NAIROBI,
Kenya, Jun 23 – Members of the public will now be able to access
accurate, timely and comprehensive census and survey information
following the launch of two data dissemination systems by the
government.
Planning Permanent Secretary Dr Edward Sambili said on Tuesday that
through the Integrated Multi-sectoral Information System (IMIS) and
KenInfo (Version 2.0) which will be available on the internet, the
government will be able to make more information available to more
people, which in turns aids accountability and transparency.
“The two systems have the capability to organise, analyse and present
data in a variety of forms including tables, graphs and maps. They will
provide policy makers, development partners and research institutions
with a friendly platform for data access,” he explained.
Dr Sambili disclosed that this was part of a wider Integrated System
for Monitoring and Evaluation that the government had developed to
measure the efficiency and effectiveness of policies and service
delivery.
“They (systems) focus on development indicators which mainly measure
the Millennium Development Goals and other locally oriented indicators.
They are also able to link national, provincial and district
information for planning purposes,” he stated.
He added that this would also go a long way in enabling the government
to monitor the extent to which activities in the Medium Term Plan of
the Vision 2030 are being implemented.
The PS hoped that by obtaining the trends of the various indicators
from different sectors, users would be able to appreciate the
socio-economic situation in the country.
The systems will initially be rolled out to line ministries and
selected districts and provinces countrywide in an effort to sensitise
users of the database.
“Continuous system backup support will be availed to ensure that the systems run without impediment,” he pledged.
Olivia Yambi a representative of UNICEF which is one of the project’s
financiers challenged the Kenya Bureau of Statistics, which is the
custodian of statistics to monitor the number of visitors to the
website to determine their effectiveness.
“If we could start to monitor the number of hits at the database that
would give us a feel of how many people are using it. It would also
ensure that the huge investment does not remain accessible to
technocrats therefore depriving the larger population access to this
data,” she said.
Tracey P. Lauriault
Locked
