‘Old Townism’: A Generational Discord

The heritage space of Old Town Mombasa is undergoing social evolution in terms of the demographic composition and the changing desires of the varying generations. The study sought to measure the perceived correlation between motorised transport, the veritable exemplification of misconstrued development, and conservation efforts within the Old Town heritage space. The qualitative analysis indicates that the top-down approach and limited economic development over time have left the younger generation of local residents lacking a sense of ownership and disparity with conservation objectives. The study recommends social re-engineering that will capture the ideologies of ‘Old Townism’ and create a beneficial sense of belonging.

School Management Committee Monitoring Skills and Performance of Government Aided Muslim Founded Primary Schools in Uganda: A Case of Bugisu Muslim District Council

The performance of Muslim Founded educational institutions has picked a lot of interest globally over the years. The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council established structures at different levels of administration to participate in the monitoring of Muslim-founded Schools. This study premised on Osborne and Gaebler's (1992) constructs of monitoring, aimed at investigating how monitoring skills of the foundation body representatives on the School Management Committees contribute to the performance of Government Aided Muslim Founded Primary Schools in Uganda, taking a case of the BMDC. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was adopted for this study, with quantitative and qualitative data approaches, while multivariable linear regression was used to obtain the magnitude of the contribution of SMC monitoring skills to the performance of the primary schools under BMDC. The study revealed that monitoring skills have a positive correlation with the performance of the Government Aided Muslim Founded Primary Schools, though, the correlation is moderate. The moderate correlation is caused by insufficient monitoring skills exhibited by the foundation body representatives in areas such as the development of performance indicators, collection of relevant data during monitoring, designing of monitoring tools, and usage of appropriate methods during monitoring. The study, therefore, concluded that such insufficient monitoring skills have hindered them to adequately monitor which has partly affected the performance of the schools. It is as such recommended that BMDC needs to incorporate specific non-financial empowerment capacity-building components into school activities tailored to train the members on the SMC in aspects of monitoring and evaluation, adult literacy, and financial literacy for improved skills, knowledge, and leadership.

Influence of Women in Leadership in the African Society: A Case of Women Characters in Selected Kiswahili Plays.

Research suggests that women in leadership positions pose different and extra challenges as compared to their male counterparts. Yet, the number of women leaders has grown but they are still a small group that is appreciated. This has made the list of their numbers be still relatively low. Leadership studies have focused on the upbringing and traits of a leader, decision making, psychology of leaders, and so on but less work has been devoted on the influence of women in leadership in the African society as portrayed in written literature. Literature is the greatest asset in any society this century. There is a rich literature base on women in leadership. Surprisingly little research has been devoted to their portfolio influence. Due to this insufficient attention, this study has built profiles of four selected women leaders in Kiswahili plays. It has paid attention to the uniqueness of women leaders and analysed their role and how they are challenged as officeholders on account of their sex. The theory of feminism- a look at the African society was used to help achieve its main tenets like gender equality, gender issues, characterisation based on traits, and thematic focus on plays was used to study this objective. The purposive sampling design was relevant because it proved to provide reliable data for the study by homogeneously analysing written Kiswahili plays. The literature texts used contained few relevant cases where in-depth analysis related to the central issue was studied. The study concluded that women leaders have a great role and have made great strides in leadership, especially in changing the negative perception the continent has on them, that they cannot lead while men exist.

Compulsory Heterosexuality and Homophobia: Reading of Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta and The World Unseen by Shamim Sarif

Traditionally, sexuality has often been determined by one’s gender and has further been complicated by heterosexism and homophobic ideas. This paper examines the topic of sexuality as portrayed in fiction from selected literary texts. It constitutes the discussion of various factors that affect people at different levels in association with same-sex relationships, as reflected in the literary texts. The main objective of the paper is to analyse how heteronormative societies respond to lesbian homosexuality. To establish this argument, this paper explores Sarif’s The World Unseen (2007) and Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees (2015). It seeks to answer the question: what is (are) the response(s) of heteronormative society to lesbianism in the selected texts. Ultimately it hopes to contribute to the existing but limited research on understanding experiences of lesbian homosexuals by shedding light on cultural practices that are put in place in an attempt to normalise heterosexuality. The paper utilises Judith Butler’s Queer theory to achieve its objective. The significant concern in this theory is the correlation between gender and sex. The major tenets being gender performativity, the fluid nature of sexuality, and the deconstruction of characterisation structures.

Ethical Considerations for Community Based Psychosocial Accompaniment: Towards a Strengthened Mental Health Response amidst Covid-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020 thwarted and continues to disrupt the strides made in the provision of health services including mental health. Mental health stability is vital to personal wellbeing, the building of relationships and the making of notable contributions to society. This paper sought to situate the importance of psychosocial accompaniment within the community as one of the strategies of responding to mental health challenges that are usually compounded by stigma and discrimination. Content analysis of relational actions prompted by the infectious Covid-19 pandemic formed the basis of this article. Ethical considerations of justice and mutual trust are advanced as foundational values in a community of relations that can easily and practically respond to mental health instability amidst contagious epidemics. The study employed reported experiences of distress emanating from life disruptions that significantly led to poorer mental health in order to urge for psychosocial accompaniment that is founded within the community level. Close relations within the community are lauded as a practical strategy of enhancing and strengthening mental health response amidst contagious pandemics, such as Covid-19.

Effects of Drug Abuse in Schools and Homes in Kenya.

The intensity of drug abuse has been a major concern in recent years. It has invaded homes, schools, and workplaces, affecting individuals of all ages and classes (UNDCP, 1992). According to the World Drug Report 2007, approximately 200 million people, about 5% of the world’s population aged between 15 and 64 years, have used drugs at least once in the previous months. According to surveys of adolescent students in Nova Scotia in Canada, carried out in 1991 and 1996, over one-fifth (21.9%) of the students reported having used alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. The researcher used a survey study. The respondents were drawn from stratified regions. The selected regions were Coast, Nyanza, and Nairobi. The schools sampled were registered with the ministry of education science and technology. They were categorized into national, county, and sub-county schools, boys and girls, mixed boarding, and mixed schools. Questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from students and teachers.

Perceptions Towards the Effectiveness of E-Learning in Private and Public Universities in Uganda: A Comparative Study.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made universities in Uganda to re-think the way education is delivered in challenging situations without sacrificing the intended objectives of university education. This study investigates the perception of both students and lecturers in private and public universities towards the effectiveness of e-learning. The study followed a quantitative approach and a cross-sectional survey design. The study sample consisted of students and lecturers in the departments of the Arts and Social sciences conveniently selected based on their willingness to participate. The study objectives were 1) to investigate whether there exists a difference in perception towards e-learning effectiveness between students in private and public universities 2) to investigate whether there exists a difference in perception towards e-learning effectiveness between lecturers in private and public universities. The two-sample t-test with equal variance was used to analyse the data. The study findings revealed the existence of a significant difference in perceptions towards e-learning effectiveness between students in private and public universities (p = 0.0000 < 0.05), and between lecturers in private and public universities (p = 0.0000 < 0.05). It is concluded that the apparent differences in perception are better explained by the state of readiness to adopt e-learning by both students and lecturers in private and public universities. It is recommended that universities obtain the necessary ICT infrastructure to support e-learning, make it easily accessible, and continuously train both students and lecturers in e-learning methodologies. It is also recommended that e-learning methodologies become an integral part of the teaching-learning methodologies in universities.

Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia: Reflecting on Diversity and Ethnic Identity

Ethiopia formed an ethnic federal system in 1991, which recognized ethnic autonomy entirely while ensuring the country’s unity. The new Constitution established a federal structure focused primarily on ethnic territorial units. The constitution ambitions to achieve ethnic freedom and equality by maintaining the state. Ethiopian politics has shifted to a federal liberal and plural system since the military dictatorship ended, as ethnic groups sought to exist under a federal structure that could preserve the country’s stability and diversity. The federal arrangement is noteworthy because its Constitution allows for the inheritance of every ethnic group. It supports an ethicised federal state with a secession mechanism and allows political parties to unite along ethnic lines. It is a worthwhile case study because it is an exception to the general trend in Africa. This paper examines how ethnic Federalism is a vital part of the Ethiopian Constitution and gives ethnic autonomy and identity in Ethiopian politics. Theoretical understanding of Federalism and ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia.

Broadcast Media Entertainment and Attitude Cultivation: A Study of Obscene Programme Viewership by College Students

This study examined broadcast media entertainment and attitude cultivation, a study of behavioural patterns of College Students. It is a survey designs study that investigated undergraduate communication students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State and Moshood Abiola Polytechnics, Ogun State. Systematic random sampling was adopted to select a sample size of three hundred (300) communication students of the two institutions as respondents for this study. Programmes such as films, soap operas and musicals, etcetera were units considered. The theoretical framework is premised on the cultivation theory and gratification theory. Its analysis was hinged on the simple percentage statistical calculation. The study outcome showed that youth crave satisfaction in the entertainment programmes they watch and that entertainment programmes like musical videos, foreign and local drama do portray obscenity which brings about delinquent behaviour in the younger generation. It was recommended that producers and directors of entertainment products should be conscious of young people who form the chunk of their audience to eliminate obscenity in programme production, while parents should control the level of media exposure of their wards

Will Kymlicka’s Idea of Multicultural Citizenship Rights and the Nigeria Federation

Will Kymlicka is a Canadian political philosopher using his Federal Canadian society as a basis argued for the recognition of minority rights, in what he calls multicultural citizenship. His idea is that the claims to self-determination or autonomy, protection of a distinct cultural language and special representation need to be accommodated. National minorities should not be forced to integrate as this can lead to violence. Without recognizing the group rights of ethnicities, they will be culturally disadvantaged. Using Kymlicka’s idea in an analytical manner, this paper applies his theory to the Nigerian federation. Despite many years of operating so-called federalism, the system is be-devilled by ethnic agitations, violent militancy, youth restiveness, and many other social ills. The paper theorizes that failure to operate a true federal structure that recognizes and fully accommodates minority rights is a key problem responsible for these social ills. Nigeria is a weak and troubled federation where the rights of national minorities are often neglected, suppressed and denied. When it comes to language, the languages of the three dominant groups in terms of population are privileged over others. Representations in both state and federal establishments are often in favour of dominant ethnic groups. The cries for autonomy and restructuring of the federation are often not heeded. The paper argues that accommodating the rights of minorities can help them integrate and foster a sense of equality in a true federation. It also argues that beyond restructuring, ethical leadership is needed to move the federation forward. The paper finds and concludes that some ideas of Kymlicka can help in creating a peaceful and unified federal Nigeria