Strategies for Reform in Kenya: Development of Equality

Strategies for Reform in Kenya: Development of Equality STUDENT: CHRIS MUGO NDIRANGU REG.NO: 1021356 Question Reform agenda in Kenya, committees, parties involved and previous practices INTRODUCTION Reforms are about bringing positive change in any country or administration. It’s about becoming better through the removal of false and error or by correcting malpractice, especially of a moral and social kind. Reforms are about enhancing value and qualities. In Kenya various reforms have been initiated particularly with the adoption of a new constitution in 2010. Various committees and parties have been involved in the reform agenda. The following then are some of the reforms initiated in Kenya. Measures to Curb Corruption According to Transparency International corruption index of 2013 Kenya ranked number 136 out of 177 in the world. This indicates the high level of corruption in the country. Indeed corruption is endemic to Kenya. It has contributed to wastage and misuse of national resources. Thus the new constitution has a number of provisions to allow for stronger checks and balances to curb corruption. Generally the constitution ensures the supremacy of parliament where parliament scrutinizes the executive to ensure it does not abuse its mandate and also scrutinizing state finances. This ensures no wastage or loss of funds occurs through corruption. Other than parliament the constitution provides for a commission that will work to curb corruption in government. The establishment of this commission is key in Kenya’s reform agenda. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has since been established and given the following functions under the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act, 2011. Some of the functions include: Ensure compliance with, and enforcement of, the provisions of the Constitution in relation to ethics, integrity and anti-corruption Develop and promote standards and best practices in ethics, integrity and anti-corruption Receive complaints on allegations of breach of the ethical principles or code of conduct by a public officer Investigate and prosecute any acts of corruption Recommend appropriate action to be taken against public officers alleged to have engaged in unethical conduct Develop a comprehensive national strategy to combat corruption and economic crime Promote ethics and ethical conduct among public officers, the private sector and the public in general. Decentralization of Government This arguably is the biggest reform initiated by the constitution. This is the ceding of power and autonomy by national governments to the counties. The constitution devolves power closer to the people at the grassroots. This diffuses political power and avoids on group or ethnic community from dominating the country by winning national elections throughout. Thus preventing political violence as witnessed in the 2007/2008. The constitutions allows for the following: Establishment of counties that replace the previous administrative units of provinces and districts. Creation of 47 counties where each county has an executive committee led by a governor and a deputy governor elected for a maximum of two terms Creation of county assemblies composed of elected members. Devolution of health services, infrastructure among other functions from the national government to the county government. The county governments are also empowered to impose levies and permit fees to support its development needs. The reform agenda of devolution or decentralization of the Government is intended to achieve the following political, social and economic goals by: Enhancing the principles of democracy Bringing power closer to the people and increase public participation in policy-making Enable greater responsiveness to the needs and opportunities for people at the grassroots level Establish new hubs of economic growth away from the capital city Promote equitable development across the country In ensuring smooth transition of national government functions to county government a County Transitional Authority has been formed under the Transition to Devolved Government Act, 2011. The main function of the authority shall be to facilitate a coordinated transition to county governments. Other functions include: Facilitate comprehensive and effective transfer as provided for under the constitution Oversee transfer of assets, liabilities and staff of national governments and local authorities to county governments Carry out an audit of the existing assets and infrastructure of the national government and local authorities with respect to devolved functions Develop and implement training programmes for county government staff Resolve disputes over transition issues between the nation and land county governments Women rights and marginalised groups This is one of the major issues in Kenya’s reform agenda over the past decade. Women rights groups and marginalised groups have pushed for reforms that would allow for greater participation and recognition in the running of affairs in the country. This is especially in government political sphere. The major reforms regarding women are entrenched in the new constitution. According to (Mugambi, 2010) the purpose of these constitutional gains on the side of women are to preserve their dignity and to promote social justice. The constitution ; ensures that women are able to pass on citizenship to their children regardless of whether they are married to Kenyans or not, eliminates gender discrimination in relation to land and property. The greatest provision in relation to women and of major significance is that the constitution provides that a one third requirement for either gender in elective bodies. This translates to women occupying at least 1/3 in elective institutions. This rule has a major shortcoming as citizens cannot be forced to elect women in order to achieve the gender threshold. The constitution also provides for the election of women representatives for each county who shall sit in parliament. Marginalised groups have also benefitted from the reforms being initiated in government. These marginalised groups include youth, marginalised communities and the disabled. The constitution provides that for the nomination of members of this group into parliament and county assemblies. The youth have also benefitted from the creation of funds that will enable them to set up businesses and earn income. An example of this is the creation of the Uwezo fund. The government has also formulated a policy of awarding contracts and tenders to youth groups and women. The policy states that 30% of the contracts and tenders shall be awarded to women and the youth. Performance Contracting The Kenyan government has been characterized with long bureaucratic procedures, inefficiency, lack of accountability which translates to high levels of corruption and wastage of resources. This results into poor economic performance. The government has however been adopting measures to change the common bad practices. This government hopes will change the perception and attitude towards government in service delivery. The government has thus initiated reforms in the public sector to gain public confidence both locally and internationally. Key to this reforms is performance contracting. Performance contracting is a mechanism under the public sector reforms that aims at improving performance of the Public sector through setting clear objectives. It involves setting simple, measurable, accurate, realistic and time-bound targets. Specifying agent performance in terms of results and assigning accountability for those results, increasing transparency and accountability in public institutions, establishing clear reporting, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of the projects. Performance contracting is done on a quarterly basis. At the end of every quarter, government institutions submit their quarterly reports and finally annual report to relevant agency. Feedbacks then are sent to the government institutions for improvements. The first procedure in performance contracting process is target formulation. The government institution sets targets based on the following indicators; financial, service delivery, non-financial, operational and dynamics. A work-plan/ implementation schedule based on its departmental plans is formulated. The plan indicates with activities hoped to be accomplished in the contract year. The second procedure is Negotiations. The targets set are negotiated on the basis of available resources, time frame and relevancy to existing policy documents. The third is vetting. The targets in this stage are looked at again. The fourth stage is signing. The contract is signed by the relevant heads of the institution and the monitoring agency. This shows commitment by both parties towards the attainment of the set targets. The fifth stage is implementation. The government institutions implement their agreed contracts and work towards achieving the set targets within the specified time frame. The si xth and final stage is reporting. The reporting is done on a quarterly basis which culminates in an annual report to the relevant reporting authorities. Performance contracting is important because of the following reasons; Helps in fast tracking existing plans in a government institution and a countries strategic plan example Kenya’s vision 2030 Proper coordination of projects is achieved through the development of intense monitoring and evaluation system so as to achieve the set target Setting of higher targets in every contract period leads to improvement in efficiency. Public servants have the opportunity to be recognised thus motivates them to perform Performance contracting has led to the emergence of a competitive Public Service which enhances their growth and development. REFERENCES Mugambi, M. (2010, March 28). Constitutional Gains for Kenyan Women. Retrieved March 20, 2014, from Academia.edu: www.academia.edu Constitution of Kenya.2010 Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act, 2011. Transition to Devolved Government Act, 2011.

The Basics Of A Hard Drive :: essays research papers

The Basics of A Hard Drive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I'm sure, by now you have used a computer be it to play games or write a paper. But do you know how a computer works and runs all the programs you what it to? Well if not I will tell you. To begin with I will explain a little about the history about the computers history. About 50 years or maybe a little longer someone came up with the thought that all the boring stuff like math could be automated so humans would not have to do it all. Hence the computer, as to who exactly I could not tell you. That person than began to work with his Idea and figured out that if he could turn a machine on and off at a specified time for a specified time he could in a way alter what it could do. To turn it on and off he came up with a very interesting way, he used a sheet that looked almost like a scantron sheet but with holes and those holes where used to turn it on and off. The holes represented 1s and the noholes 0s. the 1s turned it on an the 0s turned it off. With this knowledge he began to make little programs that could solve math problems. I guess he must have gotten bored with the math or something because he came up with a way to let him play tic-tack toe with the computer, which by the way was the first came ever to be created on the computer. Now there is one more thing you have to know about this computer, the computer was half the size of West High Schools gym. And it was thought that when it was ecomoical for people to own there own computer it would fill a decent size room. Could you imagine a computer filling up your entire living room, where wolud you put your TV? But with the invetion of keyboards and nanotechnology they reduced the size of the computer by nearly 200% and every year the keep getting smaller and smaller and it is estimated that nearly 85 to 90 percent of American homes have at least one computer in their home.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Now that I have bored you to death with the history of computers here's the fun stuff.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Programs that let you play games and surf the net aren't just ideas put in a niffty little box and sold. They are ideas put on paper then translated into a really, really huge math problem that the computer can understand, after

Warcraft III: Dota

What is Dota? Dota or Protection of the historical is a personalized scenario for the true-time strategy video video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and it's growth, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, dependent on the â€Å"Aeon of Strife† map for StarCraft. The objective of the scenario is for each crew to ruin the opponents' Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Players use strong units recognized as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called â€Å"creeps†. As in purpose-playing games, people level up their hero and use gold to acquire tools for the duration of the mission.Does Dota truly have an effect on the youth nowadays? Does it support the youth right now? Or it corrupts the minds of the youth who are playing this video game? Allow us search at Dota's positive aspects and disadvantages. Dota will help the youth who are actively playing this sport to turn into mentally inform, cooperative, and strate gic. It also increases their knowledge in mathematics by computing the gold's, damages, magic and bodily reduction present in the gaming. In fact, Dota really helps the youth by enjoying this game. In the other hand, enjoying this game with out time conduite and priority can lead to irresponsibility.Beginning from their obligations, the youth spend far more time enjoying this video game fairly than doing their duties. Research had been forgotten, college students grew to become lazy, and relationships with the family members had been also impacted due to the fact of this video game. Enjoying this sport also triggers the player to lose his/her temper and values. Why? It simply since of the distinct languages employed during the game or what we called â€Å"Trash talks†. Trash talks such as foul languages can really eliminate their temper and values. As a end result, the both sides will battle from every single†¦

Organizational Behavior and Leadership Quiz Questions

Employees A and B work together on the same project team. When the team faces a complex and difficult problem, the team leader usually asks B to generate alternative solutions for the team to consider. Experience has shown that B actively searches for additional information and is more likely to take initiative and to feel that the team can effectively influence the outcomes of its actions. Employee A tends to do well on jobs that are well structured and routine and feels that the outcomes of the teams actions are determined by luck or chance. Employee A exhibits an external locus of control, and employee B exhibits an internal locus of control. Employee B was upset by Employee As behavior at the departments planning meeting.†¦show more content†¦How should the team leader attempt to resolve the problem? Coach the team through the difficulty Which option defines organizational culture? A shared system of meanings that is unique to the organization Which attributes are included in the seven primary characteristics that define an organizations culture? Attention to detail, innovation and risk taking, people orientation What is one of the forces that plays a particularly important role in sustaining an organizations culture? Socialization process How can an organization transmit its culture to its employees? By using material symbols and specific language When is organizational culture considered dysfunctional? When cultural incompatibility deters making acquisitions or mergers What is an advantage of a strong organizational culture? The company has low employee turnover How might a charismatic leader work to increase performance in an organization? Articulate an appealing vision. Which contingency theory of leadership proposes that early in the interaction between a leader and a given follower the leader implicitly categorizes the follower as an in or an out? 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