Parliament approved names to the chair and members of the national land commission on 21^st August 2012. Subsequently, the Speaker of the National Assembly forwarded the names to the President on 22^nd August 2012, in conformity with the requirements of article 7 of the First Schedule of the National Land Commission Act 2012. The President should have, in accordance with Article 8 of the same schedule, appointed the Commissioners within seven days of receipt of the names. So we ought to have had the Commissioners formally appointed by 28^th August 2012.

The Lands and Natural Resources Parliamentary Committee tabled its report to Parliament on Tuesday 14^th August 2012 after vetting each of the members. In their report, they had recommended that Parliament approves the one nominee for Chair and the eight nominees for member to the national land commission. Yesterday, Tuesday 21^st August 2012, one week after tabling the report, the committee chairman, Hon Mutava Musyimi, moved debate on the nominees on the floor of the house. Following debate, the 9 nominees to the commission were approved and will now await formal appointment by the President.

"The Standard" reported on its page 4 of the Wednesday 11th July edition that the President and the Prime Minister, as required of them under the National Land Commission Act 2012, have nominated prospective members to the national land commission and forwarded the list to parliament for approval. Those nominated, according to the Standard report, are listed below:

Land registries are the engines to land registration systems. Here in Kenya, land registries are infamous. They are unreliable and prone to corruption. And customer service in registries is poor. Granted, staff therein do face challenges with limiting infrastructure and overwhelming numbers. But with better attitudes, they could do better.

At the moment, the Ministry of Lands does policy, implements and enforces; a most inadvisable management model.