These guidelines provide a basis for engagement between the County Governments as planning authorities responsible for preparing, approving and implementing County Spatial Plans and the National Land Commission as a monitoring and oversight agency over land use planning. The County Government Act 2012 at section 110(1)(a) stipulates that the County Spatial Plans shall give effect to the principles and objects of county planning and development contained in section 102 and 103 of the same Act.

The absence of a clearly defined land use policy in Kenya after years of independence has resulted in a haphazard approach to managing the different land use practices and policy responses. Land use continues to be addressed through many uncoordinated legal and policy frameworks that have done little to unravel the many issues that affect land use management. The Constitution of Kenya 2010, Kenya Vision 2030 and the Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2009 on National Land Policy all call for a clear framework for effectively addressing the challenges related to land use.

The acquisition of land by foreigners in developing countries has emerged as a key mechanism for foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI is defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as the category of international investment that reflects the objective of a resident entity in one economy to obtain a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in another economy.

This paper describes the development of a Land Information Management System (LIMS) for County Governments in Kenya. In the new Constitution 2010, devolution of some national government functions and formation of county governments was provided for. These invoked the development of new land laws to guide the devolution processes and procedures. According to the County Government Act 2012, all County Governments are supposed to develop digital Geographic Information System (GIS) based spatial plans and these calls for development of LIMS for and efficient breakthrough.

Land Registration and Administration in Kenya is currently operated on a multi-legal platform [UN 2013]. The Land Registration Act No. 3 of 2012 (LRA) was in that regard enacted to consolidate, harmonize and rationalize land registration goals; which are yet to be achieved. This is majorly because in as much as the 2012 statute repealed five out of the seven major land registration laws, they all remain in force under LRA’s transitional clauses. The Government of Kenya is making efforts to avail land registration information online via the e-citizen platform.

The Commission has been in the forefront of promoting good governance and accountability in the land sector. Progress in the land sector has been mixed. Through the effort of the government, support agencies and other stakeholders the Commission was able to devolve its function to the 47 counties through the County Land Management Boards (CLMBs). The CLMBs have in effect devolved land services throughout Kenya. However, achieving land, better land governance, accountability in the land sector and ensuring secure land rights for all Kenyan is still to be achieved.

The Cadastral system in Kenya was established in 1903 to support land alienation for the white settlers who had come into the country in the early part of the 20th Century. In the last hundred years, the system has remained more or less the same, where land records are kept in paper format and majority of operations are carried out on a manual basis. The lack of a modern cadastral system has contributed to problems in land administration in the country.

Many conflict studies link the sources of social conflicts to sentiments of relative deprivation. They typically regard formal democratic institutions as states’ most important vehicle to reduce deprivation-motivated armed conflict against their governments. We argue that the wider concept of good governance is better suited to analyze deprivation-based conflict. The paper shows that the risk of renewed conflict in countries with good governance drops rapidly after the conflict has ended. In countries characterized by poor governance, this process takes much longer.

In conflict situations, peace settlements and cease-fire agreements may often, end violent conflicts, but do not prevent renewed violence or guarantee a permanent end to conflicts.5 According to the World Bank, chances that renewed conflicts will erupt are high and even higher when control over natural resources is at stake.6 In the past two decades alone, Africa has experienced violent conflicts with successive cease-fire agreements and peaceful settlements, which have often been followed by outbreaks of new conflicts.

Promoting a peaceful and lasting resolution to land conflicts in a protracted crisis context through a fair and environmentally sensitive approach.

The Conflict in Liberia and subsequent trarnsitional justice process through means of a truth and reconciliation commission provide a unique opportunity to examine how the exploitation of religious and traditional identities/institutions became a means to fuel and perpetuate the conflict. Likewise, it also offers an example of how the strength and credibility of a religious community can be instrumental in facilitating formal peace processes.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 apportions responsibility of planning to both National and County governments. The County Government Act, 2012 obligates county governments to prepare and implement County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP). The CIDPs are, according to the act, five year plans that will form the basis of annual budgetary allocation by the county governments.