LSK sounds warning after Ardhisasa outage stalls key land services

Kenya’s land transactions were briefly thrown into uncertainty after the Ardhisasa platform went offline, prompting the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to demand stronger safeguards for users of the government’s digital land system.

The platform became unavailable from September 1, 2026, disrupting services including land searches, transfers, registrations and valuations, according to LSK.

But by September 3, the platform had been restored, meaning the immediate service disruption has eased. The bigger question now is what happens to transactions that were delayed during the outage — and whether users could be left carrying the financial consequences of a government system failure.

LSK President Charles Kanjama, in a statement issued on September 2, said the Society had received complaints from advocates unable to complete ongoing conveyancing and other land transactions.

“Searches, transfers, registrations, valuations and other critical processes have been brought to a standstill,” LSK said.

The disruption matters because land deals rarely exist in isolation. A delayed search can hold up a sale. A stalled transfer can affect a buyer, seller, lender or developer. Financing arrangements and contractual deadlines can also depend on documents being processed on time.

LSK warned that such delays could expose clients and other parties to additional costs, penalties, financing complications or disputes.

The outage has been fixed. The accountability question remains

Ardhisasa was launched in 2021 as the National Land Information Management System’s online portal, allowing users to access a range of land administration services digitally. The State Department for Lands says the platform is part of the government’s wider digitisation of land services.

That shift has made the reliability of the platform increasingly important.

The State Department has continued expanding digitised land services. In July, it announced further digitisation in Mombasa, bringing more transactions onto Ardhisasa.

For LSK, however, moving services online also creates a responsibility to ensure that the system remains dependable and that users are protected when it fails.

“Digitisation must enhance accountability, not diminish it,” the Society said.

The lawyers' body wants authorities to explain what caused the latest disruption, how extensively services were affected and what measures are being put in place to prevent a repeat.

It also wants users to receive protection from penalties, extra charges, loss of priority or other prejudice arising solely from downtime that was outside their control.

LSK wants contingency plan for urgent land deals

The Society has called for contingency arrangements that can allow time-sensitive transactions to proceed when Ardhisasa is unavailable.

It is also seeking a formal notification system for both planned maintenance and unexpected outages.

That demand goes beyond the latest incident. It raises a broader issue about the risks of moving essential public services almost entirely online without a clearly communicated fallback when technology fails.

The State Department for Lands lists Ardhisasa among its core digital land services and provides official contacts for users seeking assistance.

The platform was restored after the outage, with reports on September 3 confirming that users could once again log in and access services.

However, restoration does not automatically resolve the problems created during the downtime.

For someone buying property, refinancing a loan or completing a transfer against a contractual deadline, even a short interruption can have real consequences.

That is why LSK is pushing for clearer rules on what happens to transactions caught in the gap.

The Society has not opposed digitisation. Instead, it says digital government must come with transparency, continuity and accountability.

“A mandatory digital platform cannot operate as a black box in which services disappear without notice and users are left to speculate,” LSK said.

For Kenya’s increasingly digital land administration system, that may be the more important lesson from the latest outage.

The question is no longer simply whether Ardhisasa can come back online.

It is whether the system can protect citizens when it does not.

About the Author

Maureen Onyango is a journalist passionate about storytelling, life coaching and spiritual lessons. She studied at the Kenya Institute of Management and enjoys telling stories that inform, inspire and empower communities.