Kirinyaga County Gov’t sets up GIS lab to improve service delivery lands department

Governor Anne Waiguru said that the lab, which is pivotal to digitization of lands records, will enable the County Government to streamline operations and enhance customer service, transparency and accuracy and will go a long way in eliminating fraud and grabbing of public land. 

“This will help to streamline operations and improve service delivery in our lands department,” the Governor said.

The GIS lab that is located at the County Headquarters in Kutus has been established in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) with the aim of modernizing land governance processes and promotion of sustainable land development.

Kirinyaga is predominantly an agricultural county which heavily depends on natural resources with land being a fundamental asset for economic growth.

The County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for lands, Samuel Kanjobe, said that the system will strengthen the county’s ability to manage land governance effectively and enhance planning and decision-making on land matters.

He said that the lab has the requisite hardware which includes computers, workstations, a modern plotter and software to enable the digitization process adding that the department is now moving to data collection in plots and land in at least 135 market and trading centres in the county.

“The process will include picking geographic coordinates of our lands and create a database which includes ownership details, sizes and land use,” he said adding that the GIS will minimize issues of double allocation, and ownership disputes and will also enhance precision in revenue collection.

The County Director, Physical Planning, Murage Muraguri,  said that the department is in the process of converting the analogue data to a digital format that will be compatible with the GIS  noting that thereafter, customers will be linked to the system so as to enable them access some of the services through their digital devices.

GIS is a technology that integrates hardware, software, and data that enables the storage, management, analysis and modelling of geospatial data that enables decision making in matters such as urban planning, disaster management, environmental conservation and commerce.

The County Government Act 2012 mandates County Governments to establish GIS-based database systems and prepare GIS-based database County Spatial Plans.