DYNAMICS OF PLATFORMATILIZING INFORMATION INRASTRUCTURE

Keywords: Digitization, Platformatization, Land Information System
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

Increasing digitalisation of urban governance across the world coupled with increased uptake of digital technologies by the populations indicates that digitalisation is fundamental to the transformation of the state in an information age. There has been widespread adoption of smart technologies in local governance in the Global South with the claim that opportunities presented by digitalisation will resolve the challenges of urbanisation literally automating regional futures. The Kenya government has enthusiastically adopted digitalization promising that all 5000 government services will be available on a digital platform by the year 2025. One of the major government services that has been going through the digitization process is land administration. The current land registration system in Kenya was established in 1897 to support land registration for colonizers who had come into the country during the 19th Century. The land registry records are in paper format and most operations are carried out on a manual basis. There has been an argument that lack of a modern registration system has contributed to inefficient land administration system in the country with the push for digitalization of the land records to increase efficiency. Consequently, the Kenya government has embarked on an ambitious national digitization program of all land records to replace the manual paper-based system establishing the National Land Information Management System referred to as Ardhi Sasa Platform. Using interviews, this paper describes the experiences of the users of the Ardhi Sasa platform and seeks to understand the dynamics of platformatilizing the manual/paper land records.