SU Staff Theses & Dissertations

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    Factors influencing choice of urban transport alternatives by residents of Buru Buru Estate in Nairobi County
    (Strathmore University, 2020) Kariuki, Wambui
    Transport in urban areas is an important and necessary component of a nation’s development. The various forms of transportation are broadly categorised globally as either Non- Motorised Transport (NMT) or Motorised Transport (MT). At the core of this study is the examination of the factors that influence the choice of urban transport alternatives by residents of Buru Buru Estate in Nairobi County, Kenya. In doing so, three broad categories of variables have been identified, which are the income and demographic attributes of the users, and the transportation attributes; either accessibility, time factor, financial cost and safety. In this examination, the preferences and attributes of the transport users and the relationship between these variables and the choices they make will be explored through the application of the Utility Theory (UT). This theory, explains the behaviour of choice selection among users of transport modes in Buru Buru Estate. The research was conducted through quantitative means. Buru Buru as a sample was ideal, as it has access to all the available transport alternatives including; e- hailing services, matatus, train service, motorcycles, regular taxis as well as being within 8 kms walking distance of the Central Business District. The findings reveal that demographic characteristics of the transport user have a significant impact on the transport choices that they make. These include, gender, age, education level and income which seem to have the most significant impact. The marginal effects for the income band of the resident were significant for choice of private and e-hailing transport alternatives, whereas income was non-significant in influencing the choice of the public transport. Additionally, commuter times and financial costs were found to be important factors amongst respondents across the various demographics. The main recommendations drawn from the data includes policies on: increasing public transport alternatives such as BRT; improved existing train infrastructure, light rail; improved NMT infrastructure; reduction of personal car use; nationalisation of transport; price controls and payment digitisation of public transport. Moreover, there was also a need to carry out larger scale studies with various demographics, taking into account the transport attributes and the demographic characteristics of various populations across Kenya. It also found that there is an increasing need to enforce existing policies as public transport was the most used and most preferred mode of transport.
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    An Analysis of the extent to which the Kenya basic education Act (2013) provides for parental choice to homeschool: the primary and central role of parents as educators.
    (Strathmore University, 2018) Gathure, Thomas Mundia
    Education in Kenya has witnessed a shift in ownership and management in the last 100 years. It has shifted from parents and community in the pre-colonial period to foreign missionaries and now to the State. While the State assumes a more primary and central role in the control of education, a new problem arises regarding choice and freedoms for other stakeholders. The recent enactment of the Kenya Basic Education Act, 2013 following the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 has presented one such scenario in the primary and central role of the State in education as compared to that of parents. The Act fails to recognise a legitimate and credible option of education - homeschooling - while at the same time criminalising the failure to take children to the prescribed schools in the Act. This raises questions as to the philosophical foundation underpinning the Act that could be contributing to this position. Due to the study’s philosophical focus on understanding meanings and beliefs as well as the nature of the research questions, a qualitative research approach (a desk review supported by questionnaires and interviews) was selected. The research questions, measurable indicators and research findings were defined and interpreted in light of the philosophy of Jacques Maritain (an influential philosopher of education and participant of the drafting of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights).The research findings confirmed the effects of a limited philosophical foundation of the Act in its understanding of education, the place where education takes place, disproportionate roles vested on the State as compared to other stakeholders as well as the limited reflection of freedoms enshrined in the Constitution that support homeschooling. The study recommends a total overhaul of the philosophical foundation in which the Act is based to ensure any amendments are well guided and contextualised. Formulators of the Act could benefit from further study to understand the nature of homeschooling and ways to accommodate and support it for parents who choose it.
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    Oval slides in triangular spaces? Anchoring national human rights institutions in ‘tripartite’ Commonwealth Africa
    (University of Pretoria, 2006) Ambani, John Osogo
    "Montesquieu, in L'Esprit des Lois, 1748, divided the functions of state into: the legislative power, the executive power, and the power of judging. Indeed, three constitutional organs have invariably dominated state power. These are: the executive, the leigslative and the judiciary. According to Montesquieu, the state is said to be at 'equilibrium' when the three organs are independent of each other, with each carrying out its functions without interference. Ideally, the legislative organ ought to make laws, the executive to implement them, and the judiciary to adjudicate over disputes arising out of the day-to-day operations of the state. This attempt at dispersing state power is not arbitrary. It has got ends. One cardinal end in this regrad is the protection of fundamental human rights. It has been argued that where the three organs of state are allowed operatational autonomy, individuals stand to enjoy relatively profound liberty. Where state functions are entrusted with one person or organ, the tyranny of that person or organ is certain to overwhelm the realisation of fundamental freedoms and liberties. ... Both Montesquieu and Lock had tremendous faith in the tripartite government structure in so far as the protection of liberties was concerned. Informed by this philosophy, most democratic constitutions have weaved state power in almost similar terms envisioned by Montesquieu. Thus far, the 1787 Constitution of the United States of America (USA) could be ranked as one with the clearest distinction of state functions. Contemporary practice, however, appears to be in favour of complementing these traditional state organs, a sign, perhaps, that the conventional three organs of state per se have increasingly proved inadequate; at least in the sphere of human rights protection. There is a move, or rather, wave towards the establishment of independent national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to reinforce the bulwark of human rights protection mechanisms at state level, and the wave, arguably, is most pronounced in Africa. ... The current investigation will be completed in four distinct chapters. The current chapter serves well to introduce the study. The second chapter constitutes a comprehensive study of the conceptual foundations of national human rights institutions (NHRIs). The essence, structure and nature of NHRIs is also explored. The third chapter proposes to analyse the doctrine of separation of powers from a philosophical and later, from a practical point of view as it manifests itself in the Commonwealth tradition. The tripartite government configuration is discussed with the ramification of NHRIs in mind. It is instructive that without assessing the parent concept (the rule of law) a discussion on separation of powers remains orphaned. The fourth chapter shall first allude to the new challenges to human rights enforcement. It shall then discuss how these challenges and the development of NHRIs cry for a new thinking on the original tripartite system. The final section is an attempt at supplying a panacea to the challenges accentuated by the preceding part."
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    Securing Land Rights in Community Forests: Assessment of Article 63(2)(d) of the Constitution
    (University of Nairobi, ) Kariuki, Francis Kamau; Kameri-Mbote, Patricia (Prof.)
    Forests provide environmental, socio-cultural and economic benefits to mankind. They are particularly important to forest dwellers and hunter-gatherers as they derive their livelihoods from there and consider them as their ancestral lands. Section 3 of the Forests Act 2005 defines forest communities as groups of persons who have a traditional association with a forest for purposes of livelihood, culture or religion or who have been registered as an association or other organisation in forest conservation. Access to forests by these communities has, however, been restricted by government policies inherited from the colonial powers, which were largely preservationist. Moreover, competing land uses over forest lands for human settlement, farming, industrial development, livelihood support for the forest dwellers, as carbon sinks and water catchment areas, is a major source of conflicts. This has impacted negatively on forest communities who traditionally had rights of access and control of forests which existed even if land belonged to a different legal entity. There have been efforts by government towards recognizing the rights of forest communities in Kenya. These efforts culminated in the adoption of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 which in Article 61(2), recognizes community land. Community land is defined in Article 63(2)(d) to include land lawfully held, managed or used by specific communities as community forests, grazing areas or shrines; ancestral lands and lands traditionally occupied by hunter-gatherer communities or lawfully held as trust land by the county governments. This is an important development in securing the land rights of forest communities and access to forest and forest products. By reviewing relevant literature, laws and policies, this study sought to examine the treatment that such lands have received under formal laws in Kenya and the implications of protecting community land for forest communities in the Constitution 2010. It also sought to come up with proposals and recommendations on how to improve the laws to ensure adequate protection of the land rights of forest communities in Kenya. This is important because the multiple uses to which forests can be put into present a challenge in coming up with an appropriate tenure arrangement that secures competing interests, including those of forest communities. The methodological approach adopted in this study was a review of relevant literature on land and forests in Kenya. The qualitative data gathered was critically analyzed and evaluated in the context of the research objectives.
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    Managing development organizations: a process-based assessment of Australian based Non-governmental development Organizations
    Kiraka, Ruth; Manning, Karen (Dr.)
    This study focused on Australian-based non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) (also referred to as non-governmental aid agencies). The study used a telephone survey of eleven agencies and a mail survey of forty-five agencies to make inferences about organisational processes of delivering development assistance, together with an evaluation of the contribution of organisational factors and external environmental factors to the delivery of that assistance. Those aspects of organisational factors that were selected for examination were restricted to two areas, namely (i) organisational structures, and (ii) strategies for financial resource mobilisation and service delivery. The external factors selected were (i) the external stakeholders of non-governmental aid agencies (development clients, partner agencies, donors, governments, other aid agencies) and (ii) the macro environment factors. In examining these issues, the study found that: 1. In spite of the diversity within the non-governmental aid agency sector, the processes of service delivery could be broadly labeled into the following subprocesses (i) project identification and initial assessment; (ii) project implementation; and (iii) project monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment. Within each of these three sub-processes, a fourth sub-process – a project sustainability process was identified. These processes, and the microprocesses within each of them, were identified in a wide range of organisations, representing different development sectors, size, scope of operation, goals, policies and objectives. This suggests that irrespective of the diversity within the sector, there are underlying principles that govern the development assistance role of aid agencies. 2. Within the broad service delivery process variations existed between agencies in respect of how the steps within each sub-process were managed. The organisational factors, structures and strategies, accounted for some of these variations in the processes. In addition, respondents identified organisational policies, working principles and the learning experiences as accounting for some of the variation. It was observed that whereas some agencies attempted to change those organisational factors that they perceived as disabling to the process of service delivery, others were unable to change owing to resource constraints. 3. The intervening effect of the external environment on process was also examined. Whereas all the agencies were faced by a similar external environment, their responses to the environment were varied, consequently varying the process of service delivery. External stakeholders were categorised as having a significant influence on the process, as their expectations formed the criteria against which the performance of aid agencies was judged. Within the stakeholders, however, there were the more powerful donors and governments and the less powerful development clients and partners. The challenge for the aid agencies was therefore to not only respond to stakeholder expectations in ways that promoted an effective service delivery process, but also balance between the stakeholder expectations, to ensure agencies’ credibility was not undermined. Responding to the changes in the macro environment was considered especially difficult, as the task of examining and interpreting trends was complex, and appropriate responses hard to determine. 4. From the evidence gathered, it is clear that organisational factors within aid agencies and contextual factors influence the process of service delivery. Thus, for aid agencies and others involved in development assistance, evaluating project work by focusing on the outputs and outcomes of specific projects and on the capabilities of development clients and partner agencies in developing countries begs half the issue. The context for success or failure is much broader. A wholistic critical examination of organisational factors within aid agencies and the contexts within which agencies operate ought to be included in any assessment of development outcomes. Such an assessment will enable practitioners to account for mismatches between intentions and outcomes of development initiatives in a comprehensive way. Any assessment short of these factors will always be inadequate. The significance of such an extensive critical evaluation of the outcomes of the work of aid agencies, would be the development of an elaborate guide to good development management practices that aid agencies can use to improve on their performance.