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’

FACTORS AFFECTING DEMAND FOR MORTGAGE LOANS IN KENYA: A CASE OF I&M BANK LIMITED, KENYA

Kenya’s mortgage market has undergone through a remarkable development in the preceding ten years. However, the quantity of mortgage in the banking industry is still very low. While there is considerably good number of lenders in the market, the demand for mortgage loans is still relatively low. This research study is aimed at assessing the factors affecting demand for mortgage loans in Kenya with a focus on I&M Bank (K) Limited. The intentions of the research were to evaluate the effect of interest rates on demand for mortgage loans in Kenya; to determine the effect of income level on eligibility for a mortgage loan in Kenya; to find out effects of land constraints in Kenya on demand for mortgage loans; to investigate the effects of Kenyan regulatory framework on demand for mortgage loans. To realize its objectives, a descriptive approach was espoused. Core populace included 300 respondents drawn from corporate customers, SME customers and retail customers of I&M Bank in Nairobi. Probability technique of selecting a sample was employed where a sample of one hundred was regarded appropriate which included 20 corporate customers, 30 Small Medium Enterprises (SME), and 50 Retail customers. Data collection utilized structured questions (for retail customers) and interviews with the corporate customers as well as Small Medium Enterprises as they are few in number. Pilot study was performed as a trial for soundness and dependability of the questionnaire. Data analysis involved descriptive statistical approach where descriptive arithmetical aspects assisted in illustrating the statistics obtained. The results were submitted in form of frequency tabular and pie charts. This study is deemed vital to I&M Bank, other financial institutions, industry regulators, Government of Kenya and the general public. The study found that income level affects one’s ability to access a mortgage facility; interest rates affect demand for mortgage loans. Land constraint was not a major factor on demand for mortgage loans. However, the challenges in land ownership as well as irregularities in allocation of land have had an impact in home ownership. Regulatory frameworks have negatively impacted demand for mortgage loans and therefore home ownership. The study recommends that mortgage firms should also increase more products with long term financing incorporated. Land registration system should be streamlined to enable the potential home ownership decision to acquire a mortgage from the mortgage institutions. The financial institutions should consider designing loan products to tap to middle income developments which are a huge potential since they are highly untapped

Prevalence and missed cases of respiratory distress syndrome disease amongst neonatal deaths enrolled in the Kenya Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance Network (CHAMPS) program between 2017 and 2021

Objectives: To describe RDS in neonatal deaths at the CHAMPS-Kenya site between 2017 and 2021. Methods: We included 165 neonatal deaths whose their Causes of death (COD) were determined by a panel of experts using data from post-mortem conducted through minimally invasive tissue specimen testing, clinical records, and verbal autopsy. Results: Twenty-six percent (43/165) of neonatal deaths were attributable to RDS. Most cases occurred in low birthweight and preterm neonates. From these cases, less than half of the hospitalizations were diagnosed with RDS before death, and essential diagnostic tests were not performed in most cases. Most cases received suboptimal levels of supplemental oxygen, and critical interventions like surfactant replacement therapy and mechanical ventilation were not adequately utilized when available. Conclusion: The study highlights the urgent need for improved diagnosis and management of RDS, emphasizing the importance of increasing clinical suspicion and enhancing training in its clinical management to reduce mortality rates

Adding value to neglected and underutilized crop species: Experiences from Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe

This brief presents the research results of the promotion and value addition of selected neglected and underutilized crops in Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Novel products and value chains were identified, such as (nutritious) composite flours using/mixing amaranth, cassava, millets, yellow (instead of white) maize and sorghum, for particular consumer groups, e.g. adults, adults with diabetes, babies. The production and marketing of these crops and products offers an alternative to the use of maize, whose cultivation is suffering from the impact of climate change across East and Southern Africa

Papillary patterns of palms of the inhabitants of Palue Island (Indonesia): thenar and hypothenar

In supplement of the elaborations by Glinka [1971], and Glinka , Jasicki and Wiśniewska [1983] the author presented a description of palm dermatoglyphics of 1777 inhabitants of Palue island (Lesser Sunda islands). He found a comparatively low frequency of true patterns both on the Thenar and Hypothenar. Differences in the occurrence of patterns on the right and left hands were weakly manifested, on the other hand small differences between sexes have been found

The constitutionality of the criminalisation of consensual sex between minors in Kenya

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is widely practised among Kenyan communities. Though there is an indication that the prevalence of the practice has reduced, there are emerging trends such as cross-border circumcision and medicalised circumcision. In a bid to end FGM, Kenya passed the Prohibition of FGM Act in 2011, which is the governing law on FGM. Kenya also passed the new Constitution in 2010, which gave life a new breath to new dispensation of governance and rule of law. This study sought to explore the extent at which the Act and the Kenyan Constitution have protected women and girls from the harmful practice of FGM. The study also responds to the fundamental questions on the extent of FGM in Kenya, and linking to how the Kenyan government has protected women and girls from the harmful practice. The study found out that the Kenyan Constitution and the Anti-FGM Act provides for an opportunity to end FGM. The Constitution is instrumental not only in addressing harmful practices, but also in advancing women’s rights and promoting gender equality. The Act has registered some success scores in the protection of rights of women and girls from FGM. However, the study found out that the Kenyan Act on FGM is also insufficient in some aspects including the fact that it does not address emerging trends such as medicalisation of FGM. The Act does not also protect women and girls who have not undergone FGM, making them susceptible to ridicule and seclusion from participating in some community activities. There is the need to amend the Act to make it more comprehensive so as to effectively contribute to ending FGM in Kenya.Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2018.Centre for Human RightsLLMUnrestricte

Revenue Management Practices In the International Airline Industry within Kenya: A Case Study of Air France-KLM Group

A Research Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The purpose of this study was to identify the specific revenue management techniques that the Air France-KLM Group applied and their influence on competition in the airline passenger business within the Kenyan market. Specifically the research sought to: first what are the pricing techniques used by the airline to remain competitive?, second how does the airline use inventory management tools to optimize its capacity?, and lastly how does the airline competitively position and benchmark itself using revenue management? This study applied a descriptive research design since it was found to be the best to fulfill the objectives of the study. The target population for this study was all the 50 commercial department local staff who interacted with revenue management on a day to day basis and split between three department’s sales, marketing, and management at Air France-KLM group. The sample frame for this study was obtained from the company’s local Human Resources department. Stratified sampling technique was adopted for the study and simple random sampling was used to draw sub-samples from each stratum. The sample size for the study was 38 respondents. Primary data was used in the study and collected using semi-structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered through a drop and pick method. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used to measure the strength and differences in responses received. Inferential statistics (correlation analysis) was used to measure significant factors of the study variables that were later on used to run a regression analysis to examine the nature of relationship that existed. Data was represented in the form of tables, and figures that indicated the frequency distribution of the data. The study showed that pricing of airline seats at Air-France-KLM played a crucial role in improving their revenues, and the organization had various pricing strategies which varied from simplistic for developing markets, to highly tuned developed markets to maximize on profits. Air France-KLM used customer behavior to tailor make its pricing strategies and make products for their different passenger segments, and it had been forced to transition from simplistic pricing strategies to a more segmented and solution focused strategy. The organization had specific prices or fares for different fare classes which had been predetermined, and these price cabins did not fluctuate significantly, since they were changed periodically based on competitive factors. The organization also used price discrimination based on developments in technology, commercial and current business environment, and it used real-time sales data to update the demand distribution and dynamically sets its prices. The company made use of the seat allocation technique as a standard leg-based revenue management method for optimization and setting its booking limits. The study showed that Air France-KLM’s ultimate goal was to find the right mix of passengers willing to purchase their inventory to maximize profits. The company had a booking control policy in place that was used as a guideline for allocating seats for optimal allocation, and it used deep discounts classes in cases where a single fare class existed independently and would be possible to sell a low revenue reservation and simultaneously turn away a high revenue passenger. The study showed that Air France-KLM did not impose limits on the number of requests that could be approved for every class, and its request for a seat was analyzed in real time, based on the unsold seats and time to departure of the flight. The study further showed that, when Air France-KLM wanted to increase its revenue, it shifted some demand from high demanded flights to flights with low demand. The company predicted carefully the peak seasons and offered discounted tickets for flights out of that period. Despite available steps available for reducing fuel costs, the company still struggled with increased fuel costs, and it did not try to shift the cost to its customers in the form of fuel surcharges. Air France-KLM had a problem in deciding when to close the sale of tickets on one particular price and open sales on the next price level. The study recommends Air France-KLM to ensure that its revenue management relies on the collection of data and factual evidence to support its strategies and tactical application, to increase both revenue and profit. This would increase their profitability since, revenue management uses the basic principles of supply and demand economics, in a tactical way, to generate incremental revenues.

Surveillance of Human Parainfluenza viruses in Kenya during the 2007-2011 Period

Background: Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) belong to the paramyxoviridae family and are classified into four types. These viruses account for a large percentage of pediatric respiratory disease, including syndromes such as upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), laryngotracheobronchitis (croup), bronchiolitis, and pneumonia. HPIV is the major cause of croup in which type 1 is most frequent cause, followed by type 3 and type 2 respectively. In January 2007, through an existing influenza surveillance network, the Kenyan National Influenza center started screening for parainfluenza and other non-influenza respiratory viruses within the designated Influenza surveillance network made up of eight sentinel sites spread throughout the country. Objective: The objective of this study was to monitor and document circulation of Human parainfluenza viruses in Kenya in the period 2007-2011. Methodology: Specimens were collected from the nasopharynx using a flocked swab from consenting patients meeting the WHO influenza-like-illness (ILI) case definition. Specimens were transported to the NIC while observing the cold chain and inoculated into LLCMK2 cell line. After incubation and observation for cytopathic effect, all samples were screened by direct immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using the Respiratory Panel I Viral Screening and Identification kit (Chemicon International, Inc). Results: 14,990 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected between January 2007-October 2011. HPIV were detected in 801 (5.3%) cases. 361 (45%) of the detections were HPIV-3 followed by HPIV-1 in 296 (37%) and 144 (18%) for HPIV-2 respectively. This confirms what has been observed elsewhere that HPIV1 and HPIV3 are the most frequently detected types. Analyses of co-infections involving HPIVs showed that HPIV1/HPIV2 (16cases) were the most frequent followed by HPIV1/HPIV3 (15) cases and HPIV2/HPIV3 (15 cases). There were 30 cases of triple infections of HPIV1/HPIV2/HPIV3. Generally, parainfluenza viruses circulated throughout the period under study. Parainfluenza virus infections were observed throughout the year with no distinct seasonal patterns. Conclusion: This study shows that parainfluenza viruses contributed to a significant level to the respiratory disease burden in Kenya in 2007-2011. Furthermore, our study has shown that parainfluenza viruses circulated in the human population in Kenya throughout the study period and did not show any distinct seasonality