12. Survey Act No. 25 of 1961 (Cap 299)

The law provides for land surveying and licensing of surveyors, and establishes of Land Surveyors' Board to regulate the practice of surveyors as professionals.

Quick Link: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/1961/25/eng@2022-12-31

· The statute makes provision for surveying of land and geographical names as well as licensing of land surveyors. It also provides for the establishment of the Land Surveyors’ Board for regulating practice in the survey profession. The law repealed the previous Survey Act, 1951 (No. 22 of 1951).

· The Act was amended through the Business Law (Amendment) Act No. 1 of 2020 to allow for electronic signatures and electronic processing of documents and plans as well as imprinting of security features on such documents which bear an imprint of the seal of the Survey of Kenya. The adoption of electronic processes away from the traditionally manual (paper-based processes) served to expedite the processes of surveying, which are a prerequisite to allocation/alienation and titling of land.

· Sections 36 and 37 of the Act which forbid unqualified persons from practising as surveyors place a very low penalty of Kenya Shillings Three Thousand or a jail term of no more than 6 months for the offence. This penalty (especially the monetary fine) is so inordinately low that it can barely deter unqualified persons/quacks from purporting to practice. The figure was set in 1969 and needs to be revised to reflect the new realities.

· Overall, there are other provisions that refer to old regimes/laws that have since been repealed, reflecting the need to modernize the Act through some amendments/repeal.

· There are other Regulations prepared under the Act that seek to operationalize the provisions of the statute. These are: Survey Regulations, 1994; the Licensed Surveyors Code of Professional Conduct 1997 which among others, set a code of conduct and scale of fees to be charged by licensed surveyors; and the Survey (Electronic Cadastre Transactions) Regulations, 2020 which require the Director of Survey to maintain an electronic cadastre which will be a module of the National Land Information System. The cadastre can be accessed electronically by users by signing up to the system and carrying out transactions.

· The issue of an electronic cadastre and a functional National Land Information System are important given that the Kenyan cadastre is largely incomplete comprising of a patchwork of maps of varying positional qualities that cannot be readily integrated to ensure a nation-wide coverage. This hampers land registration and titling efforts. In actual sense, while the regulatory framework now provides for an electronic cadastre and electronic lodging of cadastral surveys for approval, this is yet to be fully operationalized to expedite these processes and support land registration efforts. While Ardhi Sasa was launched in early 2021, there have been complaints about the usability of the system.

· Relatedly, the Kenya National Spatial Data Infrastructure Policy (KNSDI) is lacking (not yet formulated or implemented) yet it is necessary to guide county governments in handling geospatial data. A properly functional KNSDI would ensure the integration of and access to spatial datasets held and maintained by different national and sectoral agencies. The Cabinet Secretary responsible for lands is empowered to coordinate the management of the KNSDI under section 6 c of the Land Act 2012.