https://repository.seku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/19 2026-11-02T01:41:32Z 2026-11-02T01:41:32Z Kimatu, Josphert N. Ndeto, Esther M. https://repository.seku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/8448 2026-09-29T08:59:00Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Services-enabled industrialisation in Kenya: Evidence and policy priorities, 2006–2024 Kimatu, Josphert N.; Ndeto, Esther M. Kenya’s service-sector expansion has not automatically produced structural transformation. This article combines descriptive World Development Indicators for 2006–2024 with a structured integrative synthesis of peer-reviewed and institutional evidence. It assesses how services can support productivity, exports, employment and production linkages. Services increased from 50.4% to 55.7% of GDP between 2006 and 2024, while their employment share rose from 33.1% to 41.2%. Over the same period, industry’s share of GDP declined from 19.4% to 16.3%. Average services growth exceeded overall GDP growth. However, services trade fell from 14.9% to 11.4% of GDP, indicating weak external orientation. The article develops a five-channel framework and differentiates six service portfolios using scalability, tradability, linkages and inclusion. It concludes that Kenya should combine modern tradable services, production-enabling services and upgraded local services. The study offers a diagnostic policy framework rather than causal estimates. https://doi.org/10.52589/AJESD-GGA7DDUC

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Kimatu, Josphert N. https://repository.seku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/8446 2026-09-25T09:27:26Z 2026-06-03T00:00:00Z

The big five barriers before merit: A conceptual framework for anti-merit recruitment in public administration Kimatu, Josphert N. Merit-based public employment is widely associated with stronger bureaucratic competence, impartiality, and institutional legitimacy. Yet scholarships on anti-merit recruitment remain fragmented across separate literatures on nepotism, ethnic favoritism, religious discrimination, cronyism, and corruption. This article develops a conceptual framework that unifies these practices as rival principles of allocation operating before merit. The central argument is that merit in public employment rests on two jointly necessary foundations: competence and impartiality. Recruitment becomes anti-merit when sequentially; family ties, ethnic identity, religious affiliation, personal loyalty, or bribery become more decisive than qualification and fitness for office. The article theorizes these five distinct mechanisms through which merit is displaced: nepotism privileges kinship, tribalism privileges group identity, religion-based favoritism reshapes perceived fitness, cronyism rewards insider loyalty, and corruption commodifies access to employment. Although these mechanisms differ, they converge in weakening neutral competence, organizational trust, fairness in selection, and institutional legitimacy. The article contributes to public administration theory by integrating these barriers into a single framework of anti-merit recruitment. It distinguishes lawful inclusion from illegitimate favoritism, and clarifying the difference between religion as a basis for exclusion before appointment and religiosity as a possible source of motivation after appointment. It concludes by advancing a set of propositions for future empirical research and by outlining governance reforms that can strengthen merit-based recruitment in public institutions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2026.100500441

2026-06-03T00:00:00Z Matsitsi, Stanley M. Linturi, James M. Kebwaro, Jeremiah M. Omonya, Felix W. Mutua, Onesmus J. https://repository.seku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/8443 2026-09-24T08:21:43Z 2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Occupational radiation dose and ambient dose characterization in selected healthcare facilities in Kitui County, Kenya Matsitsi, Stanley M.; Linturi, James M.; Kebwaro, Jeremiah M.; Omonya, Felix W.; Mutua, Onesmus J. Radiation exposure during diagnostic radiology remains a critical occupational radiation safety concern as the global volume and complexity of medical imaging procedures continue to increase. This study assessed personal dose equivalents received by 14 radiographers in three high-workload hospitals in Kitui County, Kenya. Personal dose equivalents were monitored monthly for three consecutive months using TLD-100 (LiF:Mg,Ti) dosimeters, with readouts performed using the Harshaw 8800 reader system at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Descriptive analysis showed modest inter-hospital variability in occupational doses, which may reflect differences in workload, examination practices, and occupational positioning. The mean monthly personal dose equivalents for Hp(0.07) ranged from 0.112 to 0.246 mSv, while those for Hp(10) ranged from 0.101 to 0.205 mSv. Across all monitored worker-month observations, the pooled mean personal dose equivalents were 0.156 mSv for Hp(0.07) and 0.141 mSv for Hp(10), corresponding to annualized projections of 1.87 and 1.69 mSv y⁻¹, respectively, assuming comparable exposure conditions throughout the year. Ambient dose-equivalent rates, H*(10), measured in 61 rooms across five selected hospitals, ranged from 0.09 to 0.34 μSv•h⁻¹, with a mean dose-equivalent rate of 0.198 ± 0.026 μSv•h⁻¹. Under an assumed indoor occupancy factor of 0.8, the corresponding annualized ambient dose equivalent ranged from 0.63 to 2.38 mSv•y⁻¹, with a mean of 1.388 mSv•y⁻¹. The findings indicate relatively low occupational personal dose equivalents and ambient dose-equivalent rates across the surveyed facilities, although continued occupational monitoring and optimization of radiation-protection practices remain warranted. https://doi.org/10.47514/phyaccess.2026.6.2.014

2026-09-07T00:00:00Z Mbala, Simon Mwanzia, David K. Akuja, Thomas E. Kioli, Felix N. Maithya, Harrison M. https://repository.seku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/8439 2026-09-23T07:08:01Z 2026-09-22T00:00:00Z

The role of agricultural extension services in promoting climate-smart agriculture adoption among smallholder farmers in Mwingi West sub-county Kitui County, Kenya Mbala, Simon; Mwanzia, David K.; Akuja, Thomas E.; Kioli, Felix N.; Maithya, Harrison M. Agricultural extension services provide smallholder farmers with knowledge, technical guidance, and advisory support that can facilitate the adoption of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices. This study examined the role of agricultural extension services in promoting CSA adoption among smallholder farmers in Mwingi West Sub-County, Kitui County, Kenya. A cross-sectional mixed-methods design was used. Quantitative data were collected from 200 randomly selected farmers through structured questionnaires, while qualitative evidence was obtained from 10 agricultural extension officers and 10 focus group discussions with farmer groups. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test of independence. Significant associations were reported between CSA adoption and access to agricultural extension services, the source of extension information, type of extension support received, frequency of extension contact, perceived usefulness of extension services, CSA practices promoted through extension, and farmers’ perceived influence of extension services on adoption. Most respondents (82.0%) had access to extension services. Extension agents were the main information source (46.0%), and technical training was the most frequently reported support (38.0%). Conservation agriculture (30.0%), agroforestry (22.0%), and water harvesting (19.0%) were the leading practices promoted through extension activities. Nearly half of respondents (48.0%) reported that extension services had increased CSA adoption to a great extent. The findings indicate that accessible, practical, and regular extension support is closely associated with CSA adoption in the study area. DOI: 10.9734/ajaees/2026/v44i103022

2026-09-22T00:00:00Z