Life In Kenya Research Articles

Influence of Information, Education and Communication on Road Safety amongst Boda-boda Motorcyclists in Kenyan Cities

This study sought to investigate the influence of information, education and communication on road safety amongst Boda-boda motorcyclists in Kenyan cities. Road safety has become a major concern with over 1.35 million people losing their lives worldwide annually and over 4,000 people losing their lives in Kenya. Human behavior on the road causes 90 per cent of death and injury amongst road users with Boda-boda motorcyclists contributing 58 per cent of all road accidents in Kenya. This study was anchored on the social cognitive theory, the safety culture theory and the uses and gratification theory. The study used a pragmatic philosophical paradigm with a convergent parallel design of the mixed method research. Stratified sampling and simple random sampling were used to draw the target population of 399 Boda-boda motorcyclists from the four cities in Kenya. Interviews were conducted with twelve key informants. Quantitative data was collected from the motorcyclists by use of semi-structured questionnaires while key informant interviews were used to collect the qualitative data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic data analysis. The findings show that influence of information, education and communication has a significant impact on predicting road safety hence showing a potential synergistic effect between the two factors. In conclusion, behavior change communication interventions aimed at Boda-boda motorcyclists significantly contribute to road safety. Tailored educational materials and training programs were recommended as a unique way to address the needs and literacy levels of Boda-boda motorcyclists.

An Assessment of the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on University Students' Lives in Kenya

The Covid-19 pandemic remains a historical world disaster, which affected all sectors. The suspension of physical learning in universities in Kenya raised eyebrows. This could not have been the case if proper disaster and business continuity plans were in place. The researchers were provoked to find out how the pandemic affected the lives of university students. The study was carried out across public and private universities targeting a population of 1110 students. A mixed methods approach was used, survey design was applied, simple random sampling was used to select the respondents, and primary data were collected using a semi-structured online questionnaire developed from Google Forms where instant data from respondents was analyzed. It is evident that students’ lives in the university were adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Flexibility and adaptability are needed to be able to respond to change. It is paramount that universities develop quality disaster management and business continuity plans (QDMBCP) to counter and manage disasters in future.

Autobiography as Archival Act: Reckoning with Personal and Political Pasts in They Called You Dambudzo and Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the archival dimension in two autobiographical texts that combine personal memoir with biography. The two memoirs They Called You Dambudzo by Flora Veit-Wild and Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller document and examine the lives of loved ones in connection to the authors’ own experiences. Veit-Wild writes about her relationship with canonised Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera, and Fuller focuses on her mother’s life in Kenya, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The examined texts suggest that the archival act enables a reckoning with complex pasts through the documentation of personal life and the life of others. The analysis of the memoirs suggests that the autobiography as archive can eventually be seen as greater than its separate parts, as going far beyond the individual experiences it portrays. This is particularly important for the personal and socio-political reckoning in which it engages, relating to the colonial and racial past of Zimbabwe.

Influence of Changing Family Transition on Gender Roles Among Chuka Community in Meru South District, Tharaka Nithi County

The instability of family structure has become an increasingly salient part of people’s lives in Kenya. Lack of stable parenting coupled with strained relationships between parents and other family members as a result changing gender role have impacted negatively on family cohesion. This study investigated to investigate effects of family transitions on gender roles among the Chuka community. The study was guided by social structural theory. This study utilized the descriptive survey research design and the target population was 140 subjects comprising of 98 household heads in Magumoni division, 30 Church leaders, 6 women group leaders and 6 Chiefs. A total of 5 church leaders, 6 location chiefs, 6 women leaders and 98 households participated in this study. Questionnaires were used as the instruments of collecting data from all the respondents. A pilot study revealed a reliability coefficient of 0.7047 with the house hold head questionnaire, 0.7014 with chief’s questionnaire, 0.7020 for both church leaders and women leader’s questionnaire. The study concluded that the change in traditional family gender roles heavily impacts on gender household responsibilities and ultimately the cohesiveness of the family household. The study recommends counseling and other intervention programmes such as to mitigate the negative outcomes arising from the changes in the traditional family gender roles.

Moving to Retain Class Status: Spatial Mobility among Older Middle-Class People in Kenya

Recent scholarship on the African middle classes focuses on a middle-aged cohort and generally assumes that social status remains stable over the life course. This contribution argues that a struggle to retain one’s social class across the life course is part of middle-class life in Kenya. I focus on those who currently lead a decent life in the city and prepare for their life after retirement. My ethnographic data suggest that the middle classes cannot afford life in the city once there is no regular income. I argue that entitlements and resources need to be saved and invested during an economically productive phase to lead a decent life after retirement outside the cities.

“Stories we tell”: queer narratives in Kenya

ABSTRACT Queer expressions in Kenya are caught up in various discourses of law, religion, desire, nationhood, fantasy, language, aspirations and cultural codes. As a result of these interplays that rub against each other, contradictions about queer expressions become evident. To contextualise queer expressions in Kenya, and to usefully tease out these contradictions, an understanding of Kenya’s lived realities that cohere around these discourses can be explored using an enabling narrative framework. This framework relates to how the various discourses are produced, circulated and understood about queer lives. To this end I read Stories of Our Lives (2015), a queer archival project, to show how queer bodies narrate their lives in Kenya in ways that potentially create meanings and create subjectivity against a contradictory background. This practice of queer narration is understood not as an attempt at presenting a coherent body of selves but, rather, as a conscious rendition of particular cognitions of queer analysis which ultimately becomes a site of and for new meanings for queer selves.

Enhancing Access and Use of Climate Information through ICTs

Although the role of ICTs in improving human life in Kenya is acknowledged widely, the focus of much of ICT-related developments has been on human experiences at the level of disease and needs for communication and mobility. Less obvious is how such technological interventions may be used to address seemingly abstract yet grave concerns like climate change and its impact on the quality of human life. This review paper, therefore, shall investigate the different situations where ICTs may be deployed in relaying packaged and relevant localized climate information that can help rural farmers in Kitui County, Kenya to make pertinent and timely decisions to improve their productivity and, ultimately, their livelihoods. We hypothesize that rural communities' use ICT tools such as the mobile phones and the community radios to access localized climate information (weather, seasonal forecasts, and agro-advisories) and that livelihood assets and livelihood strategies positively change with the increasing availability and use of the ICT-based climate information. The idea of the paper presented is to merge theoretical and applied research outcomes to narrow the gap between the theory of ICTs usage and the practice of it, while linking it to climate information and enhanced rural livelihood strategies. The review of this paper shall be captured in social-scientific terms, and shall contribute to knowledge by helping researchers and policymakers to determine climate information needs of rural ASAL communities, knowledge on innovations related to ICTs, among others.

Rapping with a Forked Tongue, Code-switching and the Tribalized Kenya of the end of the Twentieth Century in ‘Otongolo Tyme’ by Poxi Presha

ABSTRACTIn this article politics is argued to be an important driver of the practice of codeswitching in the kinds of texts — like popular music texts — that are produced for extensive circulation within the African post-colony. The argument is anchored in a discourse analysis of the Kenyan hip-hop track ‘Otongolo Tyme’ by Poxi Presha. There is heavy code-switching both in the verbal and the musical components of ‘Otongolo Tyme’. By closely examining the code-switching in the track and reading it in context the article demonstrates that the code-switching in ‘Otongolo Tyme’ was imbricated in the politics of tribe that dominated public life in Kenya at the close of the twentieth century. This article ultimately demonstrates that the extension of cultures and of the identities tied to them that results from the interaction of different languages in a sustained manner over extended periods of time does not automatically translate into a modification in the relationship among the cultures in contact. Indeed, the case proved by the code-switching in ‘Otongolo Tyme’ is that in the tribalised Kenya of the 1990s new ideas were deliberately deployed to uphold the notions of difference that defined the relationship among the country’s different ethnic groups.

Effect of Social Assistance Programmes on Improving Quality of Life in Kenya: Evidence from Machakos County

This study investigates the effect of social assistance programmes on improving quality of life in Kenya - evidence from Machakos County. Probit model was applied to model the empirical analysis. The paper concludes that moderate households’ awareness of available types of cash transfer. On the households’ quality of life with reference to social assistance programmes, the study posits that households in receipt of bursary support, cash transfers for orphans and vulnerable children, and cash transfers to the elderly will report an improved life quality compared to their counterparts who have not received such transfers. Similar conclusion is arrived at for remittances receipts from relatives residing outside the County. The paper recommends application and scaling up of social assistance programmes to reduce poverty at county and national levels so that in turn can improve quality of life of households. This will go a long way in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Social media, youth and everyday life in Kenya

Abstract With an increasing accessibility of smartphones and mobile Internet, social media are becoming an integral part of everyday life for young people in Kenya. The use of new social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp is quickly changing in the country. Previous research on new media, however, indicates socio-demographic differences in the access, appropriation and use of new technologies. This article aims at advancing our understanding of how young people in developing countries are appropriating and using new social media platforms. It examines the multiple ways in which young people in Kenya use social media platforms and how they use these new spaces to connect, interact, communicate and engage on different issues. The article argues that the new social media configurations are invariably making possible access to alternative spaces, relatively ‘free’ from mainstream communication platforms. These changes have implications on different aspects of social change processes such as sociocultural and socio-economic changes in the Kenya.

Corruption in the Kenya: Traffic Police and Leadership

Corruption is rampant in the transport industry and a devil haunting some traffic police officers in Kenya police. By definition corrupting is changing from good to bad in morals, manners, or actions; to alter from original or correct form or version. Corruption means “impairment of integrity or moral principle; inducement to wrong by bribery or other unlawful means (Okullu, 2001). Corruption takes different forms by giving money, inducement to departure from the right course by means of words, threat, blackmail, and by friendship. The problem is corruption has taken root in Kenya traffic police, leading to many public vehicles in transport system not observing traffic laws or rules adequately and as a consequence leading to frequent accidents and leading to allowing foreigners enter Kenya without proper documents. The objective is to study the best strategy to be used to alleviate corruption in transport industry. The laws or policies are clear but they are not implemented. “Gone are the days when Michuki traffic rules were followed.” Interview and observation will be used in collecting data from public passengers and analysed. Findings will be vital to all citizens to minimize accidents. It is concluded political leaders in Kenya have denounced corruption yet little action is being taken to stop the moral rot, which has become a way of life in Kenya. This can be observed in traffic police forces who take bribes openly; daily without any government action (Okullu, 2001). And people wonder what is amiss? Because it is done and passengers who have traveled in Kenya highways have witnessed and aware, but they can do nothing! It is recommended to alleviate corruption strong leadership should be in place to enforced traffic laws so as safe the situation.

Effect of Gender Empowerment Programmes on Improving Quality of Life in Kenya: Evidence from Machakos County

Effect of Gender Empowerment Programmes on Improving Quality of Life in Kenya: Evidence from Machakos County Joshua M. Ngelu, Dr. Jane Omwenga, Dr. Joseph Mungatu, Dr. Mike Iravo Abstract This study investigates the effect of gender empowerment programmes on improving quality of life in Kenya: evidence from Machakos County. Probit model is used to model the empirical analysis. The findings are that generally all the households sampled recorded higher completion rates for girls than boys in primary school while in secondary school the completion rate was higher for boys than that of girls. Regression results indicate that primary and secondary school enrolment of the girl child is more likely to improve the quality of the household‘s life by 0.7292 and 0.4584 respectively chances as compared to not enrolling. The results posit that a household with a girl child who successfully completes primary and secondary school education is more likely to have an improved quality life by 0.6890 and 0.2466 chances respectively as compared to a household with girl child who fails to successfully complete her primary school education. However it is noted that girl child enrolment in primary school has the highest impact. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jeds.v5n3a6

Determinants of Primary School Non-Enrollment and Absenteeism: Results from a Retrospective, Convergent Mixed Methods, Cohort Study in Rural Western Kenya.

BackgroundEducation is a key element in the socioeconomic development required to improve quality of life in Kenya. Despite the introduction of free primary education, primary school enrollment and attendance levels remain low. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, this study explores the determinants of non-enrollment and absenteeism in rural western Kenya and potential mitigation strategies to address these issues.MethodsThe study was conducted in Bwaliro village in rural western Kenya. A random sample of 64 students was obtained by blocking the village primary school’s student population according to grade level, gender, and orphan status. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through interviews with parents, guardians, and key informants, and focus group discussions with students. Quantitative data were compared using chi-square tests, Student’s T-test, and Poisson regressions. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis.ResultsMalaria, menstruation, and lack of money were among the most notable determinants of primary school dropout and absenteeism, and these factors disproportionately impacted orphans and female students. Potential mitigation strategies suggested by the community included provision of malaria treatment or prevention, reduction in education costs, expansion of the established school-feeding program, and provision of sanitary pads.ConclusionDespite free primary education, numerous factors continue to prevent children in rural western Kenya from attending primary school. The findings suggest that interventions should primarily target orphaned and female students. Prior to implementation, suggested mitigation strategies should be assessed for cost-effectiveness.

Indians in Kenya: the politics of diaspora

Working as merchants, skilled tradesmen, clerks, lawyers, and journalists, Indians formed the economic and administrative middle class in colonial Kenya. In general, they were wealthier than Africans, but were denied the political and economic privileges that Europeans enjoyed. Moreover, despite their relative prosperity, Indians were precariously positioned in Kenya. Africans usually viewed them as outsiders, and Europeans largely considered them subservient. Indians demanded recognition on their own terms. Indians in chronicles the competing, often contradictory, strategies by which the South Asian diaspora sought a political voice in Kenya from the beginning of colonial rule in the late 1890s to independence in the 1960s.Indians intellectual, economic, and political connections with South Asia shaped their understanding of their lives in Kenya. Sana Aiyar investigates how the many strands of Indians diasporic identity influenced Kenya s political leadership, from claiming partnership with Europeans in their mission to colonize and civilize East Africa to successful collaborations with Africans to battle for racial equality, including during the Mau Mau Rebellion. She also explores how the hierarchical structures of colonial governance, the material inequalities between Indians and Africans, and the racialized political discourses that flourished in both colonial and postcolonial Kenya limited the success of alliances across racial and class lines. Aiyar demonstrates that only by examining the ties that bound Indians to worlds on both sides of the Indian Ocean can we understand how Kenya came to terms with its South Asian minority.

Living off the Stony Farm: Address and Diasporic Consciousness in “Shamba la Mawe” by Awilo Mike

This article reads diasporic consciousness in the song “Shamba la Mawe” by the Kenyan artiste, Awilo Mike. It takes as its entry point for the reading the fact that Peter, the speaker in the song's lyrics, a Kenyan migrant in Europe, addresses two groups of Kenyans separately and together. The first of the two groups lives in Kenya, the second lives in Europe. The notion that forms of address may reveal information about the person of the addressor is relied on to shepherd the scrutiny of Peter's linguistic reference to his collocutors and the languages he uses in addressing the collocutors into a decoding of his diasporic consciousness. The focus of the analysis is thus on the addressing individual, the speaker, who presents himself as belonging to the two groups that he addresses. Information relating to the career of Awilo Mike is mobilized to conflate the character Peter's utterance and the song “Shamba la Mawe”, which it is part of.

Translating Race across Time and Space: The Creation of Somali Bantu Ethnicity

This article reviews the creation of Somali Bantu ethnicity as an object of humanitarian intervention during Somalia's civil war. A variety of local, regional and international actors combined to create the ethnonym Somali Bantu for a group of refugees identified as a persecuted minority by the UNHCR and the US government and selected for resettlement in the United States. I track the emergence of the name and its affective dimensions for those who embrace Somali Bantu identity and assess criticisms of its authenticity and legitimacy. The creation of Somali Bantu identity reveals critical dimensions of how race is translated across time and space. Since a fundamental dimension of Somali Bantu identity is based on presumptions of racial difference, the article traces the salience of constructed difference for social hierarchies within Somalia, colonial projects in Somalia, refugee camp life in Kenya, US resettlement policy and diaspora politics in the United States.

Gifford, Paul, Christianity, Politics, and Public Life in Kenya, New York, Columbia University Press, 2009, 276 pp. 978 0 231 15442 0, US $90 (hard cover).

Gifford, Paul, Christianity, Politics, and Public Life in Kenya, New York, Columbia University Press, 2009, 276 pp. 978 0 231 15442 0, US $90 (hard cover).

A Very Different Land: Echoes of Kenya in the 1930s and '40s

‘A Very Different Land’ tells the story of how the strong . agricultural economy of present day Kenya is based on the agriculture of the Colonial period, a story told through the eyes of my father and his colleagues. My father, Owen, was an Agricultural Adviser in Kenya from 1928 to 1950, rising from Assistant Agricultural Officer to assistant director of the department. It was a period which saw a transformation in farming throughout all parts of Kenya.Kenya was always part of my life. I grew up surrounded by talk of life in Kenya, and it was a benchmark of comparison and memory. My parents both loved their life there and my childhood was full of reminiscences and Swahili phrases; when we went to France and my parents were searching for a word in French, out came a word in Swahili.

Book Review: Christianity and Public Life in Kenya

Book Review: Christianity and Public Life in Kenya

Christianity, Politics and Public Life in Kenya

Christianity, Politics and Public Life in Kenya