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Integration of traditional dispute resolution into Kenya’s criminal justice system: a proportionality perspective
No full textFull - text undergraduate research projectThis dissertation explores the intricate balance linking the right to life and the right to culture within the framework of Traditional Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (TDRMs) in the criminal justice system of Kenya. The Constitution of Kenya, 2010, recognizes and shields the right to culture, allowing for the application of TDRMs in resolving felonies. However, concerns arise regarding the potential violation of the proportionality principle, especially in cases involving serious crimes like murder. Despite the historical resilience of TDRMs, questions arise about their compatibility with contemporary legal standards and the conservation of rudimentary liberties. The study starts by exploring origins of TDRMs and highlighting their importance in African communities' pre-colonial dispute resolution. It recognizes the constraints imposed by the declaration of Rights and emphasizes the constitutional protections of cultural rights. Pre-trial custody issues and case backlogs have been helped by the Criminal Procedure Code's provisions, especially those pertaining to reconciliation for non-felony offences. However, when TDRMs are utilized in place of the official criminal justice system for major offences, there may be a risk to the right to life, which is a fundamental human liberty. The dissertation undertakes a critical analysis of court rulings, in which the use of TDRMs led to the withdrawal of murder prosecutions. It finds a pattern in which the severity of the punishment administered by TDRMs is not commensurate with the offence committed, leading to unfair practices. Utilizing global human liberties documents, including the European Convention on Human Rights, the research delves into the notion of proportionality when establishing penalties for felonies. The study employs a qualitative methodology, relying on primary sources like the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and judgments. A comparative analysis is also employed to look at the formalisation of TDRMs and their incorporation into the justice system in Kenya by looking at the Gacaca courts in Rwanda. This study recommends the institutionalisation of TDRMs and proper integration into the criminal law realm. The conclusions drawn will guide future considerations on the appropriateness of incorporating TDRMs in the resolution of serious criminal offenses while ensuring the preservation of constitutional rights and principles of justice
Factors influencing Value Added Tax Compliance in the construction industry in Thika Sub County-Kiambu County: moderating effect of technology
No full textFull - text thesisTaxation constitutes a significant revenue stream for governments in both developing and developed nations. Tax compliance is influenced by several factors, and this study sought to investigate the factors that influence VAT compliance in the construction industry. The objective of this research was to investigate the factors that influence Value Added Tax compliance within construction companies and contractors operating in Kiambu County, with a particular emphasis on Thika Sub-County. This research was grounded in both the economic deterrence theory and the ability to pay theory. The moderating variable under consideration was technology, specifically the degree of automation within the firm. The positivism research philosophy guided the research which employed survey research design. The study sample was the 60 actively registered contractors and construction companies. Descriptive statistical analysis included mean and standard deviation while Inferential statistical analysis included Correlation analysis(r) and multiple regression which helped in establishing the relationship between variables. The research findings indicated that all the five examined factors i.e tax knowledge, compliance costs, tax enforcement measures, taxpayer attitudes and perceptions and technology as a moderating factors had an impact of value added tax compliance. The Cost of compliance and enforcement measures had a negative but significant effect while Tax knowledge, and attitude and perception together with use of technology as a moderating factor had a positive significant effect on the VAT compliance in the construction sector. The research recommended that the government should look at ways of reducing compliance costs by looking at other affordable alternatives to ETR machines, and to upload more relevant and useful educational resources online. This research suggests that further study be carried out to understand the uniqueness of the construction industry as far as tax enforcement measures are concerned, as the findings of this study were not consistent to earlier studies done on the same.
Key Words:
Tax Compliance, Compliance Cost, Enforcement measures, Tax Compliance, Tax non-compliance, Taxpayer Services, Taxation Knowledge
Exploring cryptocurrency as an asset: can cryptocurrency be inherited?
No full textFull - text undergraduate research projectThe investment in and ownership of cryptocurrencies has become an emerging trend around the world especially in Kenya. Despite this, cryptocurrencies are not recognized or regulated under Kenyan law. As a result of this, a good number of Kenyans that consider cryptocurrencies as property are uncertain of what happens to their cryptocurrencies when they pass on. In addition to this, their beneficiaries are left stranded as to how to claim cryptoassets upon the death of the owners of the cryptoassets. This study discusses whether cryptocurrencies can be defined as legal property. It finds that cryptocurrency can indeed be defined as legal property. The study also considers the idea of creating a new separate category of property for cryptocurrencies that will encompass all of its unique features. The study employs the use of a qualitative research to examine the current legal framework of Kenya regarding the inheritance of cryptocurrencies. It finds that the current status of cryptocurrencies and their inheritance is not defined under the Kenyan legal framework. The study goes further to discuss whether Kenya should establish a legal framework that governs the inheritance of cryptocurrencies. It employs the use of a comparative analysis of the legal framework of the United States of America (USA) regarding the inheritance of cryptocurrencies to recommend that Kenya establishes a legal framework that governs the inheritance of cryptocurrencies. In order to establish this legal framework, the Kenyan government needs to tackle the issue of defining cryptocurrencies within the realm of property
A Litany for survival: a proposal to amend Kenya’s Penal Code to decriminalise theft of food for survival
No full textFull - text undergraduate research projectIn the tapestry of human civilisation, the urgency of survival has woven itself as a fundamental thread, shaping the contours of law, morality, and societal norms. This imperative gains particular urgency in the realm of criminal law, where the stakes involve actions that endanger life and well-being. Within this context emerges the predicament of food theft for survival – a poignant reflection of the intersection between legal frameworks, moral imperatives, and human desperation. In light of the pervasive food insecurity and poverty in Kenya, this study aims to examine whether Section 269 of the Penal Code of Kenya (Cap 63) should be amended to decriminalise theft of food in instances where survival prevails. This will be accomplished firstly against the backdrop of contrasting moralities between African and Western societies. Here, the study seeks to unravel the communal ethos prevalent in traditional African reasoning, where certain communities historically exhibited leniency towards theft driven by hunger, contrasting this perspective with the individualistic criminalisation of theft inherent in the Western legal framework. This study posits that dissenters of this premise can find further justification for the decriminalisation of food theft within the underlying principles of criminal law defences, such as self-defence and necessity. It contends that these principles, commonly invoked to justify criminal defences rooted in the imperative of survival, can extend to the decriminalisation of food theft, highlighting the feasibility of integrating this amendment within the framework of criminal law
The Discretionary role of cabinet secretaries in commencement of acts of parliament
No full textFull - text undergraduate research projectCommencement of acts is an important step in the law-making process that is often overlooked by not only legislators but also law academics. It is an important part of the process which is left in the hands of Cabinet Secretaries. The objective of this project is to do a deep dive into this role to understand the extents to which role they play in reference to commencement. The act of commencement is not unique to Kenya and is standard practice as has been for years. In Kenya, we follow the Westminster model of commencement and historical documents are the main guide as to how this practice has been viewed over the years and actualized. The major point of concern which is also the point of investigation in this paper is the limits of a cabinet secretaries’ discretion in relation to commencement. Their role is accorded wide discretionary powers, and the point of the study is to justify whether the same is necessary and how the same should be regulated and if it should be regulated. We look at the drafters’ intentions behind according these powers and whether the same is appropriate in relation to commencement
Predicting risky taxpayers in Kenya using machine learning
No full textFull - text thesisTaxation is a fundamental tool for governments to raise revenue and fulfill their responsibilities to society. It is an essential component of modern governance, facilitating economic development, social welfare, and the provision of goods and services for the benefit of the public. Conversely, tax evasion poses a pervasive challenge impacting both advanced and emerging economies globally. In Kenya, addressing tax evasion is a significant hurdle, with the government estimating substantial annual revenue losses as a result leaving the government to seek debt financing for its programs. This study used machine learning models to classify taxpayers according to certain attributes and predict those who are most likely to evade. The study explored 24 such attributes. The target output variable was the payment time. The dataset was trained using six supervised machine learning algorithms including the Decision Tree, Logistic Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, Support Vector Machines and Stacking. Among the trained models, the Random Forest classifier exhibited the optimal performance with a precision score of 90% and recall score of 86%. This suggests that the model can effectively predict the risky taxpayers to be subjected to a tax audit with likelihood of high returns. The study identified the top five crucial features influencing optimal tax evasion prediction as installment tax paid, total liabilities, credit brought forward, withholding value added tax credit and total expenses. Accordingly, adjusting these parameters within specified ranges is anticipated to result in an increased accuracy of the prediction of taxpayer classes. These results offer valuable insights for understanding determinants of tax compliance and enhancing the accuracy of predicting risky taxpayers towards optimizing resource allocation for better tax revenue mobilization outcomes.
Keywords: Taxation, Tax evasion, Risky taxpayers, Tax Audit, Machine Learnin
Effect of strategic management practices on organizational performance: a case of marketing agencies in Nairobi County
No full textFull - text thesisThe marketing industry globally has been growing rapidly over the past few years. This has been due to the increasing demand for marketing services from national and international clients. As a result, competition in both global and local markets has become quite intense and this has led to the need for marketing agencies to rethink their strategies for them to be sustainable. In Kenya, the marketing sector is extremely competitive especially with the advent of digital marketing trends. Marketing agencies are thus forced to keep up with consumer trends and offer better value proposition to their clients in order to beat competition. To this extent, the overall objective of this thesis was to determine the effect of strategic management practices on organizational performance of marketing agencies in Nairobi County. Specifically the research sought to determine the effect of strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation on the performance of marketing agencies in Nairobi County. Regarding organizational performance, the study sought to measure customer satisfaction, efficiency and effectiveness as performance indicators. This research was supported by the contingency and RBV theories. Descriptive research design was applied and a positivism research philosophy adopted. The data was collected using questionnaires that were administered to 468 managers from 117 selected marketing agencies operating in Nairobi County. SPSS software was used to analyse the collected data. Mean and standard deviation was used for descriptive analysis while inferential analysis was used to establish the relationship between the study variables. This research established that the participants agreed that strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation had been adopted by marketing agencies in Nairobi County. The research findings concluded that the relationship between strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation and performance of marketing agencies in Nairobi County was positive and significant. The research recommended that marketing agencies in Nairobi County needed to step up their efforts to improve their strategic management practices, appropriately allocate enough resources for the implementation of the strategies and embrace ongoing training to ensure successful implementation of these strategic management practices. The study was limited to marketing agencies and focused only on Nairobi County. In addition it focused only on three strategic management practices. These limitations could be addressed in future researches
