however said the lands ministry was working towards having all land documents digitized in a manner that will cut down fraudsters and copycats.
Elmaawy said so far 14 counties have already been moved to the digital operations system while the ministry is working hard to ensure the remaining four counties are digitized before close of August this year.
The PS said land dockets in a total of 18 counties including Lamu are being targeted in the first phase of the digital transfer.
The move is aimed at improving service delivery and will also ensure safety of land documents all over the country.
“We are moving from the paper era to the digital one.We will cover all the 47 counties and we shall be doing this in two phases.The first phase targets 18 counties and will be done by end of August this year.We have done 14 so far and will be done with remaining four by August.Our core objective is to reduce fraudulency in the lands Ministry,”said Elmaawy.
He urged Lamu locals to hide their title deeds and accord them the required privacy in order to avoid being conned.
“Land title deeds contain very crucial information including the registration numbers, acreage and other private information that should only be for the eyes of the owner.Someone can easily use the same info to con you on your very own land simply because you were careless and let them look at your title deed,”she said.
