THE NATIONAL POLICE RESERVE: POLICING PASTORALIST NORTH WESTERN KENYA

The National Police Reserve (formerly Kenya Police Reserve) is a complementary police reserve force that provides the bulk of policing in the hard-to-reach pastoralist areas of north western Kenya. The NPR, although a formal police service, operates largely informally and mired in dire deformities. The paper presents it origin, legal basis and its deformities including: haphazard conditions of service, politicization, lack of training, discriminatory tendencies in the recruitment. Tenets of the broken windows theory are used to account for crime and conflict in neglected areas occupied by pastoralists in Kenya. The paper concludes that NPR holds the key to restoring law and order in the lawless pastoralist north western Kenya region if supported by the central government of Kenya.  Article visualizations

Influence of Academic Staff Involvement in Management on Turnover Intentions in Public Diploma Teacher Training Colleges in Kenya

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of academic staff involvement in management on turnover intentions in PDTTCs in Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to select 4 PDTTCs, 4 college principals and 8 senior masters. Simple random sampling was used to select 430 academic staff members for the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire which had closed-ended (likert type scale 1-5) questions. Items from the main questionnaire were arranged and grouped according into specific research objectives. College principals and senior masters were interviewed in order to get in-depth information on turnover intentions among the academic staff in PDTTCs. The data was analyzed using Pearson correlation and simple linear regression. The study established that the academic staff members were less involved in the management which significantly contributed to turnover intentions. Keywords: Involvement in Management, Turnover Intentions, Influence, Academic Staf

Tutor Competence and its Effect on Quality of Teacher Preparation in Emerging Private Primary Teacher Training Colleges in Bungoma County- Kenya

Teacher quality is critical in the provision of quality education. Teachers are a country’s determinant of competitiveness and capacity to create more jobs and growth. They are important means of passing on values, skills, knowledge and attitudes required for democracy, citizenship, intercultural dialogue and personal development. Research has shown that teacher effect is much larger than the effect of school organization, leadership and financial conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the competence of tutors as a resource in effective teacher preparation. The research was carried out in eight private teacher training colleges in Western Province in Kenya. The study sample was selected through simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The sample size comprised of eight college principals and 43 tutors. Data was collected through questionnaires, interview and document analysis. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilized in the analysis of descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. The research established that incompetent teaching staff in the emerging private primary teacher training colleges had a negative impact on quality of teacher preparation. This factor continues to have negative effect on the quality of graduates produced. The study therefore recommended that, regular monitoring and evaluation audits should be conducted to ensure that these colleges conform to the set standards all the time. Furthermore there is need to constantly review and improve the quality of teacher training to be in tandem with the global trends. This will ultimately enhance preparation of teachers’ and minimize the quality inconsistencies in the private primary teacher training colleges. Key Words: Teacher Competence, Teacher Preparation, Teacher Qualit

THE CENTRALITY OF CATTLE IN THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE EAST POKOT PASTORALISTS OF NORTH WESTERN KENYA

This paper discusses the centrality of cattle in the social organization of the East Pokot pastoralists. From early childhood, adolescence to maturity including all rites of passage, cattle is at the centre of all these practices. Relationships are conceived, maintained and dissolved over cattle. Gender relations are strongly patterned alongside cattle, hence the saying “better walk with a cow than with a woman” tells all about the position of a woman in relation of cattle in the East Pokot community. This paper seeks to explain the importance of cattle and the intensity of values and practices around cattle. The argument is that for the East Pokot, cattle is invested with certain values whose logic falls outside economic or capitalist dynamics

Use of Conventional Teaching Resources in Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

Education is core to national development as it provides the human resource and intellectual capital to drive economies. Attaining this hence requires meaningful and gainful learning through the incorporation of a range of instructional resources that help develop learners skills, attitudes and practical competencies required in the ever changing market economy. However, in spite of the various government interventions to increase access to education, empirical research evidence shows that students continue to perform dismally in both formative and summative evaluation. The paper therefore sought to determine the dynamics existing in the utilization of conventional teaching resources in secondary schools in Bungoma County. The paper was guided by the Cognitive Theory of Instructional as propounded by Jean Piaget that emphasizes the significance of instructional resources in the teaching and learning process. The paper adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population consisted of teachers and students from public secondary schools in Bungoma County. In order to have a representative sample, this paper employed stratified random sampling to select schools. Questionnaires, interview and observation schedules and document analysis were used as data collection instruments. Validity was established through expert opinion. Reliability was established through piloting. Data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics. The findings showed that majority of teachers, students and principals were of the opinion that public secondary schools in Bungoma County had inadequate conventional instructional resources. It was further deduced that funding, number of students and teachers’ ease of use influenced the acquisition of conventional instructional resources in public secondary schools in Bungoma County. From the findings it was recommended that educational stakeholders should improve the quality of instructional through proper identification, selection and utilization of instructional resources. There is need for all stakeholders including the County Government, National Government and the Private sector to contribute financially and materially in the provision of conventional instructional materials and resources. Keywords:Convectional, education, teaching resources, teaching resources, utilization, DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/9-22-06 Publication date: November 30th 201

Comparative description of land use and characteristics of belowground biodiversity benchmark sites in Kenya = Descripción comparativa de usos del suelo y características de la diversidad del subsuelo en sitios empleados como referencia en Kenia

In Kenya, the below-ground biodiversity (BGBD) project selected two benchmark sites for the inventory of soil biota; these included the Irangi and Ngangao forest sites in the Mount Kenya region of Embu District and the Taita Hills area of Taita Taveta District. The areas selected by the project were located in biodiversity hotspots that are supporting rare and endemic plant and animal species. For more in-depth studies and analysis, the broader Embu and Taita benchmark areas were further sub-sampled into smaller areas that we refer to as study areas, designated by the symbols E1 and E2 for Embu and T1 and T2 for Taita benchmark. Within the study areas, we plotted and sampled 200x200 square grids for collecting soil as well as socio-economic data. Site characterization was carried out using the method provided by FAO-UNESCO for characterizing and classifying soils. Further to this, attempts were made to establish land use intensity (LUI) and land productivity (PI) indices that provided land condition indicators. The indicators offered insights into the quantitative relationship between the environmental conditions and land use. Parameters used in the computation of the land use intensity were; total quantity of inputs per ha, the frequency of input application, cropping intensity and cultivation frequency. The soils in Taita Taveta benchmark site were classified as Plinthic Lixisols, Plinthic Acrisols, Dystric Cambisols and Chromic Luvisols, while those from Embu ones were Rhodic Nitisols, Humic Nitisols, Humic Acrisols, Haplic Acrisols and Umbric Andosols. The highest level of soil organic carbon recorded was 7.6% in the forest and the lowest value of 1.6% in intensely cultivated maize-based and horticultural systems. Low land use intensity gradients were observed in the forests (LUI40%). The productivity index (PI) followed a similar trend, being highest in the natural forest and grassland (40-50%) and lowest in horticultural and maize-based systems (15-20%) It was concluded that the decline in soil quality and productivity was linked to increased land use intensification and lack of knowledge of the appropriate management practices for sustainable ecosystem functions and services

Effect of Learners’ Level of Utilization of Conventional Resources on Classroom Performance in Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

Provision of quality education is a key concern for any nation. In Kenya, with the advent of Free Primary Education and Subsidized Secondary Education, schools are experiencing an upsurge in enrolment of students’ in both primary and secondary schools. This has put a strain on the existing facilities in the schools leading to the need to properly equip the schools to ensure provision of quality education. However with delayed capitation resulting from economic challenges schools face challenges concerning acquisition of instruction resources and this has consequences on students’ performance. There has been need to increase resources to match the rising students’ numbers but due to economic challenges, parity is missing effect of this is being seen in poor performance in examinations. There is need to establish how the utilization of the little available resources facilitate instructions and identification of strategies to enhance this process. The paper therefore sought to determine the effect of learners’ level of utilization of conventional resources on classroom performance in secondary schools in Bungoma County The study was guided by the Cognitive Theory of Instructions as propounded by Jean Piaget that emphasizes the significance of instruction resources in the teaching and learning process. Descriptive survey design was employed. The target population consisted of teachers and students from public secondary schools in Bungoma County. In order to have a representative sample, this study employed stratified random sampling to select schools. Questionnaires, interview and observation schedules and document analysis were used as data collection instruments.Descriptive and inferential data was analyzed using SPSS. The findings of the study showed that majority of the students asserted that their teachers had frequently assigned them with both class and take away assignments which enhanced their utilization of the available conventional resources. The paper concluded that the level of students’ utilization of conventional instruction resources was below the average mean, therefore a unit increase in the utilization of resource persons could improve students’ classroom performance. There was a significant relationship between teacher training and students’ classroom performance which directly influence students’ class performance. It was therefore recommended that principals and officials of the Ministry of Education should ensure regular supervision to enhance effective use of conventional instruction materials and resources in enhancement of classroom performance in public secondary schools in Bungoma County. Keywords: class room performance, conventional resources, Effect, learners’ level of utilization, secondary school DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-33-05 Publication date: November 30th 201

Effectiveness of Non-nucleoside Reverse-Transcriptase Inhibitor-Based Antiretroviral Therapy in Women Previously Exposed to a Single Intrapartum Dose of Nevirapine: A Multi-country, Prospective Cohort Study

In a comparative cohort study, Jeffrey Stringer and colleagues investigate the risk of ART failure in women who received single-dose nevirapine for PMTCT, and assess the duration of increased risk

Climate change responses among the Maasai Community in Kenya

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. The impacts of climate change to the dryland areas of East Africa are especially strong, especially if it is considered that these areas have weak institutions and governance systems. Climate change has also affected many rural communities in a severe way, reducing crop yields and sometimes causing crop failure. In Kenya and Tanzania, where drylands cover over around 80 and 50% of their respective land areas, rural populations have been especially affected. Among them is the tribal group of the Maasai, legendary nomad warriors, who have been suffering from persistent droughts and the negative impacts on their cattle herds. This paper describes how climate change affects the Maasai communities in Kenya and the changes seen in their habits and diet, in order to adapt to a changing climate