Three years ago I wrote about the need to adopt blockchain technologies within our Lands registry. The main thrust then, as it is now, is that blockchain solutions have the ability to code ‘trust’ into machines. Moreover, these solutions also take trust away from the human beings operating them.
These individuals may operate within or beyond the Lands Ministry and include, but are not limited to, clerical, legal, banking, and ICT professionals who possess the expertise to facilitate fraudulent activities in land transactions. Interestingly, these issues can be mitigated by the adoption of solutions such as blockchain frameworks.
Persistent Fraud in the Land Sector
Common fraudulent activities within the land sector range from missing files and duplicate owners of a single title. Furthermore, there is the production of fake titles, real titles attached to non-existent plots, and the sale of public parcels to innocent buyers among others.
My previous article had also shown how the current digitization effort based on the traditional centralised server system under the control of one entity or institution would not cure the above problems, unlike blockchain solutions which offer higher transparency.
Shared roles
Stakeholders must first recognize that blockchain systems require a group of entities to define and agree on the rules that developers will ultimately encode into autonomous servers or nodes under their control.
Rather than assigning the sole responsibility of updating and maintaining the registry to the Ministry of Lands, the system distributes this role across multiple stakeholder entities. As a result, the solutions inspired by blockchain bring decentralisation to the process.
These entities may include, but are not limited to, the Lands Commission, the Law Society of Kenya, the Kenya Bankers Association, and the Land Surveyors of Kenya, among others.
Each of these entities would run a server or node. Furthermore, that node keeps and maintains the same shared ledger of land titles in Kenya, a feature that highlights the drive behind many blockchain solutions.
But what makes the blockchain ledger so different from that of the traditional centralised system?
Several things stand out. However, we shall talk about immutability and the controlled update process for land titles, both of which are intrinsic to solutions powered by blockchain technology.
Immutability defines a core property of blockchain databases or ledgers, ensuring that once a record enters the system, no participating entity can alter or delete it.
This principle requires that any record entered into this specialized titles database, such as a plot registered to Mr Onyango, must meet the highest standards of integrity. For land titles, blockchain solutions foster confidence among stakeholders.
Additionally, if Mr. Onyango decides to sell off the plot, only he has the rights to initiate the process. In other words, no one in the ecosystem can change records to disinherit him without his knowledge.
Controlled updates
Which brings us to the next unique property of blockchain systems, the controlled updates. In practice, blockchain solutions enable this controlled update feature securely and efficiently.
If Mr Onyango wishes to transfer the title to another owner, he would initiate the process from his device, mobile app or on the web.
The system then converts and broadcasts this information to all entities, including participating nodes and servers within the blockchain ecosystem. Additionally, it would appear as a message request for transfer, reflecting one of the main benefits of blockchain solutions for transparency.
Autonomous Node Validation
This means that if one of the participating entities wishes to pass a fraudulent activity, the other honest nodes would flag the transaction. Consequently, they would ignore the request to update their ledgers accordingly; this is possible specifically due to blockchain solutions that automate trust.
Consensus protocols control updates by executing them automatically without further human intervention once the blockchain system is initiated.
Implications for Land Administration in Kenya
Blockchain systems are what can cure problems at the Ministry of Lands. Any other systems are always good money for consultants. However, they will not address the perpetual issues inherent in Kenya’s land transactions. Thus, for Kenya, reliable land administration rests on effective blockchain solutions.
By: John Walubengo, Lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya, Faculty of Computing and IT.
