Department of Social sciences
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://localhost:4000/handle/20.500.12092/1905
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Item The Oscillating State’s Role in the Provision of Social Welfare Services in Kenya(International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2016-05) Mwenzwa, Ezekiel Mbitha; Waweru, Sammy MwangiThe provision of social services in the global south has largely remained the role of governments with the private sector playing a peripheral role. At Kenya’s independence in 1963, provision of social services was solely the role of government. This was to remain so until the adoption of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) as prescribed by World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), which called on government to roll back in provision of social services. Guided by neoliberal theory, provision of social services was later to be characterized by the introduction of user charges, cost sharing initiatives and privatization to augment the role of the private sector in this regard. However, over time Kenya has witnessed the resurgence of the state, especially during the President Mwai Kibaki era (2002-2012), in the provision of these services. Since then the Government of Kenya has continuously strengthened its role in this endeavor as it were conceived at independence. The gist of this paper is to examine the oscillation of the state in provision of social welfare services in independent Kenya. It is observed that politics has weighed heavily on the provision of social welfare services even as external prescriptive pressure has undermined state functioning in this regard. Nevertheless, increased tax collection has given Kenyan state leverage to sustain provision of welfare services. However institutionalization of welfare provision still faces challenges of resources, capacity and accountability. Finally, the paper evaluates merits and demerits of each welfare regime and recommends the way forward to revitalize provision of social welfare services and augment human welfare in the country.Item Kenya’s Social Development Proposals and Challenges: Review of Kenya Vision 2030 First Medium-Term Plan, 2008-2012(American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 2014-01) Mwenzwa, Ezekiel Mbitha; Misati, Joseph AkumaKenya faces several development challenges including poverty, disease, unemployment, negative civic engagement among others. The development bottlenecks worsened following the introduction of the IMF/World Bank-propelled Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) of the late 1970s and early 1980s. While the SAPs had envisaged benefits, they largely became part of the problem rather than the solution to development in Kenya. Accompanying these were negative civic engagements, particularly, ethnic conflict and political maladministration especially after the re-introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s. These drawbacks notwithstanding, development planning went on culminating in the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERSWEC) 2003-2007 in 2002 and its successor, the Kenya Vision 2030 in 2007. While the former was implemented, the latter is on course with the First Five Year Medium-Term Plan running from 2008 to 2012 recently concluded. The blueprint is driven by three pillars, namely; The economic, social and political pillars aimed at transforming the country into a middle income nation status by 2030. In the social pillar of the Vision are envisaged development projects for social transformation of the country. This paper reviews the proposed projects in the social pillar that were to be implemented by the year 2012 and points out the possible challenges that stood on the way of the envisaged transformation and suggests the way forward.Item From Center to Margin: An Appraisal of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) as a Decentralization Strategy in Kenya(2015-09-30) Mwenzwa, Ezekiel MbithaSince independence in 1963, the governance of development in Kenya has faced numerous challenges leading to poor economic performance and hence negative consequences on Kenyans. The poor-rich gap has not only widened over the years, but the poverty situation has worsened. Consequently, the government has identified centralized planning as a serious development bottleneck and devised strategies for gradual devolution of decision-making power to the local level. Among other development blueprints is the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), which aims at decentralizing development planning to enable grassroots communities maximize their welfare in line with their needs. This fund is a consequence of the Constituencies Development Fund Act of 2003, which provides the governance framework for a transparent and accountable utilization of the funds. Although CDF is a noble decentralization strategy, it is still prone to centralized planning and hence cannot holistically be regarded as having moved the decision-making power from center to the margin. The paper examines the governance framework availed by the Act in the context of decentralization paradigm, the possible impact of passive civic participation and proposes strategies towards effective local level participation in the utilization of the fund.Item Transparency and Accountability in Kenya: A Review of the Institutional Framework for Public Service Delivery(2015-09-30) Mwenzwa, Ezekiel MbithaEthics and integrity that presuppose honesty and openness are integral components of any undertaking to ensure efficiency in the utilization of resources and effectiveness in service delivery. This requires a minimum threshold of transparency and accountability in the conduct of public affair. For this to occur, a measure of moral standing among individuals and institutions must exist to check on their excesses and more so when these act in contradistinction to their calling. The foregoing is expected to arrest such vices as corruption, enshrine appropriate work ethics and prevent other underhand deals that disadvantage the public with regard to service delivery. Corruption, which is deep-rooted in Kenya, has largely been blamed for scaling down domestic saving and investment and the misallocation of inventive talent. While in the last few decades transparency and accountability have been catchwords in the Public Service of Kenya, this is yet to completely tame corruption therein. In response to the foregoing, the government of the Republic of Kenya while acknowledging that corruption is serious development bottleneck, has come up with several control mechanisms to fight it. The foregoing is the institutional framework that is expected to provide the necessary guidelines on the conduct of government business as well as check against individuals and institutions that act otherwise. This is a review paper whose gist is to appraise and analyze the existing institutional framework for transparency and accountability with particular emphasis on the Public Service of Kenya. It henceforth points out the challenges inherent in implementing the institutional framework and suggests the legalpolicy reforms as panacea to augment transparency and accountability in public service.