The Dynamics Of Stock Market Development In Kenya

This paper highlights the origin of the stock market in Kenya, and traces the reforms that have been undertaken to develop the stock market. It also highlights the growth of the Kenyan stock market, as well as the challenges currently facing the market. The country has one stock market, known as the Nairobi Securities Exchange (formerly the Nairobi Stock Exchange). It is one of Africa’s largest stock markets. Since the early 1980s, a number of stock market reforms have been implemented in Kenya. These include the formation of a regulatory body (Capital Markets Authority – CMA) in 1989, the replacement of the "Call-Over" trading system by the floor-based "Open-Outcry System" in 1991, the reduction of listing costs, the relaxation of the exchange control for locally controlled companies, and the repeal of the Exchange Control Act. Following these reforms, Kenya’s stock market has developed significantly in terms of market capitalisation, the total value of stocks traded, and the turnover ratio. Although the stock market in Kenya has developed over the years, like many other developing countries' markets, it still faces a number of wide-ranging challenges

THE impact of remittance inflows on poverty in Botswana: an ARDL approach

Abstract The growing pressure on governments to reduce poverty among other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through harnessing domestic and foreign sources has motivated studies on the relationship between poverty and different economic variables in many developing countries. This study investigates the impact of remittance on poverty in Botswana, employing time-series data from 1980 to 2017. The study employs two poverty proxies—household consumption expenditure and infant mortality rate to capture poverty in its multidimensional form and improve the robustness of the results. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach, the study finds that remittance inflows reduce poverty in Botswana—both in the short run and in the long run when infant mortality rate is used as a proxy. However, when poverty is measured by household consumption expenditure, remittance was found to have no impact on poverty in the short run and in the long run. The study, therefore, concludes that remittance inflows play a crucial role in reducing poverty and that Botswana can benefit immensely from the surge in remittance inflows by putting in place policies and structures that support remittance inflow

Siblings, asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema: a worldwide perspective from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood.

BACKGROUND: Associations of larger families with lower prevalences of hay fever, eczema and objective markers of allergic sensitization have been found fairly consistently in affluent countries, but little is known about these relationships in less affluent countries. METHODS: Questionnaire data for 210,200 children aged 6-7 years from 31 countries, and 337,226 children aged 13-14 years from 52 countries, were collected by Phase Three of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Associations of disease symptoms and labels of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema were analysed by numbers of total, older and younger siblings, using mixed (multi-level) logistic regression models to adjust for individual covariates and at the centre level for region, language and national affluence. RESULTS: In both age groups, inverse trends (P < 0.0001) were observed for reported 'hay fever ever' and 'eczema ever' with increasing numbers of total siblings, and more specifically older siblings. These inverse associations were significantly (P < 0.005) stronger in more affluent countries. In contrast, symptoms of severe asthma and severe eczema were positively associated (P < 0.0001) with total sibship size in both age groups. These associations with disease severity were largely independent of position within the sibship and national GNI per capita. CONCLUSIONS: These global findings on sibship size and childhood asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema suggest at least two distinct trends. Inverse associations with older siblings (observations which prompted the 'hygiene hypothesis' for allergic disease) are mainly a phenomenon of more affluent countries, whereas greater severity of symptoms in larger families is globally more widespread

Spatial and temporal dynamics of malaria transmission in rural western Kenya

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Understanding the impact of reducing Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission requires estimates of the relationship between health outcomes and exposure to infectious mosquitoes. However, measures of exposure such as mosquito density and entomological inoculation rate (EIR) are generally aggregated over large areas and time periods, biasing the outcome-exposure relationship. There are few studies examining the extent and drivers of local variation in malaria exposure in endemic areas. METHODS: We describe the spatio-temporal dynamics of malaria transmission intensity measured by mosquito density and EIR in the KEMRI/CDC health and demographic surveillance system using entomological data collected during 2002-2004. Geostatistical zero inflated binomial and negative binomial models were applied to obtain location specific (house) estimates of sporozoite rates and mosquito densities respectively. Model-based predictions were multiplied to estimate the spatial pattern of annual entomological inoculation rate, a measure of the number of infective bites a person receive per unit of time. The models included environmental and climatic predictors extracted from satellite data, harmonic seasonal trends and parameters describing space-time correlation. RESULTS: Anopheles gambiae s.l was the main vector species accounting for 86% (n=2309) of the total collected mosquitoes with the remainder being Anopheles funestus. Sixty eight percent (757/1110) of the surveyed houses had no mosquitoes. Distance to water bodies, vegetation and day temperature were significantly associated with mosquito density. Overall annual point estimates of EIR were 6.7, 9.3 and 9.6 infectious bites per annum for 2002, 2003 and 2004 respectively. Monthly mosquito density and EIR varied over the study period peaking in May during the wet season. The predicted and observed densities and EIR showed a strong seasonal and spatial pattern over the study area. CONCLUSIONS: Spatio-temporal maps of malaria transmission intensity obtained in this study are not only useful in understanding variability in malaria epidemiology over small areas but also provides a high resolution exposure surface that can be used to analyse the impact of malaria exposure on mortalit

Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in Kenya

Empirical literature on the determinants of FDI flows is extensive but controversial over some determinants of FDI in-flows in developing countries. The objective of this study therefore is to investigate the overall determinants of FDI inflows in Kenya. Dynamic macroeconomic theory and correlational study design provided theoretical framework and specification of a time series multiple regression model. The study used data observed from 1970 to 2015 in World Development Indicators (WDI) data bank. The results show that annual growth rate of GDP, inflation rates and external debt as a proportion of GDP are significant determinants of FDI inflows in Kenya and are therefore important macroeconomic parameters for policy formulation meant for promotion of FDI inflows in Kenya.Key Words: Foreign Direct Investments, Determinants, Inflows, Keny

Tourism And Economic Growth In Kenya: An Empirical Investigation

In this study, we examine the dynamic relationship between tourism sector development and economic growth – using annual time-series data from Kenya. The study attempts to answer one critical question - “Is tourism development in Kenya pro-growth?” The study uses an ARDL-bounds testing approach to examine these linkages and also incorporates trade as an intermittent variable between tourism development and economic growth in a multivariate setting. The results of our study show that there is a uni-directional causality from tourism development to economic growth. The results are found to hold irrespective of whether the causality is estimated in the short run and long run. Other results show that international tourism Granger-causes trade, while trade Granger-causes economic growth in Kenya in both the short and the long run

Analyzing Effect of Internal Financing on Financial Performance of Savings and Credit: Co-Operative Societies in Kakamega County, Kenya

Savings and credit Cooperatives are non - profit making organizations but must make reasonable surplus to satisfy payments of dividends, interests and bonuses to members. The insufficient contribution from members in form of savings and deposits which is the major source of funds for cooperatives has resulted in severe liquidity problems for Saccos in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between alternative financing and financial performance of Savings and credit Cooperatives in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: analyse the effect of internal financing on financial performance of Saccos in Kenya: This study was undertaken in Kakamega County, Kenya. This study adopted descriptive correlational research design as it seeks to describe and establish the relationship between the study variables of alternative financing and financial performance. This being a census study, all Saccos in Kakamega County registered under the Ministry of Cooperative Development and Marketing as at 31st December 2015 and are categorized as active were studied. Primary and secondary data were used in this study. Primary data was collected mainly through questionnaires which the researcher administered in person to key informants. The measures of independent variable (alternative financing) had Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.7541 while those of the dependent variable (financial performance) had Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.8701. The study measures were found to be highly reliable in that they all had alpha coefficient greater than the minimum accepted Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.70. The study found out that internal financing significantly and positively affected financial performance with 65.7 percent of the financial performance (R squared = 0.657) being explained by internal financing. The study recommends that there is need for Saccos in Kenya to rely more on internal financing as a source of their financing because it has been found by this study that internal financing has the greatest effect on financial performance of Saccos

Water-energy-food linkages in community smallholder irrigation schemes: Center pivot irrigation in Rwanda

Water, energy, and food are linked in intricate ways in irrigated agriculture and understanding the interplay of these components is crucial for sustainable and profitable crop production, particularly in smallholder setting such as in sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluates water-energy-food linkages, engineering and economic performance, irrigation decision making, and challenges faced around water management in a community-based mechanized irrigation scheme in Rwanda. The research is the first to analyze such as scheme, which uses technology typically used by large farmers in a smallholder setting. The study investigates the variation in water requirements and the relationship and impacts of this variability on crop yield for the crops grown in the scheme: maize, French beans, and dry beans. Observed irrigation decision-making analyses demonstrate a lack of irrigation planning during growth stages and significant field-to-field variation in irrigation; this is linked to yield reduction in major crops. Results suggest that farmers irrigated only 31% of modeled irrigation water in dry beans and 27% of modeled irrigation water in maize. An econometric model assessment is used to understand the relationship between yield and energy inputs. A related policy analysis considers the impacts of changes in crop and water management on field-level profits and system-level financial sustainability. This study has implications for understanding irrigation policies in the context of the water-energy-food nexus and decision-making in Sub- Saharan Africa

INFLUENCE OF FORMAL AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION ON UPTAKE OF TISSUE CULTURE BANANA IN KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract The study was carried out to determine the influence of agricultural education on uptake of tissue culture banana in Kiambu County. The first objective determined the influence of formal agricultural education on uptake of improved agricultural technology using a Likert scale of 1-5. The second objective examined the influence of non-formal agricultural education on uptake of improved agricultural technology using a five-point scale. The study was carried out in Kiambu County, Kenya in 2022.  The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study targeted 1881 farmers in the 12 sub-counties in Kiambu County. The purposive sampling method was used to select 6 sub counties that were part of the study. The stratified random sampling method was used to select the farmers in the selected sub counties. The study sample size was 302 respondents. The study collected quantitative data which was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23) was used. A linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Multiple regressions were also conducted to determine the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The study found that formal agricultural education has significant influence on uptake of improved agricultural technology of tissue culture banana in Kiambu County. The study recommends that the government should increase its funding on agricultural education in learning institutions. This would ensure that more learners take agriculture as a subject in schools

Deployment of honeypots as proactive detection tools for monitoring cyber related incidences and their applications to information technology

The Kenya government is striving to roll out its Vision 2030 programme where ICT plays a major role in achieving the components of the Pillars associated with it. The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which deployment of HoneyPots as early warning detection tools for monitoring cyber related incidents had been embraced within KENET member institutions in Western Kenya, how they are aiding the institutions in knowing and understanding their adversaries; and allowing them to implement solutions that work in defending the critical internet and network infrastructures they manage. The study was guided by a descriptive study design with a study population of 117 staff members working in various institutions in western Kenya. Using simple random sampling technique, a sample size of 80 respondents were picked and administered with questionnaires, 70 questionnaires were returned for data entry and analysis using Statistical Package for social Sciences version 20. This implies that 87.5% of the respondents turned up for the study. According to the major findings, the study established that most of the KENET member institutions in western Kenyan, despite experiencing cyber security related incidents, had not setup CIRT teams nor deployed Honeypots to help them study cyber security incidents and take appropriate action to defend their constituencies. As a recommendation, the Government, being one of the economic stakeholders, and KENET, should come up with intervention measures through the Ministry of ICT making it mandatory for setup CIRTs. All CIRTs should then be required to direct part of their traffic to the national CERT which ideally should be based at Communication Authority of Kenya to form a Honey Net, which can further be linked with other internationally recognized Honey Net projects.Â