Developing Land Information Management Systems for County Governments in Kenya

Abstract

There is a need to develop Land Information Management Systems (LIMS) for county governments in Kenya. In the year 2010, the Republic of Kenya promulgated a new constitution, which led to the introduction of forty seven county governments. Each of the counties is supposed to develop a LIMS. In this regard, a LIMS can be described as a Geographic Information System that is dedicated to cadastral maps and land registry records. An effective LIMS can contribute towards improving: land tenure security, real estate markets, access to credit, taxation and dispute resolution. The LIMS should also remedy the problem of paper land records, which are susceptible to wear and tear, can get lost, may be difficult to retrieve and often difficult to integrate with other systems. The problem statement for this paper is that it is not clear how the LIMS should be developed for the counties. This paper employs grounded theory methodology to explain why and how the LIMS may be developed. The results are categorized into: human resource development, institutional arrangements and, design and implementation of the systems. The hope is that this paper will contribute towards implementation of LIMS not only in Kenya but also in other developing countries.