Towards Free Day Secondary Schooling in Kenya: Exposing the Impediments

Secondary education provides a vital link between basic education and the world of work, on one hand, and further training on the other. It is therefore an important sub-sector of education in the preparation of human capital for development and provision of life opportunities. Secondary education in Kenya takes four years to complete, catering for students aged 14 to 17 years and it leads to the award of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. The objectives of secondary education are to acquire necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for the development of the self and the nation and to promote love for and loyalty to the nation among others. There are several impediments that have hindered government efforts to provide free day secondary schooling. These include, the New Constitution that made Teachers Service Commission autonomous, unregulated school levies by education officials, heads associations, remedial teaching, and failure by sponsors to play their oversight role and corruption in ministry of education. It is recommended that the students who are not likely to benefit from formal secondary schooling should be provided with options to access secondary education, through alternative methods such as distance learning and skills training. In addition, Kenya Certificate of Primary Education should be scrapped to reduce the demand for boarding schools except among the nomadic communities. With the necessary legislation in place, the government should hire private auditors to ensure prudent use of public resources. Keywords: Secondary School, School Fees, Corruption, Performance Teachin

Diversity and utilization of antimalarial ethnophytotherapeutic remedies among the Kikuyus (Central Kenya)

Plants in Kenya are becoming increasingly important as sources of traditional medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that malaria kills about 2.7 million people every year, 90% of who are from Africa. Malaria continues to be a national concern in Kenya as it plays a major role in the high mortality rates being experienced currently. The use and miss-use of chloroquine to prevent and treat falciparium malaria has led to widespread appearance of chloroquine resistant parasites in Kenya and other tropical countries. These factors and the rising costs of non-chloroquine drugs have made the local people to turn to traditional remedies for management of this menace. This paper examines the current utilization of traditional plant medicines in managing malaria menace in Central Kenya. The results show both indigenous and introduced species are in use indicating traditional medicinal practices in this region are dynamic. In total 58 species in 54 genera and 33 families were identified. The family Rubiaceae was found to have the highest number of reported species. Use of the various taxa is compared between five districts within Central Province of Kenya. The commonest species in this pharmacopoeia are: Caesalpinia volkensii Harms, Strychnos henningsii Gilg, Ajuga remota Benth., Warbugia ugandensis Sprague and Olea europaea L. The first three species are used in all the five districts while the others are restricted in some of the districts. In 74% of the anti-malarial plant species reported in this study, the remedies are obtained in destructive manner and may need conservation measures to ensure sustainable utilization. The results of this study become a basis for selecting plants for further pharmacological and phytochemical studies in developing new and locally relevant anti-malarial agents

The Influence of Mobile Phone Banking Attributes on Commercial Banks Corporate Customers Loyalty in Kenya

This study was to establish whether loyalty of commercial bank corporate customers was impacted by attributes of mobile phone banking. The specific objective was to determine the extent to which mobile phone banking attributes influence commercial bank customer loyalty.The study was anchored on diffusion of innovations theory and used a positivistic approach and descriptive cross-sectional design. The target population of the study was 78 top managers from 26 commercial banks in Kenya offering mobile phone banking services. Regression analyses tested the hypothesis to determine whether mobile phone banking attributes impacted on corporate customer loyalty. The research hypothesis showed a strong relationship (R=.728). This was an indication that mobile phone banking dimensions explained 53% (R2 =.530) of customer loyalty. The other variables in the firm explained the remaining 47%.  P-value of less than 0.05 implied that mobile phone banking attributes had statistically significant effects on customer loyalty. Keywords: Innovation Attributes, Diffusion Theory, Customer Loyalt

Impact of Kenya’s Public Debt on Economic Stability

Kenya’s public debt has grown rapidly, precipitating debate on its impact on economic performance and causing public anxiety. The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to investigate the long run and causal relationship between Kenya’s public debt and economic growth. Keynesian theory, Ricardian equivalence theory, and neoclassical theory provided the framework for the study. Research Questions 1 and 2 addressed the causal relationship between public debt and select covariates as independent variables and real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate as the dependent variable. Research Question 3 addressed the relationship between primary budget balance and public debt. Archival data were analyzed using the vector error correction model and autoregressive distributed lag methods. Findings showed a positive long-run causality between public debt and real GDP growth. The relationship between primary budget balance and public debt was positive and statistically significant, demonstrating that Kenya’s debt is sustainable. Findings may be used to promote adoption of fiscal policies that increase economic growth, savings, investments, job creation, and living standards of Kenyans

ETHNOBOTANICAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL STUDIES OF SOME PLANTS USED IN KIBWEZI (KENYA) FOR MANAGEMENT OF LOWER RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS

Respiratory tract infections have gained worldwide recognition especially due to the increased incidence of HIV/AIDS. The bacteria responsible for these infections have also become increasingly resistant to chemotherapeutic agents in lower respiratory infections in Kibwezi in Kenya. Interviews were conducted using semi-structured questionnaires and detailed discussions with respondents. During the field surveys direct observations were made on how these plants are used. From the ethnobotanical survey the modes of preparation used included chewing and boiling. The plant parts used were mostly bark and root, which implies that the main methods of harvesting these plants are destructive in nature. Water and methanolic extracts of the three most popular plants, Acacia nilotica, Strychnos heninngsii and Microglossa densiflora were tested against three test organism: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Escherichia coli for their antimicrobial properties. The efficacy of the extracts was tested by bioassay method using the disk diffusion test. It was interesting to note that none of the tested water extracts showed any activity against the test organisms. This is despite the fact that about 83% of the local people used water for extraction. Methanolic extracts of Acacia nilotica and Strychnos heninningsii showed efficacy against S. aureus, S. pneumoniae and E. coli. The findings of this research indicate that A. nilotica and S. heninngsii have antimicrobial properties and further work especially using mammalian models is recommended

Utilisation of priority traditional medicinal plants and local people's knowledge on their conservation status in arid lands of Kenya (Mwingi District)

Mwingi District lies within the Kenyan Arid and Semiarid lands (ASALs) in Eastern Province. Although some ethnobotanical surveys have been undertaken in some arid and semiarid areas of Kenya, limited studies have documented priority medicinal plants as well as local people's awareness of conservation needs of these plants. This study sought to establish the priority traditional medicinal plants used for human, livestock healthcare, and those used for protecting stored grains against pest infestation in Mwingi district. Further, the status of knowledge among the local people on the threat and conservation status of important medicinal species was documented. This study identified 18 species which were regarded as priority traditional medicinal plants for human health. In terms of priority, 8 were classified as moderate, 6 high, while 4 were ranked highest priority species. These four species are Albizia amara (Roxb.) Boiv. (Mimosacaeae), Aloe secundiflora (Engl. (Aloaceae), Acalypha fruticosa Forssk. (Euphorbiaceae) and Salvadora persica L. (Salvadoraceae)

Power-Law Distributions in a Two-sided Market and Net Neutrality

"Net neutrality" often refers to the policy dictating that an Internet service provider (ISP) cannot charge content providers (CPs) for delivering their content to consumers. Many past quantitative models designed to determine whether net neutrality is a good idea have been rather equivocal in their conclusions. Here we propose a very simple two-sided market model, in which the types of the consumers and the CPs are {\em power-law distributed} --- a kind of distribution known to often arise precisely in connection with Internet-related phenomena. We derive mostly analytical, closed-form results for several regimes: (a) Net neutrality, (b) social optimum, (c) maximum revenue by the ISP, or (d) maximum ISP revenue under quality differentiation. One unexpected conclusion is that (a) and (b) will differ significantly, unless average CP productivity is very high

Organoids Increase the Predictive Value of in vitro Cancer Chemoprevention Studies for in vivo Outcome

Epidemiological and preclinical data suggest that antioxidants are protective against prostate cancer whose pathogenesis has been linked to oxidative stress. However, the selenium and vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT), found no efficacy for selenium in reducing prostate cancer incidence while vitamin E was associated with an increased risk of the disease. These results have called in to question the models used in preclinical chemoprevention efficacy studies and their ability to predict in vivo outcomes. Chemoprevention agents have traditionally been tested on two dimensional monolayer cultures of cell lines derived from advanced prostate cancers. But as SELECT demonstrates, results from advanced disease models were not predictive of the outcome of a primary chemoprevention trial. Additionally, lack of cell-matrix interactions in two dimensional cultures results in loss of biochemical and mechanical cues relevant for native tissue architecture. We use recent findings in three dimensional organoid cultures that recapitulated the SELECT trial results to argue that the organoid model could increase the predictive value of in vitro studies for in vivo outcomes

Lack of Mutual Respect in Relationship The Endangered Partner

Violence in a relationship and in a family setting has been an issue of concern to various interest groups and professional organizations. Of particular interest in this article is violence against women in a relationship. While there is an abundance of knowledge on violence against women in general, intimate or partner femicide seems to have received less attention. Unfortunately, the incidence of violence against women, and intimate femicide in particular, has been an issue of concern in the African setting. This article examines the trends of intimate femicide in an African setting in general, and in Botswana in particular. The increase in intimate femicide is an issue of concern, which calls for collective effort to address. This article also examines trends offemicide in Botswana, and the antecedents and the precipitating factors. Some studies have implicated societal and cultural dynamics as playing significant roles in intimate femicide in the African setting. It is believed that the patriarchal nature of most African settings and the ideology of male supremacy have relegated women to a subordinate role. Consequently, respect for women in any relationship with men is lopsided in favor of men and has led to abuse of women, including intimate femicide. Other militating factors in intimate femicide ,are examined and the implications for counseling to assist the endangered female partner are discussed