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Conversion of Titles: What Land Owners should understand about the Process – Conversion is the statutory process of migrating all parcels of land from repealed land registration statutes to a unitary regime under the current Land Registration Act, No. 3 of 2012. The titles issued under the repealed statutes will be cancelled and replaced with new titles under the new regime. However, the ownership of the properties, the parcel size and the interest conferred should not be affected by this conversion process, and land owners have a right to object to the conversion process if any of the new details are inconsistent with the details in their current title. The process of conversion includes the publication of a notice by the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning providing a list of all the properties to be affected by the conversion process. The Gazette Notice should also state the ‘old’ Land Reference Numbers, the new Parcel Numbers and the size of the properties. Owners of the affected properties would then have 90 days from the date of the notice to lodge any complaints regarding the conversion. The Ministry has already issued a number of notices and the objection periods for these have already lapsed. More Gazette Notices are expected to be issued. Land owners are therefore encouraged to confirm whether their properties are affected, and lodge any complaints, within the prescribed timelines.

A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is an agreement between two or more countries to facilitate trade and eliminate trade barriers. On 6th February 2020, the United States and Kenya announced the launch of negotiations to conclude a comprehensive and reciprocal FTA that would be the first of its kind between the United States and a sub-Saharan African country. The FTA is intended to cover various areas, including goods market access, technical barriers to trade, agriculture, industry, digital trade and investment, and intellectual property.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) launched the Ibuka program in late 2018 with the aim of preparing micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs) for listing on the NSE. The 10-month program is designed to host companies, ideally MSMEs, on two non-trading boards, that is, the Incubator Board and the Accelerator Board. The program also seeks to promote growth and development of Kenyan MSMEs by providing them with access to financial advisors and consultants to assist the companies structure their

businesses, enhance their visibility/brand recognition, develop their capability to access the capital markets and get exposure to local and international investors. The Ibuka Program has helped MSMEs attract financing for expansion which they would not have been able to access otherwise because most investors and financiers consider MSMEs risky ventures. At least 18 companies have joined the Ibuka Program including Safaricom Investment Cooperative, Rentco East Africa Limited and Mookh Africa. Ultimately, the goal of the Ibuka Program is to increase the number of companies listed on the NSE.

Deadline for Updating Beneficial Ownership Registers – Companies were given an extension of up to 31st July 2021 to update their Beneficial Ownership Registers. Companies are advised to urgently prepare and submit a register of their beneficial owners or face the consequences for non-compliance. The Beneficial Ownership Register was introduced by the Companies Act 2015 and the Companies (Beneficial Ownership Information) Regulations 2020. The said Act and Regulations make it an offence for a company, and every officer of that company, to fail to comply with this requirement. Directors of a company risk being fined up to Kshs. 500,000/= each if they fail to update the company’s beneficial ownership register within the stipulated time that lapses on 31st July 2021.

Effect of Sectional Properties Act 2020 on long-term leases – By a Notice dated 7th May 2021, the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning notified the public that it will no longer register long-term leases supported by architectural drawings for units in buildings with effect from 10th May, 2021. This is in accordance with the Sectional Properties Act 2020 (“the Act”) which requires that all properties contained in long-term leases be properly georeferenced and approved by Survey of Kenya. In compliance with the Act, the Ministry has issued draft regulations which, once enacted, will guide the process of converting long-term leases registered on the basis of architectural drawings to conform to the Act and the Land Registration Act, 2012. The Ministry has also assured the public that unit owners of the affected long-term leases will not incur additional stamp duty upon conversion provided that the requisite stamp duty was paid as part of the registration formalities of the long-term leases.

Data Protection in Action: How the Draft Data Protection (General) Regulations aim to protect your personal data – The Draft Data Protection (General) Regulations 2021 (“the Draft Regulations”) were recently published for public consultation. They elaborate the rights and duties of the data subjects, data controllers and data processors, and also provide the procedures for enforcing the said rights and duties. Some of the rights that data subjects enjoy include: right to consent to the use of their personal data, right to request for their data to be rectified or deleted, right to object to the commercial use of their data, right to have their personal data anonymised or pseudomised, right to notify the Data Commissioner of any data breach, among other rights. The Draft Regulations also provide that any server used for processing personal data for actualising public goods or services such as education or elections must be located in Kenya. The Draft Regulations are therefore aimed at substantively implementing and effecting the provisions of the Data Protection Act.