You can imagine how hard it is for the small guy to register his land if this Big Investor has so much trouble

Nairobi Lands registry staff must be replaced now
It would appear that President Kibaki’s laid-back, see-nothing-do-nothing style of management has affected most Government departments.
But the department where indolence seems to have become almost a way of life is the Nairobi Lands Registry.
In the bad, old days under Kanu, it took about three days for a document lodged for stamping to be stamped and returned. Conveyance documents lodged for registration were normally registered sad returned within two weeks.
Nowadays, it takes anything up to two weeks for a document to be stamped and returned.
Conveyancing documents lodged for registration take months before they are registered and returned.
A case in point is conveyance relating to a property which an investor associated with me had purchased in Nairobi, at a considerable price, for substantial redevelopment.
The conveyance was lodged for registration in the first week of May, 2004.
The entire purchase price was deposited with the vendor’s advocate to be released to the vendor upon registration of the conveyance.
The purchaser was to receive possession upon registration of the conveyance.
The conveyance was registered and returned on August 18, 2004, during which period the vendor was deprived of the purchase price and the purchaser was deprived of possession.
The investment was thus needlessly delayed.
Legal and commercial instruments are the life-blood of economic growth.
The Lands Registry as at present constituted needs a major overhaul. All the deadwood must go.
The current Commissioner of Lands, who has been with the department for ages, must be retired and replaced with an able administrator who may bring sanity to the department, and get rid of the rot that has taken root there and has bred so much corruption.
A. N. Ngugi,
Nairobi.