Riparian reserves: Encroachment

The rains are pounding. And floods are here, threatening lives and property. Yet again! While a number of factors contribute to the threat, a major one remains the obstruction of river reserves, popularly known as riparian reserves. Semi-permanent, and sometimes permanent developments which divert fast flowing flood water with adverse consequences, aren’t uncommon along rivers streaming through densely populated urban areas. In trying to address the matter, Cabinet Secretaries to line ministries responsible for matters environment, water, lands and internal security have often talked tough, finger pointed and driven evictions.

Need for harmonised laws

GIS Guidelines for counties

Kenya was late in seizing the use of GIS technology for development. However, it’s been catching up, even if rather slowly. That’s why I was excited to see the Council of Governors, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Union (EU), recently launched some guidelines that will govern the implementation of GIS-driven platforms in Counties. GIS-driven platforms, which enable the easy manipulation, presentation and dissemination of spatial data, are powerful tools for efficient land governance and decision-making. The guidelines are expected to enhance the uptake of this technology by County governments.

The road to the development of the guidelines has been long, and called for niche expertise, and substantial funding. Luckily, Council of Governors had good partners in FAO and EU, besides other local technical partners. Let us therefore celebrate this achievement, and, in addition, use the guidelines to trigger the establishment of GIS-based information systems across the country. The guidelines, with a foreword by Governor Ahmed Abdullahi, the current Chairman of the Council of Governors, underscore the need to seize the use of GIS tools, and include a checklist of the pertinent requirements and steps to be taken in establishing such systems.

Informal moratorium

For months now, the Nairobi City County has not processed applications for the renewal or extension of leases. There seems to be an informal moratorium on such applications. There are murmurs and complaints surrounding it. By developers, Architects, Planners, Surveyors and other professionals charged with routinely supporting Kenyans requesting such technical support. What heightens anxiety is that no one seems to want to take responsibility and accountability on the matter within the City Planning Department. Worse, there’s been neither official explanation about the cessation, nor justification. Such lacuna invites speculation, and, in the circumstances, the highest office in the County Government, that of the Governor, deserves to be called out.

Renewal and extension of leases

Regional Centre, Kasarani, Nairobi

Established in 1975 as a non-profit intergovernmental organization under auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the then Organization of African Unity (now African Union), the Regional Centre at Kasarani enjoyed a dominant presence. Founded to provide services in surveying and mapping to its member states in Eastern and Southern Africa, this Centre’s original name mutated to the current “Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD)”. It’s here that the current Vihiga County Governor, Dr Wilbur Ottichilo, cut his teeth as he served as the Centre’s Director General.

Dominance

Survey Act: Origin

A lecturer called Robert Arthur Caukwell taught me cadastral survey during my undergraduate studies at the University of Nairobi. He greatly enjoyed the subject. In his 1977 Masters thesis on cadastral survey in Kenya and its role to development, Caukwell explains the origin of the Survey Act, which governs the practice of title surveys in Kenya. This includes regulating professional standards, and the licensing and regulation of surveyors. Caukwell points out that in 1923, the survey aspects of the rules and regulations to the laws that supported the registration of title to land in the colony at the time were consolidated into a Land Surveyors Ordinance. This Ordinance was later replaced by a revised version in 1951. A further revision in 1961 gave us the Survey Act (Cap 299) that we’ve used to date.

Need for substantive review