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Discreet discretion and moderate moderation in judicial sentencing: A commentary on Kenya’s Sentencing Policy Guidelines, 2016
Get PDFCriminal sentencing is an integral part in in any judicial system for the fair administration
of justice. The process of sentencing and the standards applied by judicial officers has,
however, been a notoriously difficult component in many criminal law systems. In Kenya,
sentencing has been blamed as one of the sources of ‘popular dissatisfaction with the ad-
ministration of justice’ to borrow from Roscoe Pound. This was the impetus for the Ken-
yan Judiciary to introduce the Sentencing Policy Guidelines, 2016 (SPGs). This paper is
a general commentary, critique, and analysis of the SPGs. The author argues that SPGs
come at an instructive epoch in Kenya’s economic, socio-political, and cultural development.
This contribution is not a polemic on the Kenyan SPGs. The commentary makes side-
glances to various jurisdictions that have had a longer experience with sentencing guidelines.
The article forecasts that Kenyan SPGs will, despite its few shortcomings, nevertheless,
prove to be important for all judicial officers involved in Kenya’s criminal justice system
INVESTIGATING SELECTED EGOCENTRIC USERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS USING SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS IN MINING FORENSIC EVIDENCE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT IN KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTInvestigation of social media using social network theory is a new powerful tool that will aid and ease law enforcement agencies in multi-faceted ways in this ever evolving digital landscape. It is against this backdrop that this study focused on identifying and investigating selected individuals on Facebook and Twitter social media platforms. In particular, selected respondents from University of Eldoret, Kibabii, Moi, Kisii and Rongo Universities were involved in the study. The objective of the study was to demonstrate how Social Network Analysis (SNA) can be employed as an investigate tool to mine, analyse data from selected online social media users and present digital forensic evidence to aid law enforcement in Kenya. Particularly, the study aimed at identifying high degree nodes in the network and their behavioural patterns and profiles using visualizations, network metrics and user profile/demographic information. Social network analysis experimental research design was employed in this study. The sample size of the respondents was arrived at by employing Yamane’s formula of calculating sample size. The respondents were guided to create pseudoonline parody accounts in various social media platforms which was used to carry out the online data mining from the selected respondents to aid in social network analysis. The significance of the study was to fill the knowledge gap that hitherto not been researched by previous scholars yet it is imperative area as far as cyber-security and law enforcement is concerned in Kenya. Data mining and analysis was done using NodeXL, an Add-in tool in Ms-Excel for social network analysis. Computation of centrality measures, network clusters, cliques were presented using both infographic visualizations and centrality metrics of the respondents on egocentric networks Focal communication paths through which information flows in the network were also depicted. The findings demonstrated that Social Network Analysis can be effectively used on social media platforms to mine, analyse and present digital forensic evidence of individuals under investigation. The outcome of this study gives a new insight and techniques that can help law enforcement agencies and related stakeholders to identify or detect important individuals, subgroups, interaction patterns between subgroups and roles they play in a given network. The findings presented in this research illustrates how social network analysis can be used to determine the interpersonal connections, importance of actors in a given social network and detect communities of people and principally how law enforcement agencies can utilize this technique in identifying and tracking suspicious characters and ultimately help in maintaining law and order. SNA ought to be embraced as a supplement of conventional investigation, not necessarily replacing it
EXAMINATION OF SELECTED MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN THE KENYAN CIVIL SERVICE
No full textFULL TEXTEmployee motivation plays a critical role in the overall performance and growth of organizations. It is considered to be a booster not only for employees‟ growth and development but also organizations‟ performance. As such, managers continue to establish different ways in which they can motivate their employees in order to enhance performance and that of their respective organizations. However, organizations are crowded by a number of issues which affect employee motivation including remuneration, poor working conditions, staff training and organizational culture issues. The general purpose of this study was to examine selected motivational factors affecting employee performance in the civil service in Kenya‟s context. The study was guided by the following specific research objectives: to establish the extent to which remuneration affects employee performance in the civil service in Kenya, to determine the effect of working conditions on the employee performance in the civil service in Kenya, to establish the effect of staff training on employee performance in the civil service in Kenya, and to examine the effect of organizational culture on the employee performance in the civil service in Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. The study used a target population of 158,680 subjects from all the eighteen government Ministries in Kenya. The sample size included 225 respondents out of whom 191 took part in the study. Questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect data from the staff members and key informant from the selected seven government ministries. The collected data were analysed with the help of a Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data. Analyzed data was presented in frequencies and percentages and summarized in tables and figures. Further, inferential statistics such as chi-square for independence, regression analysis and factor analysis was conducted. Content analysis was used to process the qualitative data. From the analysis, the study concluded that there is a statistically significant association between remuneration, working conditions, staff training, organizational culture and staff performance in civil service since the p value was smaller than the level of significance, p<.05. The study recommends sound mechanisms to be put in place, which ensure better remuneration terms, enhanced working conditions, an integral staff training and building of organizational culture in the civil service which is based on sound management systems for better employee performance in the civil service in Kenya
DETERMINANTS OF TAX COMPLIANCE AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NAKURU CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT, KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTThe main problem facing tax authorities in any jurisdiction lies in persuading all tax payers to comply with obligations put on them by any tax system. Tax is an important stream of revenue for government’s development projects and therefore all efforts must be made by governments to ensure that it is accurately and efficiently collected so as to facilitate the government’s operations. Unfortunately, Kenya Revenue Authority does not collect all the taxes that it ought to. This is attributed to high levels of tax noncompliance. In Kenya, the biggest block of taxpayers on the business sector were Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which were estimated to contribute about 45% of GDP in Kenya and they account for 85% of employment statistics. This study intended to identify the factors that influence tax compliance, specifically focusing on SME’s operating in Nakuru CBD. Small businesses played an important role in the tax system as it was the fastest growing sector in the Kenyan economy however non-compliance to the National tax system and County government tax systems continued to plague the sector. Guiding specific objectives were to determine; effects of tax education and knowledge, compliance costs, perceived opportunities to evade taxes and the penalties and fines imposed by tax authorities and how they affect tax compliance levels. To achieve the objectives, the study employed a survey design approach. A sample size of 212 SMES was picked as a representative of the population of 3506 licensed SMEs operating within the Nakuru CBD. To ensure that various diverse categories of taxpayers and business entities were included in the survey, stratified sampling technique was adopted. The data collection instruments were self-administered structured questionnaires. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS package. The findings of the study revealed that perceived opportunity for tax evasion has no statistically significant effect on tax compliance among SMEs ( =106.873, Prob> =0.254). There exist a statistically insignificant, negative relationship between perceived opportunity for tax evasion and tax compliance (rho= -0.026; p>0.05). Tax knowledge and education has no statistically significant effect on tax compliance among SMEs ( =90.735, Prob> =0.838), while there exist statistically insignificant, negative relationship between tax knowledge/education and tax compliance (rho= -0.031; p>0.05). It was established that fines and penalties has statistically significant effect on tax compliance among SMEs ( = 131.098, Prob> =0.043), while there exist statistically insignificant, negative relationship between fines/penalties and tax compliance (rho= -0.038, p>0.05). It was proved that tax compliance cost has no statistically significant effect on tax compliance among SMEs ( =110.474, Prob> =0.183). There exist a statistically insignificant, negative relationship between perceived opportunity for tax evasion and tax compliance (rho= 0.024; p>0.05). It is recommended that The Kenya revenue authority should ensure revenue streams are tracked by involving financial institutions since majority as well as enhance its manpower to ensure monitoring and tracking of all income reported by SME operators
EFFECT OF SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS ADVANCE ORGANIZER ON SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICS STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE AND MOTIVATION IN ELECTRIC CIRCUITS, LAIKIPIA COUNTY, KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTPhysics concepts have played a significant role in the development of technology, industries and social development. There are exciting and productive careers emanating from good understanding and application of physics principles, concepts and science process skills learned in physics education. In Kenyan secondary schools, one is allowed to sit for at least two sciences at the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. Students are allowed to choose any two science subjects from among Biology, Chemistry and Physics while at Form Three but can also choose to do all the three subjects at the end of the secondary level. Despite the importance of physics, few students choose physics as their learning subject and the performance is lower compared to the other sciences at KCSE examinations. Fewer girls choose to do Physics at KCSE and their performance is also lower than that of boys. The poor performance and low enrolment in physics at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination may be due to lack of motivation or inappropriate teaching strategies among others. This study investigated the effects on performance and motivation after exposing Form two students to science process skills advance organizer (SPSAO) before the teaching of physics concepts in electrical circuits as required by the KCSE syllabus. The science process skills (SPS) exposed to students were observing, measuring, predicting, experimenting and hypothesizing. These skills were exposed to students as treatment before the lesson. Four mixed day public schools from Laikipia Central Sub-County were randomly assigned to Solomon four-group design for data collection and evaluation of the effect of the science process skills advance organizer on student’s motivation and performance in Electric current circuits in secondary school physics. A total of 191 form two students participated in the study. Multistage sampling was used to select the four schools that participated in the study. The instruments for data collection were physics Achievement tests (PAT) that was administered as pretest and posttest and a students’ motivation questionnaire (SMQ) which was given to students who were treated with the SPSAO. The instruments were pilot tested before subjecting them to students for results reliability. The SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences) output for reliability of the piloted results for (PAT) and (SMQ) were Cronbach’s alpha 0.951 and 0.799 respectively. The (PAT) pretest and posttest were administered to students between two weeks while the (SMQ) was administered to students who were exposed to the science process skills advance organizer (SPSAO) after the posttest. Data collected was analyzed using the ANCOVA, the t-test, ANOVA and the factor analysis. Hypotheses were accepted or rejected at a significance level of alpha of 0.05. The results of the study may provide a radical shift from teacher-centered methods of teaching physics and motivate students to higher level science process skills and give secondary school students confidence to engage in physics as a learning subject. The findings of the study indicated that Science Process Skills Advance Organizer improved Physics performance in the electric circuit topic, motivated students towards physics and showed no gender dependence. From the findings of the study, valuable information yielded will inform secondary school physics teachers, curriculum developers, teachers’ educators and policy makers on appropriate measures to improve on teaching methods, trainee teacher education programs and designing of workshops to in-service practicing physics teachers and tutors
STATE DEFIANCE, TREATY WITHDRAWALS AND THE RESURGENCE OF AFRICAN SOVEREIGN EQUALITY CLAIMS: HISTORICISING THE 2016 AU-ICC COLLECTIVE WITHDRAWAL STRATEGY
Get PDFAt its January and July 2016 Assembly, the AU, continuing its long held call for African states to withdraw from the Rome Statute, adopted a decision indicating its most operational intent to so withdraw. In October 2016, Burundi, South Africa and The Gambia made much publicised steps towards withdrawing from the Statute in quick succession.
It is not unusual for states to threaten or use withdrawal from international agreements to express discontent with the obligations of the legal regime created by such agreements.
This chapter attempts to historicise the AU collective withdrawal threats through a three part analysis. First, using a comprehensive review of relevant AU Assembly decisions between 2009 and 2016, we will consider how prominent collective withdrawal threats have been in the larger AU Assembly discourse on the three international criminal justice processes that have been the subject of Assembly attention, that is, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the abuse of the principle of universal jurisdiction and the Hissène Habré case. The key finding here is that the larger AU discourse does not betray a focus on withdrawal. Rather, the main AU Assembly concern seems to be an effort to fight a perceived disregard by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for African sovereign equality.
Second, we will review the history of treaty withdrawals, dating from the League of Nations in the 1920s, in order to understand the pattern of state defiance of influential but politically inexpedient international obligations, before both international organisations and international jurisdictions.
Third, we will return to the perceived disregard for African sovereign equality and briefly review African state practice in this regard. Historicising the defiant acts of states should allow us to place the AU collective withdrawal threats in context and see that the current challenges to the jurisdictional authority of the ICC are not altogether unknown to international jurisdictions and may not constitute an existential crisis in international law, but rather, are part of the usual ‘incoherent’ development of international la
DETERMINANTS OF SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION IN SELECTED UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTA good strategy that is not implemented is as bad as a poor strategy. Emperical evidence postulates that organizations spend more time and effort in strategy development than in strategy implementation. This has led to many organizations’ failure to realize their desired results. This research sought to evaluate determinants of successful strategy implementation in universities in Kenya and identify areas of improvement in the process of strategy implementation. The objectives of this study were: To determine the influence of strategy communication on strategy implementation in universities in Kenya, to establish the effect of organizational leadership on strategy implementation in universities in Kenya, to determine the influence of employee participation in strategy formulation on strategy implementation in universities in Kenya, to establish the effect of resource allocation on strategy implementation in universities in Kenya. This study also sought to establish the moderating effect of organizational culture, systems, and structure on strategy implementation. This study was based on several theories namely; MacKenzie 7s framework, Higgins 8 s framework, Nobble’s strategy implementation framework, Okumu’s strategy implementation framework, and Mintzberg’s 5 ps theory. The research design for this study was cross-sectional descriptive design. This research sought to describe the process of strategy implementation in universities in Kenya and suggest possible changes to improve the process. The target population for this study was all employees in universities in Kenya. The unit of analysis was employees in universities in Kenya. This research studied a sample size of 384 employees in 10 Kenyan universities. The study covered 10 universities in Kenya. The researcher conducted the study in five public universities and five private universities. The universities in Kenya were selected using purposive or judgemental sampling while the employees in each university were selected through stratified sampling. The researcher conducted a preliminary study to select universities that held relevant information for this study. Mainly, those universities that had implemented a strategy before had more relevant information for this research. To obtain the data, semi-structured questionnaires were used in this research. The data were analysed through multiple regression by use of Stata software, SAT System, and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and then presented in tables, pie charts, graphs, and percentages. This research benefits both business schools and the industry by providing insightful thoughts on the process of strategy implementation. Results show that strategy communication, organizational leadership, resource allocation, and employee participation have positive effect on strategy implementation. Results also show that moderating variables, organization culture and organizational systems have a positive effect on strategy implementation. On the other hand, organizational structure has been found not to have a positive effect on strategy implementation. This study recommends that universities embrace participative style of leadership, do more resource mobilization, and practice performance contacting, ISO certification among other practices
IMPACT OF GUIDANCE PROGRAMME ON ENHANCING RISK BEHAVIOUR CHANGE AMONG YOUTH LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTAccording to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics projections (2015), Nakuru County has a population of 1,959,880 comprising of 982,505 males (50%) and 977,375 females (50%). Children below 15 years constitute 39% of the population, while youth aged 15-24 years constitute 21% of the population. By the end of 2015, a total of 41, 217 people were living with HIV in the County, with 15% being young people aged 15-24 years. Nakuru county HIV and AIDS strategic plan (2015/2016) reported that, the number of adolescents living with HIV in Nakuru County was 16,153. Adolescents who have low self-efficacy may be swayed into risky behavior experimentation. Such risky behavior involves alcohol and substance abuse and unsafe sex. This risky behaviour among youth living with HIV may lead to reinfection and the development of AIDS and hence premature death. Social cognitive theory by Bandura was used in this study. The core objective of the study was to assess the impact of guidance programme in enhancing risky behavior change among Youth Living with HIV/AIDS, in Nakuru County. The study used an experimental research design with 38 participants in control group and 38 in experimental group. The experimental group was given the guidance programme as an intervention. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire and an interview schedule. T-test for independent means was used to determine the difference between means of the two groups, the experimental and the control group, while percentile was used to test the level of professionalism of the VCT counselors. Both the tests were calculated at 0.05 level of significance. The findings were that; the guidance programme raised the level of self-efficacy, self-esteem, attitude towards safe sex and hence lowered the level of risky behaviour among youth living with HIV/AIDS. Recommendations were that the Guidance programme be incorporated in the intervention programmes for YLWHA
EFFECT OF WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ON CORPORATE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: A SURVEY OF AUTOMOBILE AND ACCESSORIES COMPANIES LISTED AT NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE, KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTWorking capital management entails the relationship between a firm's current assets and its current liabilities and it plays an integral role in financial decision making. It involves the management of the most liquid resources of the firm which includes cash and cash equivalents, Inventories and trade and other receivables. Majority of firms do not maintain the correct mix of working capital and this has been a major hinder to their overall profitability. The main goal of working capital management is to ensure that a firm maintains a healthy liquidity position. Previous studies have been conducted on the effects of working capital management on financial performance both locally and globally providing conflicting results. The study aimed to iron out these differences by analyzing the effects of working capital management on corporate financial performance and confined itself within automobile firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study purposed to form a basis for policy creation and implementation in the area of working capital management, identify priority cash management techniques to be employed in working capital management in addition to providing a platform for further research on related field of working capital management. The study was anchored on cash conversion cycle theory, working capital management theory and Keynesian theory of money and supported by existing related literature in relation between working capital management and financial performance. The study adopted a quantitative research design, targeting the all listed automobile firms trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Data was obtained from in-depth analysis of consolidated financial reports of years 2007-2016. Thereafter data was analyzed using panel data methodology. Random effects models and correlation analysis with the help of stata statistical analysis software were used to determine the relationships between working capital management and the corporate financial performance of these firms. The findings and results were presented on tables and charts. The study concluded that, inventory conversion period had a positive correlation with return on assets while average receivables period, cash conversion cycle and average payables period had negative correlation though none of the variables under study was statistically significant. The study also reported 6.8 % variation in returns on assets to be caused by working capital management and the study suggested that other components affecting financial performance be carried on the same companies. The study further recommends that finance managers should review specific policies regarding each component of working capital management as they have combined effects on financial performance. Also relevant institutions should consistent monitoring of competencies of financial manager
ASSESSMENT OF EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE IN KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTThe purpose of this study was to assess employee performance in the public service in Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to examine the role of personal attributes on employee performance in the public service in Kenya, to establish the consequence of leadership style on employee performance in the public service in Kenya, to analyze how team work practices influence employee performance in the public service in Kenya, to investigate the impact of organizational practices on employee performance in the public service in Kenya, and to evaluate the effect of sociocultural factors on employee performance in the public service in Kenya. Survey design was used in carrying out this study. The population of this study was 126,998 employees drawn from 20 ministries, 199 state corporations and 47 county governments. The study sample comprised of 370 respondents was obtained from 8052 employees drawn from 2 ministries, 1 state corporation and 2 county governments through stratified random sampling, simple random sampling and purposive sampling methods. A structured questionnaire, interview schedule, diaries and non-participatory observations were used to collect primary data. Document analysis of national and institutional policy documents and reports provided secondary data. Descriptive data was analyzed qualitatively. Content analysis was used to report on data obtained from interviews which was captured on tape recorder. Quantitative data were analyzed by the help of statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) version 21. The study findings were presented in simple frequencies and percentages, and summarized using Tables and Figures. Inferential statistics such as Chi-square for independence, correlations and regression analysis were carried out to test study hypothesis. The study concludes that there is a significant statistical association between employees’ level of performance and personal attributes, leadership style, teamwork practices, organizational practices and socio-cultural factors of the employees in the public service in Kenya. The study recommends that there should be quick adoption of new technologies and innovation to attain International Standards Organization so as to enhance the level of employees’ performance in public service. Additionally, there is need to enhance capacity of managers and human resource professionals to provide performance counselling to employees to enhance service delivery. The suggested strategies on improvement of devolution, harmonization of remuneration and best fit model will greatly have an impact on human resource policies and practices aimed at enhanced employee performance as well as knowledge base in the public sector