Role of Mobile Money Transactions on Revenue of Microbusiness in Kenya

This paper determined the effect of mobile money transactions on the sales turnover of MSEs in Nakuru Town. The study used a descriptive cross sectional survey design targeting 21,139 registered MSEs located within Sub-Counties in Nakuru Town, Kenya. A stratified sampling technique was used to select 246 MSE. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the MSEs.  A regression model was used to determine the effect of mobile money services and sales turnover. The result revealed that mobile money transactions has a positive significant relationship with MSE sales turnover. The study recommends that mobile phone operators need to consider reduction in money transfer transaction cost, and insurance companies need to encourage payment of premiums using mobile money services. In addition, financial institutions need to offer banking services through mobile phones such as deposits, withdrawals and loan applications with a reduced cost. Keywords: key words, Mobile Money Transactions, Revenue, Microbusinesse

Determinants of Loan Default by Savings and Credit Co-Operative Societies’ Members in Baringo County, Kenya

Loan delinquency in SACCOs is a major threat in the sustainability of granting loan to the loan applicants and the growth of the business. Gradual increase in delinquency rate implies that SACCOs are unable to recover what they have lent out to loan beneficiaries. This affects the SACCOs' financial obligations. SACCOs' financial growth is a critical issue and failure to maintain cash in circulation affects their core business.  SACCOs in Baringo County has realized increasing loan default since the year 2010 which was ksh.76, 987,450 and rose gradually to ksh. 225,464,348 in the year 2013. Management in SACCOs impressed on proper loan appraisals, timely reminders on repayments by loan beneficiaries and escalating on timely follow-up on loan defaulters. Delinquency continuously increased despite the measures taken to mitigate the problem by SACCOs. The study sought to establish the social factors that affect loan repayment by the borrowers, to determine economic factors that affect loan repayment by the borrowers, and to establish terms of loan factors that affects both SACCOs and borrowers regarding loan repayment. The study covered the 39 SACCOs in Baringo County. The study employed descriptive survey design. A sample of 39 credit officers and 161 loan beneficiaries responded to the study. The primary data was collected using a questionnaire, and analyzed using both descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. The result of the study indicated that economic and terms of the loan factors significantly affect loan default however social factors does not significantly affect the loan default. The study recommends that a credit policy should be maintained that is in built in Sacco software. Also more training programs sponsored by Sacco’s aiming at enhancing the members on economic and social factors. Keywords: key words, determinant, loan default, and Sacco’

What Are the Implications of Working Capital Management on Liquidity Risk? A Case of Listed Commercial Banks in Kenya

Liquidity refers to a firm’s ability to fund increase in assets and meet obligations as they fall due. Working capital includes all the current assets and current liabilities. The study concentrated on Banks that were listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study used a longitudinal research design for it involved taking repetitive measures overtime for the purpose of comparing returns over the periods.  The target population was made up of all the 9 NSE quoted commercial banks in Kenya; this was over a period of 10 years from 2002 to 2011.  The data was collected from secondary sources; these were published financial statements available at banking survey of Kenya.  The descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to measure variations.  Statistical inferences were drawn using correlation and regression analysis in analyzing the data and testing of hypotheses.  The key findings from the study were: debtors’ collection period and cash conversion cycle have significantly negative relationship with liquidity of quoted commercial banks; this means that more liquid banks take the shortest time to collect cash from their customers.  Creditors’ payment period have significantly positive relationship with liquidity of quoted commercial banks in Kenya, this implies that the longer the bank takes to pay its creditors, the more liquid it is.  The research recommends that the NSE commercial banks should maintain their current assets for meeting their short term obligation thereby increase their liquidity by shortening their debtors’ collection period and cash conversion cycle whereas increasing their creditors’ payment period for better liquidity position.    Findings of this study add to knowledge and understanding of the subject of working capital management and its implication on liquidity risk on NSE quoted commercial banks. Keywords: Working capital management, liquidity, Liquidity risk, quoted commercial bank

Treatment outcomes for drug resistant tuberculosis among children below 15 years in Kenya, 2010‐2016

Background: Tuberculosis is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Children are less likely to acquire resistance during the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). Most of the drug resistant TB infection in children is transmitted from adults.Objective: To determine the characteristics and treatment outcomes among children below 15 years managed for drug resistant TB in Kenya, 2010 – 2016.Design: Retrospective descriptive study.Setting: All health facilities managing drug resistant TB in KenyaSubjects: Children below 15 years treated for drug resistant TB between 2010 and 2016.Results: Sixty three children were notified with DR TB between 2010 and 2016. The median (IQR) age was11 (10‐13) years with a female to male ratio of 1:1. With 32 (52%) and 31 (51%) with smear and culture positive laboratory results respectively. Primary drug resistance was present in 25 (40%) of the children All the sputum and culture converted negative at month three of treatment. HIV testing uptake was 100% with a positivity rate of 26 (41%) and 100% anti‐retroviral therapy uptake. The treatment success rate for the cases was 31(91%) with a mortality rate of 2(5%) and lost‐to‐follow up 1 (3%).Conclusion: Drug‐resistant tuberculosis can be successfully treated and therapy well tolerated among children. There  is need for contact tracing and screening for all at risk including paediatric population

Observations of the Turkana jet and the East African dry tropics: The RIFTJet field campaign

The Turkana low-level jet (LLJ) is an intrinsic part of the African climate system. It is the principle conduit for water vapor transport to the African interior from the Indian Ocean, and droughts in East Africa tend to occur when the jet is strong. The only direct observations of the Turkana jet come from manual tracking of pilot balloons in the 1980s. Now, modern reanalysis datasets disagree with one another over the strength of jet winds and underestimate the strength of the jet by 25%–75% compared to the pilot balloon data. This article gives an overview of a field campaign based in northwest Kenya—the Radiosonde Investigation for the Turkana Jet (RIFTJet)—which measured the Turkana jet for the first time in 40 years using modern technologies. Radiosonde data reveal a persistent low-level jet, which formed on every night of the campaign, with an average low-level maximum wind speed of 16.8 m s−1 at 0300 LT. One of the latest reanalysis datasets (ERA5) underestimates low-level wind speeds by an average of 24% (4.1 m s−1) at 0300 LT and by 33% (3.6 m s−1) at 1500 LT. The measurements confirm the role of the Turkana LLJ in water vapor transport: mean water vapor transport at Marsabit is 172 kg m s−1. The dataset provides new opportunities to understand regional dynamics, and to evaluate models in one of the most data-sparse regions in the world

The use of insecticide treated nets by age: implications for universal coverage in Africa

BACKGROUND: The scaling of malaria control to achieve universal coverage requires a better understanding of the population sub-groups that are least protected and provide barriers to interrupted transmission. Here we examine the age pattern of use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) in Africa in relation to biological vulnerabilities and the implications for future prospects for universal coverage. METHODS: Recent national household survey data for 18 malaria endemic countries in Africa were assembled to identify information on use of ITNs by age and sex. Age-structured medium variant projected population estimates for the mid-point year of the earliest and most recent national surveys were derived to compute the population by age protected by ITNs. RESULTS: All surveys were undertaken between 2005 and 2009, either as demographic health surveys (n = 12) or malaria indicator surveys (n = 6). Countries were categorized into three ITN use groups: or =20% and projected population estimates for the mid-point year of 2007 were computed. In general, the pattern of overall ITNs use with age was similar by country and across the three country groups with ITNs use initially high among children <5 years of age, sharply declining among the population aged 5-19 years, before rising again across the ages 20-44 years and finally decreasing gradually in older ages. For all groups of countries, the highest proportion of the population not protected by ITNs (38% - 42%) was among those aged 5-19 years. CONCLUSION: In malaria-endemic Africa, school-aged children are the least protected with ITNs but represent the greatest reservoir of infections. With increasing school enrollment rates, school-delivery of ITNs should be considered as an approach to reach universal ITNs coverage and improve the likelihood of impacting upon parasite transmission

Estimating the Number of Paediatric Fevers Associated with Malaria Infection Presenting to Africa's Public Health Sector in 2007

Peter Gething and colleagues compute the number of fevers likely to present to public health facilities in Africa and the estimated number of these fevers likely to be infected with Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites

Mapping of mangrove forest land cover change along the Kenya coastline using Landsat imagery.

Mangroves in Kenya provide a wide range of valuable services to coastal communities despite their relatively small total area. Studies at single sites show reductions in extent and quality caused by extraction for fuel wood and timber and clearance for alternative land use including saltpans, aquaculture, and tourism. Such studies suggest that Kenyan mangroves are likely to conform to the general global trend of declining area but there are no reliable recent estimates of either total mangrove extent or trends in coverage for the country. The total extent of Kenyan mangroves was estimated at four points in time (1985, 1992, 2000 and 2010) using Landsat satellite imagery. Due to its medium resolution, Landsat may underestimate mangrove areas in Kenya where relatively small, linear, coastal features occur. There is also a high frequency of clouds in the coastal areas which can cause data gaps during analysis. However comparison with aerial photographs taken in 1992 showed satisfactory levels of accuracy (87.5%) and Cohen’s Kappa (0.54) validating its use in this context. These 1992 data provided an independently validated baseline from which to detect changes (fore- and hind-casted) in other periods after removing cloud coverage. We estimated total mangrove coverage in 2010 at 45,590 ha representing a loss of 18% (0.7% yr−1) in the 25 years between 1985 and 2010. Rates of mangrove loss for Kenya varied both spatially and temporally with variations possibly due to legislative inadequacies and differences in habitat alteration patterns. Hence freely available Landsat images proved adequate to detect changes in mangroves and revealed that Kenya shows rates of decline similar to (although slower than) global estimates