History, Archaelogy and Political Studies

By the 1940s, the Municipal Council of Nairobi had enacted a host of By-Laws to control the presence of Africans, especially women, and had set up several agencies to implement them. Consequently, women street vendors were not only denied access to legal trade, but remained unwanted in the town except under very special circumstances. Nonetheless, pushed by their adversity, a number of them resorted to illegal hawking and demonstrated their resilience against the odds. However, as the hawkers’ earnings subsidised the colonial low wage migrant labour system, it became difficult for the colonial administration in Nairobi to resolutely stamp out their activities, especially in Eastlands. Besides, by the end of the 1940s, the Council’s fight against hawking had slackened owing to unsustainable expenses.   This paper examines the effect of colonial repression of African women street traders in Nairobi’s Eastlands area in the 1940s. Using the Gender and Development (GAD) perspective along...

The Dadaab Refugee Camp is located in Garissa County in North Eastern Kenya. It comprises five separate camps for refugees, most of whom are Somali, although it is also home to other refugees mostly from the horn of African, including Ethiopia and Sudan. Given the difficult life in the refugee camp, residents lead a difficult life, but have devised ways of entertainment and expression of their fears, hopes and daily struggles through music. This study analyses the forms of music adopted by the youth in Dadaab. The themes in the music are interrogated as well as the crucial role this music plays in the context of the refugee situation.

While conflicts are common in Africa, contextualizing them against the backdrop of globalization calls for new research. This paper focuses on the source of conflict in a rapidly urbanizing rural region in Kenya. Specifically, it looks at globalization and conflict in central Kenya. It links the conflict in the county of Nyeri to the emergence of Mungiki vigilantes and armed militias by arguing that economic decline occasioned by collapse of cash crop and dairy farming contributed to the intensification of conflict. The paper found out that there is a close relationship between neoliberal economic policies and origins of conflict in central Kenya. The study was based on content analysis of documents and oral interviews. Oral interviewees were identified through snowballing techniques. The paper recommends that for the government of Kenya to tackle the issue of conflict, focus must be given to economic growth. Unemployment particularly among the youth must be tackled urgently.

Denov explores the lives and realities of former child soldiers, both boys and girls in the Sierra Leone civil war which lasted eleven years. He begins this analysis by putting the terminologies used in the discussion of child soldiers into perspective. Denov observes that definitions of child soldiers not only cause confusion but also complicate the work of people and agencies which work with such children. For instance, while the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as anyone below 18 years of age, the World Bank describes the young as those between 10 and 24 years. Given that childhood is a contested concept, it is important to recognize that social construction varies in form and content across cultures and social groups. Indeed, the context of war renders conceptualization of children even more complex given that children may acquire status of adulthood by virtue of playing adult roles. Similarly, the author notes that while the term soldier conjures images of uniformed men with military training, this contradicts the realities of child soldiers who lack proper military training, and overlooks the presence of girls in war torn areas. Even more important, the work underscores that work of child soldiers go beyond combat activity and includes activities, such as cooking and spying. Using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions conducted over a two-year period with a sample of 76 children, Denov explores the militarization and reconfiguration of the identities of child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Twelve adolescent researchers, who participated in the conflict, were invited to participate in the project as collaborators and researchers. The author also borrows Antony Gidden's theoretical concepts of "structure", "agency "and "duality of structure" to analyze the lives of child soldiers. The author acknowledges the challenge of accessing reliable statistics on child soldiers due to concealing of information by armed groups and misinformation by NGOs with vested interests in such data. Nevertheless, Denov observes that in spite of the structural factors that lead children to participate in war, they should not merely be perceived as victims. Children who participate in armed conflict often have agency and frequently act with full awareness of both meaning and consequences of their actions.

Education has always been an important asset and is regarded as a key human development index; as a result various states and governments globally spend a large share of their budget on education sector as part of their strategy to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of education for all. Access to schools has improved rapidly throughout the developing world since 1990, but learning outcomes have lagged behind. Despite the fact that it is desirable to avoid a trade-off between quantity and quality, poorly managed education systems and constant labour disputes have undermined improvement in learning outcomes. The study sought to establish the effects of labour disputes on quality of education in public secondary schools. The objectives of the study are to; examine the causes of labour disputes between Teachers Service Commission and Teachers Union, to investigate the nature of conflicts between TSC and KNUT/KUPPET, to analyse the effect of labour disputes on academic Performance...

Security service delivery in public sector is crucial as it entails protecting government personnel as well as property. Therefore, security is increasingly viewed as a key condition for economic growth and development. Lack or ineffective security service delivery weakens the performance of any organization. This study sought to determine if service delivery improves as a result of outsourcing of security services to commercial state owned enterprises in Kenya. Specifically, this research aimed at determining the effects of outsourcing cash protection, body guarding, property protection and information/data protection services on security service delivery of selected commercial state owned enterprises in Nairobi City County in Kenya. The study was guided by two theories; the Functionalist model and securitization theory. A descriptive research design was adopted. The target population for this study was a census of all the 29 selected commercial state owned enterprises. The study t...

Maternal healthcare is an integral part of the Millennium development goals. However, most developing countries have been experimenting with different types of interventions to increase access and utilization of maternal care services. Health care devolution was greeted with great anticipation in Kenya as a means of bringing services closer to the people. However, since the implementation of the recent devolution reforms, criticism has mounted, with evidence of corruption, poor management, late payment of county staff and considerable disaffection among service providers, especially health professionals. Thus, this study assessed the effects of devolution on maternal health care in Nairobi City County in Kenya.  Particularly, the study examined the situation of maternal healthcare before and after devolution and how devolution as affected provision of maternal healthcare in Nairobi City County. The study also assessed how devolution affected maternal health care programs implementat...

The declaration of a new constitution of Kenya on 31st August 2010 successfully made two levels of government; the national and county governments. Establishment of health services is one of the tasks that were devolved to the county. Devolution of health functions was meant to enhance access to more-fair and top-notch health services to the Kenyan citizens. This study sought to analyze the effect of devolution on human resource performance in healthcare sector in Kenya with special focus on Garissa County. The study specific objectives included to; examine how devolution has affected recruitment of health care staff in Garissa County; to analyze how devolution has affected training of health care staff in Garissa County. The study was guided by new public management theory. The study employed a descriptive research design to examine the effect of devolution on human resource performance in healthcare sector in Kenya. The target population was the healthcare workers with management ...

Public participation plays an important role in the democratization of countries globally. The accomplishment of public participation process is determined by how well it is organized.  This study sought to examine the effects of public participation on local legislation in Banadir region of Somalia. The study was guided by the following objectives, to investigate factors that led to public participation, examine the design of public participation mechanism; investigate the process of public participation and analyze the consequences of public participation. The research will employ a descriptive research design. The study population comprised all the stakeholders including the youth, elders, staff employed by the regional government, the clergy, politicians and the non-governmental organizations involved in public participation in Banadir region. Purposive sampling was done to come up with the sample size of the study. Regarding the variance among the target population, where a num...

Education not only empowers individuals to live a better quality life, it also makes an enormous contribution to the development of a society. It is, however, very challenging to provide quality education to communities afflicted by conflict, particularly refugees. The study examined the role of Non-Governmental Organizations in the provision of education in conflicted societies. Specifically, the study analysed the role played by Windle Trust-Kenya in the provision of education among the refugees’ communities in Dadaab refugee Camps in Kenya. The study interrogated not only the strategies used by the Organization to promote education among the refugees, but also the challenges encountered in the provision of education in the specific refugee camps in Dadaab. The study employed a descriptive research design in order to probe into the efforts of the Organization towards supporting refugee education. Programme managers who have worked for Windle Trust Kenya, teachers employed by the O...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of performance management practices on performance contracting outcomes in the Ministry of Education, Science and TechnologyMethodology: The study employed a descriptive case study research design. The target population consisted of all the 600 employees in all cadres of members of staff in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology that were based in the headquarters. In this study, a sample of 15% of the total population was used. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. Data analysis was conducted using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) computer software.Results: The study findings revealed that staff development, work planning, strategic planning and financial resource allocation had positive and significant effects on performance contracting outcomes in the ministry.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: It was recommended that the ministry had to undertake qu...

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of order of reinstatement and order of compensation on the HRM practices in state corporations in Kenya. Methodology: This study employed an explanatory research design. The study population comprised of 200 court decisions in the Industrial Court relating to cases falling under the purview of Human Resource Management and these cases covered the period from 2013 to 2015. The rationale for this period is because the Constitution was promulgated in 2010. The new Constitution has provisions relating to fundamental rights and labour laws that govern and affect Human Resource Management. The cases filed in the Industrial Court after the new Constitution came into force were not determined immediately, hence the need for the study to deal with decisions made from 2013 to 2015. This study used simple random sampling design to sample the state corporations whereby the human resource manager was selected to represent a state ...

Human beings discovered alcoholic beverages in prehistoric times. It was a product of natural fermentation but was later produced deliberately from starchy and sugary plants (Keller, 1979). It dated back to over 7000 BC (Phillips, 2014) and was described biblically in the era of Lot and Noah when drunkenness was widespread thus, closely linked to the history of mankind (Waithima and Wahome, 2019). The use of alcoholic beverages around the world is said to be as old as agriculture (Myadze and Rwomire, 2014). People, throughout the history of nations, were familiar with alcoholic beverages used during festivities such as marriage, birth celebrations, and successful hunting (Hamdan-Mansour, 2016). The advancement in technology has led to large scale alcohol production and consumption and expanded the alcohol market. Alcohol is attributed to 5% of the global burden of diseases and is the leading risk factor causing mortality and morbidity in the world (GDB, 2013). Consumption of alcohol contributes to a 5.2% global burden of diseases (Mkuu, Barry, Swahn, and Nafukho (2019) through increased exposure to HIV infections, cardiovascular diseases, pneumonia, and tuberculosis (Mkuu, Barry, Ishino, and Amuta, 2018). Approximately 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were attributed to alcohol misuse (WHO, 2014). The effects of alcohol consumption are adverse, ranging from health risks among individuals, family, friends, and society at large (Sudhinaraset, Wigglesworth, and Tekeuchi (2016). Globally, alcoholic beverages are of two kinds; recorded and unrecorded alcohol. The recorded alcohol are formal alcoholic beverages with standardized production. They are regulated, controlled, and legally sold within specified territories. The unrecorded alcohol is unregulated, hence, illicitly produced by either unlicensed industries or homebrewed, smuggled across borders, consumed in unregistered jurisdictions and surrogate alcohol, not intended for human consumption (Mkuu, Barry, Ishino, and Amuta, 2018). Cultural norms are strong predictors of alcohol consumption regardless of race and ethnicity. They vary across continents, nations, and communities (Sudhinaraset, Wiggleworth, and Tekeuchi, 2016). Some communities value alcohol consumption others demonize it (Monaco et al, 2020). As a cultural artifact, the norms regulating the consumption of

The Dadaab Refugee Camp is located in Garissa County in North Eastern Kenya. It comprises five separate camps for refugees, most of whom are Somali, although it is also home to other refugees mostly from the horn of African, including Ethiopia and Sudan. Given the difficult life in the refugee camp, residents lead a difficult life, but have devised ways of entertainment and expression of their fears, hopes and daily struggles through music. This study analyses the forms of music adopted by the youth in Dadaab. The themes in the music are interrogated as well as the crucial role this music plays in the context of the refugee situation.

Bruxism is a parafunctional activity characterized by daytime (diurnal) or nighttime (nocturnal) tooth grinding and squeezing and causing various pathologies in oropharyngeal tissues. Buspirone is used in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, to reduce the side effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and to strengthen the treatment in depression and anxiety disorders. In addition to these uses, buspirone is also used in the treatment of bruxism in adults. In this study, it is aimed to summarize bruxism cases treated with buspirone in literature and to discuss treatment options. A systematic research was conducted on Pubmed, Google Academic and Web of Science databases to evaluate all peer-reviewed articles using buspirone in the treatment of bruxism. The whole study in which buspirone was used in the treatment of bruxism was included in the study. When evaluated on the basis of case reports, buspirone is seen as one of the psychotropes that can be used safely in the treatment of bruxism. In the treatment, it may be recommended to adjust the average daily dose to 10-20 mg and wait a minimum of 2 weeks, although the effectiveness may occur in a much shorter time. This study is important in terms of recommending buspirone, which has been shown to be effective in the treatment of bruxism in many cases, despite its various limitations and as a step for further studies on this subject.

Corporate governance is important to the performance of Public Hospitals (PHs) all over the world. This study investigated the Influence of Corporate Governance on Performance in PHs in Embu County, Kenya. The objective of the study was to assess how board characteristics influence performance in PHs in Embu County. The study’s main problem was to assess the performance in PHs using level of customer satisfaction, level of employees’ satisfaction and efficiency. Given that there is minimal research in corporate governance on management of PHs especially in Embu County, the study addressed challenges faced by management, thus helping formulate policies and strategic guidance for County Governments (CGs). The Stewardship Leadership Theory and Organizational Leadership Style were used to develop the theoretical framework on corporate governance. The information was gathered from 140 respondents using questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed using Descriptive Statistics whereas Qu...

Recent archaeological excavations at Lake Magadi in the southern Kenya rift valley have demonstrated the area was occupied by hunting and gathering populations during the middle to late Pleistocene as well as the Holocene. These occupations are associated with significantly wetter environmental conditions extending back to the middle Pleistocene when Lakes Magadi and Natron were fresh water and joined forming a single Magadi-Natron Basin. The unification of both lakes is evidenced by widespread lacustrine and fluvial sediments which were deposited during periods of increased rainfall. The middle Pleistocene lake is represented by the Oloronga Beds while the late Pleistocene early Holocene deposits are termed the High Magadi Beds. Seven radiocarbon dates spanning from 11,000 BP to 1000 BP have been obtained from ostrich eggshell and human and bovid tooth apatite (Table 1). These dates, along with preliminary analysis of stone artifacts, permit the reconstruction of a broad chronology...

Recent archaeological excavations at Lake Magadi in the southern Kenya rift valley have demonstrated the area was occupied by hunting and gathering populations during the middle to late Pleistocene as well as the Holocene. These occupations are associated ...

This article sets out to unravel aspects of environmental changes in the Upper Tana during the second millennium AD. This aspect has not been adequately addressed in the Upper Tana. This makes it clear that a lacuna exists in the study of communities of the Upper Tana and the way they interact with their environment in the past and present times. The objective of this article is to evaluate the relationship between human activities and environmental change in the Upper Tana from AD 1000 to 1950. It is hypothesized that the advent of iron technology and its attendant economic activities led to the depletion of indigenous forests and the general environmental degradation. The article has employed archaeological, ethnographic, oral and historical methodologies to gather data on vegetation change in the Upper Tana and other related regions.  The article, argues that livestock grazing, iron smelting, slush and burn agriculture, and the clearing of forests for housing are key contributors...