Renewable energy investment has been under exploited in Africa in spite its ability to increase the estimated average regional Growth Domestic Product from the current 4% to more than 10%and Kenya in specific due to investor‘s negative perception of the regions high investment risk and low creditworthiness which retards the degree of private capital penetration. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of financial risk management instruments, communication strategy, and contract management on performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to establish how Alternative Risk Transfer influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya; to examine how Contingent capital influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya; to assess how Credit enhancement influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya; to determine how Hedging derivatives influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya; to examine how Insurance influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya; to assess how the combined financial risk management instruments influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya; to assess the moderating influence of Communication strategy on the relationship between financial risk management instruments and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya; to assess the mediating influence of Contract management on the relationship between combined financial risk management instruments and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya. The study was grounded on Prospect theory, Goal-Setting theory, Diffusion of innovation theory, and Agency theory. The study was underpinned on pragmatism paradigm, mixed method approach, descriptive survey and correlational research design. Structured questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a census of 94 participants. Validity test was done on the instruments and a coefficient of 0.775 obtained while reliability coefficient was 0.781. Analysis involved both descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics of Correlation and Regression at a significance level of 0.05 with the aid of SPSS version 25 and thematic content analysis of qualitative data for triangulation. Eight hypotheses were tested at α=0.05 and the results were: 1. H0: There is no significant relationship between Alternative Risk Transfer and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05; 2. H0: There is no significant relationship between Contingent capital and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05; 3. H0: There is no significant relationship between Credit enhancement and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05; 4. H0: There is no significant relationship between Hedging derivatives and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05; 5. H0: There is no significant relationship between Insurance and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05; 6. H0: There is no significant relationship between the combined financial risk management instruments and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05; 7. H0: Communication strategy does not significantly moderate the relationship between financial risk management instruments and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05;and 8. H0: Contract Management does not significantly mediate the relationship between financial risk management instruments and performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05. Therefore the study concluded that Alternative Risk Transfer, Contingent Capital, Credit Enhancement, Hedging Derivatives and Insurance have a significant influence on performance of hydroelectric energy projects. Equally, the moderating effect of Communication Strategy and mediating effect of Contract Management have a significant influence on the relationship between financial risk management instruments and performance of hydroelectric energy projects. It is recommended that Project management and policy makers should integrate appropriate financial risk management instruments to improve performance of hydroelectric energy projects besides developing targeted policies for strengthening implementation of the financial risk management instruments to boost investors and lenders confidence.

Economic growth coupled with urban population rise have necessitated the need for construction of buildings. The process of implementing construction project in the building sector is usually undertaken by individuals with diverse values, knowledge, and socialcategories. This study mainly looked at how diversities among members of a construction project influences the implementation process. This was studied by looking at how diversities among the workers involved in implementation of the project in terms of their knowledge differences, value differences, and differences in their social categories, influence the whole implementation process. It further looked at the influence of the three diversities combined on the implementation process of the construction projects via a moderation of interpersonal conflicts. Pragmatic paradigm and a descriptive research design were used in the study. 657 staff made up the population of target for the study, out of which 251 were sampled. Collection of data was by use of semi-structured questionnaires and conducting interviews. Data of quantitative nature was analysed for descriptive and inferential statistics, while that of qualitative nature was analysed thematically, then the results triangulated. The results from the quantitative data analysis were presented in tables as percentages, frequencies, means, and standard deviations. It was established that all the three diversities, that is, diversity in knowledge, social-categories, and values had positive changes of 10.4%, 5.8%, and 16.1% respectively on implementation process of building projects. When combined, the diversities accounted for 25.6% of the changes in the process of implementing construction projects of building nature. The moderation effect of interpersonal conflict was also found to be positive. The study recommends that while recruiting teams a mix of diverse attributes should be considered, since their differences complement each other. For further research, the study recommends that a longitudinal study be carried out to gain more insight the relationship between team diversity and implementation of building projects over a period

The world today is more vulnerable to environmental risks than it was two hundred years ago. Increasing evidence points to the fact that the planet has been moving from the safe operating space and it is now at a global crisis point. Manifesting this through floods, droughts and other climate extremes, we are now more than ever at a risk of crossing tipping points that shift the planet to a potentially catastrophic breakdown. While much research has been published about climate change science, not much has been published about the relationship between climate change and their implications to society and especially in developing countries. This study analyzed the impact of climate change on economic security in the great lakes region with a view to increase the understanding of this interaction. This research draws from a collection of societal aspects that were formerly ignored such as the environment, the economy, the military and the political environment. The main argument this study made is that the planetary boundaries that allowed and supported humanity and the biomes are all deeply connected. However, some are core boundaries that heavily impact on other aspects of planetary success and sustainability such that when one boundary is crossed, it generates tipping points that heavily amplify other societal risks that have serious existential implications. Climate and biodiversity are core boundaries and using global warming and erratic rainfall as key variables that I used to measure the correlation between climate boundaries and the economic aspect of security, this research has found that human activities and natural processes have heavily burdened these planetary boundaries to a great extent with irrefutably negative consequences.

The study sought to investigate the factors that have influenced public service delivery in the management of museums in Kenya in spite of the devolution. Specific objectives were to; establish how the transfer of administrative responsibilities has influenced the effectiveness of public service delivery by the museums in Kenya; assess how the influence of political goodwill has influenced the accessibility of services offered by the museums in Kenya; examine the transfer of fiscal responsibilities has influenced the cost of service delivery offered by museums in Kenya and analyze the challenges affecting the devolution process in the delivery of services by the museums in Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional design and utilized mixed-methods. The target population comprised County Staff (both middle level and Senior), MCAs (Members of the County Assembly, National Museums of Kenya staff (both middle level and senior) and experts in heritage management. A sample size of 113 respondents was considered. Data was collected using structured interviews as well as a rating Likert Scale questionnaire. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics where results from quantitative data were reported using percentages and presented in tables and charts. The study established that the transfer of administrative, political and fiscal responsibilities in the management of museums in Kenya has a direct influence on the provision of service delivery. The study provides evidence that availing capacity, requisite skills, adequate resource allocation, placing emphasis on research, human resource training and community outreach programmes with focus on educational programmes enhances the capacity of local museum personnel through delegation of vital institutional roles which positively impacts on the effectiveness, accessibility and the cost of service delivery offered by museums in Kenya. Challenges of devolution range from corruption at the county level, leadership wrangles and overlap of roles between the Executive and the County Assembly and between the National and County Government respectively. The study concluded that while devolution is still in its early stages of implementation at the Counties, there is need to strengthen the relationship between the National and County Governments; develop good heritage management policies and Acts through clear legal and policy frameworks and introduce stringent measures to curb the rampant cases of corruption and embezzlement of public resources. Further areas of research focused on the need to analyze the existing structural and technical capacity of County Governments and their effect on the service delivery; explore the extent to which the unbundling of the assets has affected service delivery and investigate the role of Inter- Governmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) in resolving conflicts arising between the National and County Governments and its effect on provision of services.

The double admissions of students in 1987/88 and 1990/91 academic years to public universities, elevation of middle level colleges to university status, introduction of module (II) programmes, growth of private universities, regulation of universities, reduction in government funding, among other happenings created serious challenges for all universities in Kenya. These rapid changes embedded in the concept of agility, motivated the study whose broad objective was to establish the relationship between organizational agility, product development processes, operational processes and performance of chartered universities in Kenya. Product development processes was hypothesised as a mediator and operational processes as a moderator to the relationship. The study was anchored on general systems theory, socio-technical systems theory, theory of constrains and collegial theory. The research paradigm was positivism while research designs included descriptive, cross sectional and census survey. Four objectives and corresponding hypotheses were formulated and subjected to descriptive, factor and regression analysis to describe the variables and predict the relationship between the independent and dependent variable. The unit of analysis was 48 chartered universities whereas the unit of observation was all Faculties/ Schools. Each sector was analysed separately because preliminary results were different. Regarding objective one, there was a significant positive relationship between organizational agility and performance of public universities but the same was negative and insignificant for private universities possibly because government drivers of agility affected public universities more but market drivers affected both. Private universities also had superior capabilities and reacted better to the drivers. On objective two, there was partial mediation on the relationship for public universities as hypothesised. Same test was not performed for private universities because the initial model was not significant. Objective four that focused on the joint effect of independent variables on performance was confirmed and operational processes were found to have the greatest contribution to performance of each sector. The findings were consistent with previous studies and supported the theoretical view that organizations are continuously exposed to changes in the business environment and their survival is dependent upon the ability to adapt through flexibility and adaptations that trigger creations and innovations. The study, therefore, extended the knowledge borders in operations management through the finding that organizational agility influences performance directly and through partial mediation of product development processes and moderation of operational processes. The findings provided various contributions to theory, policy and practice and were consistent with the theories except collegial theory which may be partially applicable when rapid change occurs. There is need to rethink collegium orientation of universities but maintaining their missions. Policy makers can utilize the findings to formulate policies aimed at better performance with respect to agility, product development and operational processes. Policies and practices supported by the findings will create awareness of how universities can take advantage of opportunities created by agility. Future studies may need to focus on effect of individual dimensions of organizational agility and measures of performance on public and private universities separately. A modified replication of the study across industries is recommended on a continuous basis. There was evidence to suggest that organizational agility interacts with product development processes and operational process to influence performance through other paths apart from what was studied.

The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship among capital structure, firm size, liquidity and financial performance of non-financial firms listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study first explored the relationship between capital structure and financial performance. The study then explored the moderating and intervening variables on this relationship. The joint effect of all these variables was also tested. The intervening variable liquidity had two indicators; asset liquidity and temporary investments. The moderating variable firm size had two indicators; total asset and total sales. Liquidity had two indicators asset liquidity and temporary investments. Asset liquidity was measured by current assets to current liabilities. Temporary investment was measured by the ratio of temporary investments to total assets. Capital structure had financial leverage as the indicator. Financial leverage is operationalized by debt-to-equity ratio. Financial performance was measured by Tobin’s Q. The study was anchored on the capital irrelevancy theory, the pecking order theory, the tradeoff theory, the agency cost theory and the information signaling theory. The study used secondary panel data which was obtained from 53 nonfinancial firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. This study is anchored on a positivism research philosophy because it is based on existing theory and it formulates quantitative hypotheses to be tested. Correlational descriptive research design is used to describe the relationships as they exist between specific variables. Secondary data was for the period 2010 to 2017. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple and simple regression analyses. The findings indicate a positive statistically significant effect of capital structure on financial performance. Liquidity has a statistically significant positive intervening effect on the relationship between capital structure and financial performance. Furthermore, firm size has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between capital structure and financial performance. These findings are inconsistent with the capital irrelevance theory. Conversely, these findings seem to support the tradeoff theory and the pecking order theory. The study concludes that firms should strive to increase their leverage since it has a statistically significant positive effect on the financial performance of the nonfinancial firms listed on the NSE. Similarly, firms should increase their liquidity by enhancing financial leverage which; according to the findings in this study if increased leads to increased financial performance. Firm managers should seek to grow their firm sizes. This is because larger firms have consistently increased the use of debt in their capital structure. Lenders often perceive larger firms as less risky consumers of credit because of their superior collateral structure. The study, therefore, recommends that firm managers, shareholders, practitioners, the government and other regulators should ensure that they advise and embrace the best firm financing option that helps improve firm financial performance thereby enhancing shareholders value. Further research needs to be conducted that involves the use of accounting-based measures of financial performance to bring a comparison on the study results obtained.

Customers are always rational in choosing items for consumption. Organizations are on the other hand careful to understand the consumers behavior in order for them to achieve a competitive advantage in the market. This study was premised on the four marketing mix elements: price, product, place, and promotion and the influence they have on the consumer behavior. The overall goal was to investigate how marketing mix elements affects the consumer purchasing Behaviour for smart appliances among retail outlets in Kenya. The research was guided by reasoned action theory, planned behavior theory, and asymmetric information theory. The research was descriptive. The study's population consisted of general public consumers of smart home appliances in sixteen leading Kenyan retail outlets of smart home appliances. The study used convenience sampling, with 80 respondents providing data for the study through face-to-face administration at Smart Home appliances outlets across the country. As a precaution against COVID-19, online surveys were also used. Data which was collected was analyzed through inferential as well as descriptive statistics. The study results revealed that smart home appliance purchase decisions are influenced by price, product features, and distribution channels/location. However, the study found that promotion strategies had a minor impact on smart appliance selection. The study found that the marketing mix elements (price, product, promotion strategies, and location) influenced smart home appliances' choice behaviors in Kenya's leading outlets in a significant and positive way. To increase consumer choice of their products, the study recommended that smart home appliances outlets offer discounts and offer smart home appliances at reasonable prices. Consequently, to increase smart home appliances consumption, the study recommended that smart home appliances outlets offer high-quality smart home appliances as well as sell brands that are well-known and appealing to consumers. The study also suggested that businesses promote their products through channels where customers can easily learn about their availability in stores and become familiar with how they are used, resulting in increased product consumption. Because so many people nowadays own a smartphone, the use of social media is one way that has recently gained a lot of attention where the appliance features can be published as well as the different places to find the smart appliances. Finally, the results recommend that smart home appliances’ handlers distribute their products through channels that ensure that smart home appliances are always available in stores and bring them closer to consume

This study examines the literariness of the personal essays of Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiong’o. It is the kind of literariness that is imbued with the respective artistic vision of each of essayist. By literariness, I am referring to the strategies of writing that deviate from the standard language, that rearrange the normal usage of language and that impart a degree of freshness in the text. The study is justified on account of the paucity of critical engagement with the literary aspects of this genre and it a response to claims in some quarters of Western literary scholarship that the personal essay in Anglophone Africa lacks personal intensity, is inauthentic, didactic and polemical. The objectives of this inquiry are: to analyse the stylistic choices made by Ngugi and Achebe and how they contribute to the literariness of the essays; to interrogate the similarities and differences in both their ideological positions and artistic visions in relation to the postcolonial condition; and to evaluate the similarities and differences in the literariness of their personal essays. The methodology for conducting this study included the literature review to select the relevant essays; intensive reading and analysis to examine how the essayists respond to key postcolonial thematic issues; intensive reading and analysis to identify the literariness and aesthetic value of the essays; a comparative interrogation of the literariness of their essays; and a comparative evaluation of their artistic visions. I have combined stylistics and selected postcolonial theories to establish not only how essayists orchestrate their stylistic choices to realise aesthetic effects but also how they articulate pertinent issues affecting the postcolonial condition. The study has revealed the divergent standpoints and contrastive tonality of Ngugi and Achebe on the use of imperial languages. While Ngugi advocates for indigenous languages, Achebe calls for the domestication of the foreign languages. The study demonstrates that Ngugi and Achebe have appropriated the genre from the West and refashioned it with traditional African forms, resulting in a marked and deliberate stylistic deviation from the genre’s European antecedent. This deviation imbues the essays with various shades of literariness. The essayists have achieved unique literariness by appropriating the African archive from which they have adapted proverbs, fables, songs, anecdotes, allusions, metaphors, politeness, rhetorical cataloguing and the persuasive rhetorical style. The adaptation of these stylistic devices into a European genre echoes the postcolonial realities of hybridity and cosmopolitanism, pointing towards the artistic vision of the two writers. From the comparative study of the two essayists, this analysis has brought out both the contrast and similarity in the organising principles underpinning their essays, their artistic visions, and some noticeable gaps in their artistic visions. Achebe enacts accommodative resistance against the West, while Ngugi’s resistance is more militant, strident and socialist. Finally, the study suggests that there is need to undertake research on African women essayists, emerging strands of this genre and its expression in new media such as the cyberspace.

The thesis presents a critical study of the situation of the woman in contemporary Ugandan novels by women writers in the country. The study examines Ugandan women writers‘ attempt to construct their identity within repressive patriarchal situations while emphasizing the role women have played and continue to play in the construction of the Ugandan nation. The novels studied for this research are Silent Patience by Jane Kaberuka, The Invisible Weevil by Mary Okurut and Cassandra by Violet Barungi. The study investigates how the novelists write women into Ugandan political and social history. This comes against the backdrop of initially stifled voices of Ugandan female writers or perhaps what Lloyd Brown calls ‗other voices‘ in reference to women‘s writing in Africa – rarely discussed and seldom accorded space. The study is guided by a set of objectives: to examine Ugandan women writers‘ contribution to the development of the Ugandan literary space in Jane Kaberuka‘s Silent Patience; to investigate Uganda women writers‘ narration of the Ugandan nation in Mary Okurut‘s The Invisible Weevil; to interrogate how women writers in the country adapt to the changing social norms and centre women in Uganda‘s history in order to link it to societal challenges in contemporary society and; to compare and situate the Ugandan novel within the corpus of women‘s writing in Africa. Utilizing an eclectic theoretical approach, the study employs the feminist theory, specifically Elaine Showalter‘s arguments on Gynocriticism. Besides, New Historicism is found crucial in examining the perspectives that are critical in contextualizing the study and the historiography that the novels reveal. Narratology as propounded by Gerard Genette is also critical in the analysis of the salient stylistic aspects of the selected texts. Charles Ragin‘s Case Oriented Methodology provides a foundation upon which each novel has been sampled as a case study that represents female writing in Uganda. Finally, the study engages in a comparative reading of the selected novels to evaluate how they collectively contribute to re-writing Uganda‘s political and social history and how they can be compared to other contemporary novels written by female writers on the African continent. In particular, the study establishes that the authors endeavor to centre women as agents of change in nation building and social transformation in the contemporary Ugandan society, thereby correcting the often known common view of linking only the men with this very noble duty. The study further found out that the deployment of the bildungsroman tradition of writing as a narrative technique parallels the growth of the woman and the nation alongside that of the family and also uses the family as an allegory for the nation.

Maternal Health is a significant and central human right and a vital element of sustainable development. Inefficiency in M&E is among the significant management stages have significantly contributed to operations failure in government institutions. Inefficiency in M&E is among the significant management stages have significantly contributed to operations failure in government institutions institutions. The study therefore purposes to the relationship between monitoring and evaluation, contextual and behavioural determinants1 and performance of maternal health programmes (MHP) in Kenyan County Governments. The objectives of the study were to; establish how planning for M&E, stakeholder engagement, capacity building for M&E, contextual determinants and behavioral determinants influence performance of MHP in Kenyan County Governments, examine the moderating influence of contextual determinants and behavioral determinants on link amid practices for monitoring and evaluation and performance of MHP in Kenyan County Governments and assess the combined moderating influence of contextual determinants and behavioral determinants on link of practices for monitoring and evaluation and performance of MHP in Kenyan County Governments. This study was1 anchored on the program theory, contingency theory, stewardship theory principal agent theory and the theory of constraints. Pragmatism served as the study's paradigm. A mixed method research design was used in this study. The study targeted 388 hospitals from nine counties (Appendix IV). The unit of analysis was 1165 people, including employees from level 4 and 5 hospitals. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain 282 respondents. The research instruments for the study included a self-administered structured questionnaire, interview guides and an observation guide. Using descriptive narratives, qualitative data was evaluated within specific topics. Measures of central tendencies and measures of dispersion were used to descriptively assess quantitative1 data. The study hypotheses were tested using regression. Frequency tables were used to present the data. The qualitative data revealed that resources were allocated by gathering information and assessment in order to meet the desired goals, through use of indicators of tracking processes and progress within each public sector departments, and efficiency in delivery and performance is the policy statement. The study discovered a high relationship between county maternal health program success and M&E planning (r=0.859, p=0.000<0.05); stakeholder participation in M&E (r=0.838 and p=0.000<0.05); capacity building for M&E (r=0.796, p=0.000<0.05); data management for M&E(r=0.855, p=0.001<0.05); contextual determinants1 (r=0.877, p=0.002<0.05) and behavioral determinants (r=0.843, p=0.012<0.05). The study discovered that when contextual determinants were introduced into the relationship and the interaction terms in model 3 rised the R square by 0.141. This means that the interaction amid contextual determinants and combined M&E practices describes 14.1% alterations in performance of CMHP. The research found that after introduction of behavioural determinants into the link, and the interaction term in model 3 rose the R square by 0.066. This denotes that the collaboration between behavioral determinants and combined M&E practices describes 6.6% variations in performance of CMHP. The study concluded that planning for M&E had the greatest influence on the performance of MHP, followed by data management for M&E, then stakeholder’s engagement in M&E, while capacity building for M&E had the least influence. For the program's effectiveness, the study suggests that management develop an effective methodology as well as raise awareness of M&E activities.