Lands and Physical Planning Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome and Principal Secretary Nixon Korir address journalists in November last year. Ms Wahome said the loss of security papers at the Government Printer was the work of land grabbers who have been trying to get hold of the correct papers.
Two conflicting statements, stolen security papers and infiltration of the Government Printer have exposed how daring corruption cartels raided an installation supervised by State House, revealing the extent of land fraud in the country.
The latest development saw the Ministry of Lands and Government Printer under State House wrangle over the nature of stolen security documents that could be used to forge title deeds and commit land fraud, including grabbing of private and public property.
On Saturday the Government Printer notified the public about the theft of 307 title deeds warning the government would not be liable for unauthorised transactions involving the stolen authentic documents with security features.
But the Lands ministry countered the notice on Sunday that what were stolen were security documents used to print title deeds and not title deeds as was indicated in the earlier statement.
To add more fuel to the fire, the ministry blamed corrupt cartels that had infiltrated the Government Press for the theft of documents in a scheme to forge titles.
Nation has established lands bosses were not consulted about the statement from the Government Printer which informed the statement on Sunday to clarify the matter.
Government Printer
It also emerged the ministry and the Government Printer have been fighting over the printing of titles. Although it is currently a preserve of the Government Printer, the ministry has been seeking funds to modernise its own press, citing rising bills and exposure to theft such as the current case.
It is not clear what other similar cases have occurred away from the glare of public, but the current admission of the stolen items could just be the tip of the iceberg.
The government has been keen on seeing all security-related documents, including titles, birth certificates and logbooks, printed by the Government Printer.
Shining the spotlight on the millions at stake, the Ministry owes the Government Printer Sh158 million while all State agencies are owed Sh457 million.
Government Printer Abdi Hassan Ali had informed the public that the stolen titles, bearing serial numbers between 5253001 and 5253367, will no longer be recognised as they have been cancelled.
“It is notified for general information of the public that title deeds listed herein are reported lost,” said Mr Ali.
“The government will not take any liability arising from any unauthorised transaction(s) on the said title deeds and that by dint of this notice, they are deemed cancelled and of no effect,” he added in the public notice dated September 26, 2024.
However, the ministry countered the notice, saying it is some 367 security papers for printing of title deeds that were stolen from the government printer.
Reassuring Kenyans that what were stolen were papers used for printing titles, the Ministry pointed out that it relies on the Government Printer for the provision of the security documents used for printing title deeds.
In the clarification, the ministry said that the papers can only become title deeds after they are handed over to them filled with ownership details and sealed with the stamp and signature of the Registrar after all due processes are followed.
Tellingly, however, the ministry admitted that the most obvious motivation for the theft of the papers was an intention by corruption cartels to produce fake titles.
Further, the statement said that one officer working at the Printer has already been arrested by the security agencies in relation to the theft.
Seeming to downplay the latest incident, the ministry said it has enhanced its mechanisms for fighting land fraud and is working closely with security agencies to defeat the mechanisms that cartels and corrupt officials have traditionally used to commit land fraud.
“Those anti-corruption efforts will be applied to ensure that none of the documents that have been reported as stolen become a threat to land ownership,” read the statement.
“We, therefore, want to assure everyone that the integrity of our titling process is intact and secure,” continued the statement.
Correct wrong information
Reached for comment, Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome confirmed the incident, but said they issued a clarification to correct wrong information by the Government Printer.
“It wasn’t clear because they had said title deeds and so my intention was to clarify that the lost items were not title deeds, but papers prepared for purposes of preparation of title deeds,” said Ms Wahome.
The CS explained that the stolen papers become a title once property description is added to them and the numbers inserted.
She maintained that the incident was the work of land grabbers who have been trying to get hold of correct papers because most of the time their land grabbing schemes don’t succeed because of the wrong title papers.
“If you have the correct paper, then you eliminate a lot of what can make your title fraudulent because you now have the correct paper and therefore it was important for the Government Printer to say they have lost title printing papers,” said the CS.
“There is a risk that once you get the papers with security features, one can insert numbers of whatever titles they want to prepare,” she added.
Nonetheless, she clarified that she does not have to be consulted by the Government Printer before any information is put out.
“The Government Printer is our printer for the services we procure. So if any document is lost within their custody, that is their material. It becomes our material upon delivery,” said Ms Wahome.
“They don’t have to contact me to put a notice in the Kenya Gazette that some material within their custody is lost,” she added.
Lands Principal Secretary Nixon Korir also confirmed that the lost papers had not been delivered to them and so remained the responsibility of the Government Printer.
He said the ministry procures the papers from the Printer and turns them into title deeds once attributes of an individual and property are input, sealed and signed by a lands registrar.
When the papers are supplied by the Government Printer to the ministry, he explained, the individual registrars make formal requisition before picking the papers from the ministry indicating the serial numbers each has picked.
“So those people can only use the papers to con people. If they don’t have the seals, then they are just papers,” said PS Korir.
He, however, said the Government Printer should have informed the ministry before putting out the notice.
Serial numbers
“They ought to have told us, but we have alerted our registrars countrywide of the gazetted serial numbers that should they see them, they should report the people for arrest,” he said.
Mr Korir said they have had a meeting with the Printer and DCI over fake titles, mostly printed at River Road.
However, he said that some incidents involve papers from the Government Printer prompting the introduction of serial numbers to the title papers as well as ensuring that every county has a different serial number to account for every paper received from the Printer.
The incident revives the clamour by Lands ministry to be allowed to print the title deeds at its own printers at Ruaraka.
Last year, the Government Printer refused to print title deeds demanding the ministry pay Sh158 million it owed the State press. It took the intervention of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to unlock the stalemate.
Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security last June, Mr Ali said he stopped printing title deeds for the Ministry of Lands for a day due to non-payment of the pending bills before he received a call from the second-in-command.
At the time, the Ministry owed the Printer Sh150 million related to services such as printing of title deeds, land registration forms, land registers, official search forms, consent books, land control registers and forms and volume books, and indexing cards.
Nonetheless, the PS played down any rift between the Ministry and the Government Printer over the printing business.
He said the ministry prefers doing the printing with the Government Printer because they have better equipment like forensic laboratories to ensure the titles are fraud-proof.
The PS acknowledged they owe the Printer about Sh100 million and have paid Sh30 million but the bill keeps changing. “It is not a constant bill because we requisition for the papers like green and white cards every day. Sometimes the Exchequer delays but we inform the Printer of the same,” said Mr Korir.
