School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS)

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http://hdl.handle.net/11071/3889
The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) suceeds the Institute of Humanities, Education and Development Studies (IHEDS)

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Browsing School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) by Subject "Africa"

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    Business Ethics in Africa
    (Blackwell Publishing Co, ) Gichure, Christine Prof.; Freeman , Edward; Werhane , Patricia
    Entry for Wiley Encyclopaedia of Business Ethics 3rd Ed.
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    Effort & achievement of two decades of business ethics teaching and research in Africa with a special reference to Kenya
    (Springer Science, ) Gichure, Christine Prof.
    This paper makes an overview of the efforts and achievements gained in ethics research and teaching in the last two decades by different stakeholders. These include some philosophical inquiries regarding the existence of and the concept of ethics and the moral character in Africa, the debate regarding the opinion that a viable business ethics for Africa would have to take into consideration the general African cultures and practices, and the efforts gained so far in the ethics and corporate governance. The paper also looks at the efforts and gains made towards entrenching a value system in Kenya by a broad array of stakeholders, from government, private sector, civil society and academia. In conclusion, the paper proposes that in order to imbue a more rationalized understanding of why it makes good sense to observe ethics in business and public life, there is need for education based on the idea of general human good and universal human dignity.
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    Towards a new African worldview: quandaries of moral business and leadership in modern Africa
    Gichure, Christine Prof.
    Africa’s poverty problems are often linked to its post independence poor leadership and corruption. In order to address and solve the problems of corruption in Africa it is important to understand their origins. This paper is an effort to look at the factors that form the roots of corruption in Africa today. I begin by discussing some of Africa’s unique environmental challenges in section one. I then look at what the legacies of slavery and colonialism left behind in section two. I go on to give an overview of current issues in section three, and an account of how these factors helped create corruption and poverty in Africa in section four. Finally, I offer suggestions that can contribute to reduce corruption in Africa in section five.
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    Towards instilling ethics in African business and public service: the case of Kenya
    (International Business Ethics Institute, ) Gichure, Christine Prof.
    This article discusses post independence governance and corruption challenges in Africa. In addition, this article explores the development of business ethics and good governance in Africa, with a particular emphasis on Kenya. As recently as January 2004, the World Economic Forum still presented Africa’s economies as performing poorly since the 1970s with per capita incomes 10% lower than what they were in the 1980s. Its GDP growth was shown to have been negative throughout the 1990s at regional levels, and only slightly improved in South Africa (Taylor et al., 2003 p. 3-7). Historical, structural, and ideological factors have been used to explain this lack of economic growth. Africa is materially poor and it continues to experience many difficulties: sometimes severe droughts and other times floods; political upheavals and conflicts in countries such as the Sudan and Somalia; the genocides in Rwanda and Burundi; endemic diseases such as Malaria and now AIDS; and massive unemployment.
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    who benefits from African research?
    Gichure, Christine Prof.
    The case spans over more than 20 years. It begins in the 1980s and is currently being debated. Between 1984 and 1986 a Ph. D. Botany student wanted to establish what kind of enzymes could be found in lakes of the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, namely: Lakes Bogoria, Magadi, Nakuru, Elementaita and Solai within Kenya, and Lake Natron in Tanzania. These lakes are famous for their salt and soda and their extremely hot geysers. Due to the fact that Kenyan universities do not generally possess the kind of powerful laboratory equipment needed to carry out such a research, this candidate arranged to send samples to major laboratories in the world. In order to do so she applied for and obtained the necessary permits according to the laws regulating this kind of research in Kenya. The results submitted to her by those outstanding scientific centers indicated that no enzymes could be traced in any of the samples she had sent from the different lakes. Since no enzymes could be found in the samples taken from any of the lakes, the research student changed the focus of her research. Her new project would consist in establishing what kinds of organisms could be found in just one of the lakes: Lake Bogoria in Kenya.