Department of Humanities and Languages
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Item ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP, AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT AND INDUSTRIAL HARMONY IN KENYAS’ DEVOLVED PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR(Karatina University, 2023-11) WAWERU, BEAUTTAH MWANGIA harmonious workplace that guarantees satisfaction of workers and employers’ aspirations is essential for enhanced services provision in Kenya’s devolved public health sector. Since the devolution of healthcare services in 2013, the devolved public health sector has been affected by frequent and often localized health workers’ industrial actions. These industrial actions have an effect not only on the citizens well-being but also affects the economic growth of the country. The general objective of this study was to determine the influence of adaptive leadership on industrial harmony mediated by affective commitment in Kenya’s devolved public health sector. The specific objectives of the study were; to determine the influence of collaborative stakeholder engagement, employees’ involvement in decision making, continuous organizational learning and leaders’ relational authenticity on industrial harmony and to examine the mediating influence of affective commitment on the relationship between adaptive leadership and industrial harmony in the Kenya’s devolved public health sector. The study was guided by three theories namely; Attitudinal Commitment Theory, Experiential Learning Theory and Social Exchange Theory. To achieve these objectives, the study used pragmatic research paradigm. The study research design was concurrent mixed methods research methodology. The target population for this study was 3,355 health workers in level 5 County referral hospitals, in the Central Economic Regional Bloc (CEREB). The study selected 351 respondents using stratified random sampling. In addition, 10 Medical Superintendents (MS), 10 Secretary Generals from Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) were selected for participation in the study through purposive sampling. The research instrument was tested for validity using content validity, criterion validity and construct validity and for reliability, using Cronbach alpha coefficient. The pilot study was carried out at Karatina Level 4 Hospital in Nyeri County as the cadre of staff employed in level 4 hospitals are similar and with almost similar facilities as those of level 5 hospitals. Data analysis involved both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Qualitative data collected through the interview guide was analyzed using content analysis technique. Quantitative data collected using the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics comprised means and standard deviation while inferential statistics comprised simple linear regression and multiple regression analysis. The study established that collaborative stakeholder engagement had a positive and significant influence on industrial harmony (β=1.255, p-value=.000); that employee involvement in decision making had a positive and significant influence on industrial harmony (β=.939, p-value=.000); that continuous organizational learning had a positive and significant influence on industrial harmony (β=1.093, p-value=.000); that leaders’ relational authenticity had a positive and significant influence on industrial harmony (β=.703, p-value=.000). Collaborative stakeholder engagement had the highest influence explaining 18.5% of industrial harmony. It was followed by continuous organizational learning at 14%, employee involvement in decision making at 10.3% and finally leaders’ relational authenticity at 5.8%. Affective commitment was found to have a positive and significant mediating influence on the relationship between adaptive leadership and industrial harmony (β=.141, p-value=0.018). The study concluded that collaborative stakeholders’ engagement, employee’s involvement in decision making, continuous organizational learning, leaders’ relational authenticity and affective commitment enhanced industrial harmony in the Kenya’s devolved public health sector. The study recommends the expansion of the workplace stakeholders engagement systems, strengthening of suggestion schemes and brainstorming sessions and that more efforts be put in creating, retaining and transferring knowledge within the sector. It further recommends setting up of high moral and ethical standards among managers and that employees should be part and parcel of the team(s) that develop strategic plans and policies in the sector so as to encourage co-ownership of sector goals and objectives. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a model of determining the level of industrial harmony given the influence of affective commitment and adaptive leadership.Item INFLUENCE OF FOOD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS AND MARKET ACCESSIBILITY ON FOOD SECURITY IN THARAKA SUB COUNTY, KENYA(Karatina University, 2022-11) KIBETU, DICKSON KINOTIFood distribution and market accessibility impact food security and development of rural economies. About 30% of Kenya’s population live in the country’s food insecure rural arid and semi-arid lands. Semi-arid Tharaka sub county suffers from insufficient and inefficient food distribution due to problems of physical accessibility to food markets which constitute main source of food items (86.95%) consumed here. These have led to sporadic and acute food insecurity across the sub county. The purpose of this study was to examine influence of local food distribution systems and market accessibility on food security in Tharaka sub county. Maize (96.6%) and millet (54.1%) are important staple food crops widely consumed by households in the study area. The objectives of this research focused on identifying biophysical and climatic factors that determine optimal maize and millet production for the realisation of food security; to determine how marketing models for maize and millet influence distribution and retention of food stock by households in Tharaka sub county; to examine efficiency of physical accessibility to existing open air markets and its effect on food security in Tharaka sub county, and finally to examine spatial distribution and utilisation of open-air markets in Tharaka sub county and its influence on food security. It was hypothesized that no significant relationship existed between agro-climatic suitability and maize and millet production, marketing models and food stock retention, markets physical accessibility and food security and how open-air markets spatial distribution influenced utilisation of the markets. A sample of 395 households selected using cross-section survey and a multi-purposive cluster sampling technique from the 31,556 households in the studt area were considered. Primary data was collected through observation, semi-structured questionnaires and 5 key informants’ interviews. GIS based modeling, Kendall’s multiple correlation analysis and Tobit regression techniques were used to analyse the data. Results of GIS agro-climatic suitability analysis in Idris Selva software showed that 4,189.31 hectares of land were suitable for optimised production of maize and millet. Identified suitable areas felled within the rainfed cropping zone (RFC) and mixed farming (MF) livelihood zones. Kendall’s multiple correlation analysis revealed that households living close to the markets (<5km) sold most of their food stocks retaining up to two bags for 3-4 weeks compared to those living away(>10km) who kept three to five bags for the same period or longer. Tobit regression analysis indicated education levels of household head and market price as important determinants in the choice of market models by a household. Lastly, ease of accessibility and service functional value influenced open-air markets preferential use by farmers and consumers alike. Conclusively, food security in Tharaka sub county is largely influenced by marketing models used by households to procure and sell foodstuffs, ease of physical accessibility to markets and the bio-physical and climatic conditions of the given livelihood cluster zone. In future, there is need to consider food distribution and market accessibility as determinant components of food security and nutrition improvement in the study area. Major recommendations from this study emphasize desire to promote food trade and market-based interventions to address food security. Furthermore, improving open-air markets’ physical infrastructure and construction of missing-link roads connecting villages to markets would address the problem of low food markets utilisation.Item AT THE PERIPHERY IN MAU MAU DISCOURSE: A CASE OF THE MBEERE OF EMBU COUNTY, KENYA, 1952-2014(Karatina University, 2022-11) KANYINGI, BENSON WAIGANJOThe ambiguity of Mau Mau discourse led to multiple narratives about the movement. The elusiveness was evidenced by voices of the past mixing with current views, discovery, access to migrated archives and reparation cases. The reparation case ignited debates on participation in the Mau Mau struggle. In the Mau Mau discourses, the movement was considered Kikuyu, Embu and Ameru affair, disregarding communities’ contribution on the fringes of Mt. Kenya like the Mbeere. To show the contribution of peripheral communities, there was a need to deconstruct the pedagogy of misinformation and represent an accurate picture for collective memory. This study sought to examine the missing narrative of the Mbeere in Mau Mau discourse. The following specific objectives guided the study: to establish the role of the Mbeere chiefs in colonial penetration and administration; to assess the evidence of the contribution of the Mbeere in the Mau Mau struggle; to examine the reasons for exclusion of the Mbeere in Mau Mau discourse and lastly to evaluate the recognition and compensation of the Mbeere Mau Mau veterans by the Kenya government and the British government, respectively. The Post-colonial theory informed this study that critically examines the post-colonial experience of Third World societies. Both primary and secondary data were sourced and used in the study. Archival data was obtained from the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Centre in Nairobi, Nakuru and The National Archives in the United Kingdom. Oral data was collected from informants in Kyeni South, Mbeere North and South in Embu County. This study used focus group discussions and in-depth interviews for data collection, where 59 participants were interviewed. In interviews, purposive sampling was employed where the chiefs pinpointed Mau Mau veterans in their wards. Then snowball sampling strategy was used to identify more respondents knowledgeable about the Mau Mau movement. Respondents for focus group discussions were selected through purposive sampling based on the participation of those above 70 years and who participated in the insurgency. Data were analysed using NVIVO 12 to extract themes that answered the research questions. Selected secondary sources informed the theory, while others complemented data from the primary sources. The proposed study provided a counterpoint to literature that lauded the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru as key participants in the Mau Mau struggle for independence by identifying the Mbeere as (active or passive players) in the war of decolonisation. Additionally, the study findings noted that the Mbeere were left out in the reparation process, but they are hopeful for reparation and memorialisation. The Mau Mau debates will not end soon with the growing attention of the marginalised narratives. The Mbeere involvement in the Mau Mau insurgency as seers was deeper than assumed; they utilised an unmarked villagisation process by scavenging food for the Mau Mau insurgency. They used non-KEM status to evade detection as a tactic of war for insurgency’s sake. These two areas need further research for posterity. Thirdly this study can be replicated in other peripheral communities in Kenya to retell their past. Also, there is a need to rewrite the history of the Mbeere and show nuances of the Mbeere marginalisation in resource allocation and how it intersects with the history of decolonisation. Lastly, review the state of non-Embu (the Kikuyu ahoi and the Kamba) who claimed to have been born into the Embu tribe while the colonial government, the Embu elders and ADC members expressed in 1961 that there was no place for them in the District.