County governments are stepping up efforts to digitise land records, with the new system expected to help improve planning, revenue collection and service delivery.
The programme is being supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) together with the Council of Governors (CoG) and will cover all 47 counties.
The initiative is aimed at helping counties improve the way they manage land, plan towns, manage natural resources and use information when making decisions.
Nairobi City County Finance Executive Ibrahim Auma said having better digital records could also help counties identify properties that are not currently captured in their revenue systems.
“Counties hold large volumes of information which, if properly collected and integrated, can help expand the tax base, increase own-source revenue and improve public administration,” Auma said.
The programme will also encourage counties to use geospatial technology when planning and managing public services.
ArdhiSasa Downtime Raises Concerns
The push for more digital land records comes at a time when the reliability of existing digital land services has come under scrutiny.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has raised concerns over the continued unavailability of the ArdhiSasa platform since September 1, 2026.
The lawyers’ body said the downtime had affected people trying to conduct land searches, transfers, registrations, valuations and other transactions.
LSK called for clear information from the authorities on when the system would be restored and measures to help people with urgent land transactions while the platform remains unavailable.
The organisation said the outage also showed why digital systems need proper backup plans to ensure services do not come to a standstill whenever a platform develops problems.
More County Officers Trained
The Council of Governors said more than 1,000 county officers have already received training under the programme.
Those trained include officers working in areas such as geospatial services, urban planning and disaster risk management.
FAO representative Farayi Zimudzi said the organisation was working with different county departments to improve the use of data and evidence in decision-making.
The aim is to help counties make better use of information they already have, improve public services and also identify areas where they may be losing revenue.
The wider push for digital land management is expected to give counties better information for planning and revenue collection.
However, the concerns surrounding ArdhiSasa have also highlighted the need for digital platforms handling important public services to remain reliable and have proper contingency measures when they go down.