Right Behind Bars: Examining the Appropriateness of Kenya’s Prison Labour Wages and Earnings Scheme

Sentenced inmates in Kenya are obligated to provide labour while imprisoned. This is to reduce idleness, for punishment, to enhance prisons’ cost-efficiency, and for rehabilitation. Some scholars posit that prisoners should be paid, others state that they should not, and some others recognise that they should be paid but vary between a high or low rate of payment. In Kenya, prisoners are paid for their labour at rates espoused in Section 5 of the Earnings Scheme, Kenya Prisons Service Standing Orders, 1979. The rates range between 10 and 20 cents a day. From this pay, they are to spend on necessities while in prison, send some money to their families and save some for use after their release. However, the rates are very low and based on the purposes the wages are to serve, the meagre pay is grossly incommensurate. This paper uses the concept of prison industrial complex and the human rights theory to make a case for higher pay for prison labourers. Lastly, it suggests a revision of the earnings scheme after drawing lessons from India

THE TONE PATTERNS IN THE KIKAMBA VERB COMPLEX

The description of tone in Bantu Languages has not been a popular subject for conference papers or for postgraduate research by local linguists in the local set up.  This is particularly because tone is not given appropriate emphasis in the linguistic courses taught in our universities both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.  This continues to happen despite the fact that many African languages are tone languages.  As a result, our graduates usually find themselves ill-prepared to handle issues of tone, even in their mother tongues.  Though some of them may be able to provide pairs of words that differ minimally in tone, majority of them cannot say which melodies are associated with which segments in the words.  In other words, they have not been trained to ‘hear’ and categorise tone.Key words: Kikamba, tone, language, Kenya

Diaspora in Global Development: First Generation Immigrants from Kenya, Transnational Ties, and Emerging Alternatives

Transnational ties form an important aspect of immigrants\u27 experiences. Using ethnographic accounts of 38 first generation immigrants from Kenya this study analyzed (a) why and how participants maintain ties, (b) characteristics of the ties, and (c) the degree to which ties influence immigrants\u27 experiences. Findings revealed that participants connected to Kenya through social, economic, and political transnational practices. Ties took on a U-shaped curve with the highest intensity at points of arrival and after extended stay in the United States. While participants had moved spatially, their values and attitudes remained static resulting in particularistic development efforts. This demonstrated how ethnicity, class, and length of stay in the United States permeate diasporic experiences. The paper discusses perspectives on collective organizing and emerging diasporic efforts to foster nationalistic development

Rural Livelihood Security Assessment for Smallholders Undergoing Economic Changes and Agro-Climatic Events in Central Kenya

ケニア政府による経済の構造調整計画の実施は、農産物価格を凌駕する農業投入財価格の上昇をもたらし、小農民の生産に負の影響を与えた。同時に、降雨パターンの変動もまた地方レベルの世帯の脆弱性の状態に関わりを持っている。本稿では、作物品種選択と危機対処の経験に関する長期間データの事例分析を通して、ケニア中央部の小農民がこれらの変化にいかに対処・適応しているのかという問題に取り組んだ。本研究は、彼らの取り得るあるいは実際に行っている生計安全保障戦略が、地域的にあるいは世帯レベルでどのように理解できるかを示すものである。調査対象とした 40 世帯の年間純所得を評価し、それを構成する経済活動部門を、農業、牧畜、非農業活動、農外活動、林業の5つに分類した。世帯の生計戦略を操作可能な概念とすることで、世帯が危機の経験を生かしこれら5 部門の活動をどのように選択し組み合わせているかという、世帯の戦略を明らかにすることができる。また、作物品種選択を検討することで、意志決定の基礎的な要因が複数あることが明らかになった。すなわち、地理的、経済的、政治的、社会・文化的、作物学的という5つの要因グループである。本稿は、小農民の対処・適応能力の効果的な理解が政策にとって重要な意味を持つことを示している。それは農村部の生計の安全保障を改善することを目標とする政策立案のための基礎を提供するものであり、また既存の生計戦略の上に構築される食糧安全保障計画を推進する外部の計画者たちにも参考となると考える。The implementation of World Bank- and IMF-funded structural adjustment programs of the economy by Government of Kenya negatively affected smallholder farmers’ production due to cost of agricultural inputs rising faster than the prices of agricultural produce. Concurrently, effects of the variability of precipitation patterns intrinsically link in shaping local-level households’ vulnerability.Drawing from field study data informed by longitudinal methodology of approach on crop variety selection and crisis-coping experiences, the overriding issue addressed in this paper is how smallholder farmers in Central Kenya cope and adapt with the changes. The study provides both place-based and household-based understanding of the livelihood security strategies available to and undertaken by the farmers.Annual net income levels of 40 sample households are estimated and the production aspect of the household economy classified into five sectors: agricultural, livestock, non-farm, off-farm, and forest product extraction. An operationalization of the notion of livelihood strategies reveals the strategy in which households choose and combine options across the five sectors on the basis of crisis experiences. Examination of smallholders’ crop variety selection identifies a multiplicity of criteria upon which decisions are based. These are grouped into five explanatory factors: geographic, economic, administrative, socio-cultural and agronomic.The paper argues that an effective understanding of smallholders’ coping and adaptive capabilities has important implications for adaptation policy. It can provide a basis for designing policies aimed at rural livelihood security improvement and also help to facilitate outside planners who engage in food security programs which can be built on existing livelihood strategies

THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN SOCIAL-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMUNITY: FOCUS ON REDEEMED GOSPEL CHURCH IN MAKUENI COUNTY, KENYA

Across the globe, questions have emerged on the role the church should play in enhancing community development. A majority of scholars have agreed that the Church has an integral responsibility in creating an environment fit for socio-economic development in any country. For instance, churches have been seen creating awareness through seminars. Nonetheless, some countries have recorded the participation of the church in quite a number of educational and healthcare facilities that are rooted to the Church. The Roman Catholic and the Lutheran churches are some examples that have enormously influenced the lives of many in socio–economic development. This paper seeks to explore the role played by the Redeemed Gospel Church (RGC) in socio-economic transformation of the community in Makueni County besides its evident spiritual transformation. In achieving this objective, the paper uses empirical qualitative "ethnographic" design. With a sample of 30 churches across the County, participatory ethnographic interviews and questionnaires were used as the main methods of data collection. Analysis of the collected data was then done qualitatively, and the results presented in themes. The study finds that education, healthcare and agriculture are among other sectors in which the Redeemed Gospel Church has played a role in development.  Article visualizations

Conflict resolution and crime surveillance in Kenya: local peace committees and Nyumba Kumi

Nach zahlreichen interethnischen Zusammenstößen und terroristischen Angriffen von al-Shabaab in den letzten Jahren hat der kenianische Staat Sicherheitsfunktionen auf die kommunale Ebene verlagert. Rechte zur Beilegung lokaler Konflikte und zur Verhütung von Straftaten wurden lokalen Friedenskomitees übertragen -ein Versuch, gewohnheitsrechtliche Verfahren zu standardisieren-, sowie Nyumba-Kumi-Komitees, mit denen Kommunalpolitik auf der Ebene der Haushalte verankert werden soll. Den politischen Hintergrund dafür bilden generelle Pläne zur Dezentralisierung und zur Verlagerung staatlicher Funktionen auf die kommunale Ebene. Der Autor des Beitrags stellt folgende Fragen: Sind hybride Formen der Ausübung staatlicher Funktionen effizient und angemessen? Inwieweit fördern lokale Friedens- und Nyumba-Kumi-Komitees die friedliche Lösung von Konflikten und die Verbrechensbekämpfung in Kenia? Wie kann ein Erfolg ihrer Arbeit gesichert werden beziehungsweise was könnte den Erfolg gefährden? Grundlage der Analyse ist eine ethnographische Erhebung im Maasai-Kikuyu-Grenzgebiet in der Nähe des Naivasha-Sees, einem früheren Brennpunkt interethnischer Auseinandersetzungen.In the wake of widespread interethnic "clashes" and al-Shabaab terrorist attacks in Kenya over the last few years, the state has embarked on the devolution of capacities for ensuring security and peace to the local level. The state gave the rights to handle specific local conflicts and crime prevention to local peace committees in an attempt to standardise an aspect of customary law, and to Nyumba Kumi committees in a strategy of anchoring community policing at the household level. These changes were conditioned and framed by ideas of decentralisation and the delegation of responsibilities from the state to the community level. In this paper, the following questions are raised: Are hybrid governance arrangements effective and appropriate? To what extent do peace committees and Nyumba Kumi provide institutional support for peaceful conflict management and crime prevention in Kenya? What guarantees and what constrains their success? The author draws on ethnographic data from the Maasai-Kikuyu borderlands near Lake Naivasha, a former hotspot of interethnic clashes

The development of geographical information systems for the 1989 kenya population census

This thesis evaluates the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) technology for possible introduction into the analysis of the population census of Kenya. It does so from a starting point of no digital mapping being used at present, and no staff trained in the technology. The one year research programme had a number of aims which would underwrite a fuller evaluation of GIS back in Kenya; to(i) evaluate the training implications in GIS.(ii) evaluate the quality and usefulness of base maps produced by the Kenya Statistics office, with a view to automating them for subsequent digital mapping.(iii) achieve capability and understanding of concepts in the process largely referred to as "digital mapping”. The 1989 census was the first to map the country to the level of Villages which are small subdivisions of the Sub-Locations. Enumeration Areas were based on these Villages. The 1989 census field work was the most detailed of all previous censuses. About 4000 Sub-Location maps or Enumeration Area maps were prepared for the census. They were used to produce the required copies for the Enumerators and Supervisors who participated in the census enumeration. The preparation of the District maps for digitising e.g. tracing, identifying and fixing reference points; digitising and editing the coverages; transforming the coverages; and updating the coverage data files took approximately five months. Using this database a population density map was produced. The study has proved the feasibility of full computer mapping for the analysis of the 1989 Kenya population census. It provides a basis for the development of a full GIS capability. Further, the cartographic information from Kenya, while having limitations, has been combined and integrated to provide a national coverage. Census data, already in the computer form, are relatively easily integrated into the GIS database

Becoming inclusive:a deleuzoguattarian view of inclusive education policy struggles in Kenyan Primary Schools

This thesis is based on a study into the tensions and struggles between written government policy on inclusion and the reality of living and lived policy in Kenya, taking the experiences of a primary school’s attempt to become inclusive as its primary focus. The methodology builds on the metaphorical concepts of a ‘rhizome’, ‘tree’, ‘lines of flight’ and ‘becoming’ as they are espoused by Deleuze and Guattari (1987) in their philosophical writings in the book, A thousand plateaus. The contrast between the rhizome and the tree provides the basis for the critique of 'methodolatory' (Chamberlain, 2000: 287) and creates spaces for creative imagination in conducting inclusive research. The thesis advances a view of IE as a becoming, and draws upon the ‘philosophies of difference’ to offer new lenses for thinking and acting inclusively within schools (Allan, 2008). Through a rhizoanalytic approach, the relations and connections between written and lived policy are explored in order to consider what sort of educational spaces might be worthy of the inclusion of children and adults. The thesis also examines the wider contexts within which exclusive tendencies are harboured. Besides the surface view of inclusive education, participant accounts and conceptualisations imply that there is an invisible view of IE which is informed by a much more complex set of understandings. Therefore, teachers in their attempts to teach inclusively are often caught up in these complexities and disciplinary power networks which can be understood if they work closely with policy officials. The central recommendation of this study is that, there is need for policy officials to engage more deeply with teachers in order to understand their actual experiences. In this way, policy changes can begin to reflect school practices and capture the issues that teachers regard as priorities for promoting inclusive initiatives. This view suggests a change to a bottom-up and rhizomatic approach in the way policy is made and implemented because teachers had a feeling of being left out in making decisions that affect their work. To address issues of inequality, ethnicity should form part of future research in order to create different ways of tackling institutional exclusions and build foundations for citizenship and social cohesion.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE REDEEMED GOSPEL CHURCH IN CONDUCTING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN MAKUENI COUNTY, KENYA

To achieve community development, people have to be empowered both economically and socially. The church has been globally recognized in the fundamental role it plays in community development. However, some churches have faced various obstacles that hinder their potential contribution in achieving this objective. Community development requires a collective involvement to achieve common goals and without this, it becomes a challenge. There has been no documentation of challenges encountered by the Redeemed Gospel Church (RGC) when conducting development projects. This paper is therefore an assessment of the challenges faced by the Church in its mandate to enhance community development. This paper utilized an empirical qualitative “ethnographic” research design. Participatory ethnographic interviews and questionnaires were employed as the main methods for data collection. Data was collected from 30 RGCs that were randomly selected in the 20 sub-regions making in Makueni County at the time of the study. The collected data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively and presented in themes. The study indicates that besides financial hindrances, the churches also lacked leadership training on its management and in the management of projects in the community.  Article visualizations