Since Operation Linda Nchi started, the war has claimed several lives, especially some Kenyan soldiers deployed in Somalia. Some Kenya Defense Forces soldiers have been left paralyzed, while others still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders. Some returnees have found it difficult to integrate into society on return, while some feel abandoned by the state after such fierce combat. In all the cases, the families of these soldiers seem to be suffering both psychosocially and economically. There is evidence that, upon return, the soldiers tend to suffer more than deployment. Some of the family members also end up spending huge sums of money to treat their beloved ones. Therefore, this study arose against this backdrop to explore the psychosocial and economic impacts of Operation Linda Nchi on KDF soldiers and their families. Specifically, the study assessed the challenges facing soldiers’ families before, during, and after the operation, the economic effects of Operation Linda Nchi on soldiers’ families, and the psychosocial effects of Operation Linda Nchi on soldiers’ families. The study was guided by Abraham Maslow’s need theory, which attempts to interrogate the human being’s needs and ways in which he or she tries to achieve these needs. The study employed qualitative and quantitative techniques to collect data in the military, ex-soldiers, soldiers' families, war journalists, foreign policy practice, and technology. Desk research was also embraced where in-depth interviews were used for qualitative information. The study used 60 respondents as the sample size where key informant interviews; group discussion based on quantitative research technique; in-depth interviews based on the qualitative research method; government, non-government, and other research institutions records; and, library research was conducted. From the results and responses of the respondents, it emerged that military families were the first casualties when it comes to matters of conflict. It was concluded that the challenges experienced because of this war were such as lack of regular communication, separation from families, and education of their children. They also received many other benefits, for example, subsidized health care, tuition assistance, and housing allowances. It was also concluded that isolation was experienced among the soldier’s families in the deployment cycle, which resulted in high rates of depression among the spouses, marital strain, PTSD. From these findings, it was recommended that the service providers and policy informers must comprehend the social setting and the requirements of soldiers’ spouses and their children to improve the military’s programs and soldiers’ families. Further, effort needs to be made towards providing counseling services to permit both the military officer and his family to access the respective services with convenience and confidentiality. Also, there is a necessity to stabilize bereaved families before compensation money is received and to transition from a military family to a civilian one. Moreover, the responsibility of taking care of those left behind, particularly the children, should be taken over by the society that the soldier was protecting. As a way of expressing gratitude for the sacrifices made, the responsibility to educate children whose fathers died while defending the nation should be taken over by the state at public expense as is the practice in other advanced militaries; that KDF adopts a one-for-one policy whereby a sibling or any other close relative to the deceased soldier is recruited into the military so that there is continued financial support, enhanced hope, and reduced stress to the families. Such a policy would portray KDF as an empathetic organization and appreciate the sacrifices made by its members. Finally, KDF needs to develop well-researched intervention programs for military children to promote the military family's general well-being.

Work-life balance techniques enable workers to effectively manage their job and family responsibilities. This encourages attitudes and behaviours, including organizational dedication, happiness at work and desire to continue working. Organizations have used methods such as flexible working hours, leave policy, family care and support programs to encourage employees to improve performance. The main aim of this research was to analyze the influence of work life balance on performance of academic staff at the University of Nairobi. This research adopted the Spill Over Theory, Work/Family Border Theory and Social Exchange Theory. A descriptive research design was used in this research. The 2220 academic staff at UON served as the research population. Sample size was 339 respondents arrived at using Yamane formula. This research relied on primary data collected through questionnaires. Google forms were made use of in the questionnaire administration. The collected data was converted into quantitative format to make analysis using statistical package for social sciences. The statistics generated were descriptive statistics which included mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics which included both correlation analysis and multiple linear regression. The study revealed a significant positive relationship between Health and wellness programmes, Employee assistance programmes, Leave programmes, Flexible working arrangement and employee performance at UON. Regression analysis revealed that 46.1% of changes in employee performance at UON were attributed to the four variables selected in this study. In conclusion Health and wellness programmes, Employee assistance programmes, Leave programmes, Flexible working arrangement are essential in enhancing employee performance. Based on the findings, flexible working arrangement had the greatest influence on employee performance followed by leave programmes while employee assistance programmes and health and wellness programmes had the least influence. As a result, it is recommended that UON managers and policymakers should continue utilizing work life balance, as this improves their employee performance.

The study sought to determine the effect of portfolio management strategies on the financial performance of the Unit Trusts listed on the NSE. To achieve this objective, the investigation used both correlational and descriptive research designs. The target population for this investigation were the 56 Unit trusts registered in the NSE. The financial information to analyze comprised of five years from the year of income 2015 to 2019. Inferential statistics was used to ascertain an underlying influence linking predictor variables to the output variable. Findings from the regression analysis showed that 4% of the variations in ROA was due to passive management portfolio, active management portfolio, firm size, leverage and inflation rate. This implied that 96% of the variation in ROA was due to other factors. Findings from the ANOVA showed that the model fitted with passive management portfolio, active management portfolio, firm size, leverage and inflation rate was a good fit and statistically significant to predict ROA. Further, results from the regression analysis pointed out that passive management portfolio, active management portfolio, firm size and leverage had positive impact on ROA as indicated by the correlation coefficient of 0.190. The study also concluded that portfolio management strategies had a negative impact on the ROA of the firm. The study recommends that the various unit trusts in NSE have or adopt portfolio management strategies to enhance firm performance. The study also recommends that for companies to enhance performance of portfolios, by having in place effective systems to match investment selection to an individual’s risk objectives, and risk tolerance These systems utilize data to guide investment decisions and ensuring that sound investments would lead to an increase in portfolio. The study also recommends that the government through central Bank of Kenya come up with rigorous policies that will help curb inflation in the economy. With inflation in check investments of the companies would not be adverse affected by a struggling economy.

The study sought to determine the relationship around financial leverage and firm value of cement manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study was based on correlational form of design. The study targeted six cement manufacturing firms in Kenya between 2011 and 2020. Secondary data was mined from individual publicly available audited financial statements from the company websites. Data collection schedule containing annual total debt, total equity, total assets, total liabilities, current assets and current liabilities was used. SPSS was used to analyze the data through descriptive, correlation and regression statistics. Between 2011 and 2020, firm value as measured by Tobin Q averaged at 0.8094; financial leverage as measured by leverage ratio at 0.991; Firm size at 10.5382; and liquidity at 1.2930. From the correlation analysis, financial leverage showed a weak significant negative correlation; firm size showed a weak positive correlation coefficient; while liquidity showed a significant strong negative correlation coefficient with firm value. The model summary showed an R square of 0.718. This indicated that 71.8% of the change in firm value of cement manufacturing firms in Kenya between 2011 and 2020 was explained by financial leverage, firm size and liquidity. From the regression analysis, increase in financial leverage reduced the firm value; increase in firm size would increase the firm value while increase in liquidity would reduce firm value. The study concludes that financial leverage relates negatively with firm value of cement manufacturing firms in Kenya; firm size of cement manufacturing firms in Kenya has a positive relationship with their firm value; and that liquidity relates negatively with firm value of cement manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study recommends that cement manufacturing firms in Kenya reduce the level of debt used in their firms; increase their levels of assets; and reduce the level of current liabilities while increasing the current assets in their portfolios.

Top management team diversity is a concept that firms are recently embracing to ensure that they have a competent top management team that can set strategies and decisions to drive the firm towards achieving performance. This research was set out to establish the relationship between top management diversity and the performance of Kenya Pipeline Company Limited. A case study design was employed to enable the researcher to conduct an in-depth investigation of Kenya Pipeline Company Limited through establishing the influence of top management team diversity and performance of Kenya Pipeline Company Limited. An interview guide was applied to collect primary data by interviewing eight Heads of the following Departments: human resource, finance, marketing, procurement,business development, engineering, operations, and directorate divisions, making it a total of eight participants and data analysis was done using content analysis. The study concluded that the most commonly applied top management team diversity practices were functional experiences, educational qualifications, gender, and age. Through top management team diversity practices, the company made better decisions and strategies, which propelled the firm towards enhancing performance. The study further established that using top management team diversity practices enabled the firm to enhance its performance by producing undervaluing products and services that resulted in customer satisfaction, minimising customer complaints. Being a state corporation that has the responsibility of transporting, storing, and delivering petroleum products to the consumers of Kenya by its pipeline system and oil depot network, the interviewees largely attributed this achievement to TMT diversity, which resulted to quality of decisions and strategies that led to the success of the corporation. This research was limited to scope because of resource and it me constraints forcing the researcher to conduct a case study of Kenya Pipeline Company Limited. Thus, it would be advisable for future researchers interested in this field to replicate this study to include all oil industry firms in Kenya; findings can then be compared, and conclusion will be drawn based on facts.

The study sought to assess the influence of financial planning practices on the financial performance of manufacturing companies listed in the Nairobi security exchange, Kenya. The study's specific objectives will be to assess the influence of financial planning. The study was guided by pecking order theory and adopted a causal research design with a target population comprised of nine (9) manufacturing companies operational during the study period. Thus the study used a census-sampling technique where all the manufacturing companies listed in the Nairobi security exchange were used. The study used data extraction form to collect data from the published financial statement from the firms. Annual panel data for 2015 to 2019 sourced from the Nairobi Stock Exchange was applied. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, where the research hypotheses were tested at a 95% significance level. The study findings could be important to the management of manufacturing firms, other stakeholders, the government, scholars, and academicians. The results established that debt management had a weak negative insignificant relationship with financial performance. At the same time, net worth and long-term investment had a significant positive relationship with financial performance. The study concluded that long-term investment and net worth had a significant positive effect on financial performance. The study recommended that the firms reduce debt financing to a specific celling to reduce the negative impact on financial performance. Debt finance should also be converted to equity, and firms should invest more in high returns with low-risk investments to improve financial performance.

Corporate governance has shown to improve financial reporting quality. Following a series of NGOs collapsing due to financial reporting quality issues, corporate governance has recently received a lot of attention in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between governance and financial reporting quality in NGOs in Nairobi County using a descriptive design. The population of the study was 285 registered NGOs in Nairobi County between 2016 and 2020. The sample size consisted of 74 NGOs selected using The Slovin's Formula. Systematic sampling was utilized to choose the appropriate sample size where every 4th NGO was selected limiting sampling bias. The research was based on secondary sources of data from annual reports by NGOs. The published reports were sourced from the NGO board website. Average firm data was used for analysis. Various tests were done to check on the assumptions of the regression model. They included normality, heteroskedasticity, and multicollinearity. The descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis were used for analysis generated through SPSS. From the model summary, corporate governance had a strong relationship with FRQ. Corporate governance variables used in this research were found to contribute 64.9% change in FRQ. This shows that corporate governance variables controlled by firm size are major factors in financial reporting quality of NGOs. From the ANOVA, the model fitted the data ass the significance value was less than 0.05. From the descriptive, financial reporting showed a mean of above 60%. This indicates that 60% of the NGOs had their reports signed by auditors on time with the quality differing so much across the NGOs. Board composition averaged at 64% and differed so much across the NGOs. From the regression analysis, board composition showed a positive and significant effect on FRQ. Correlation analysis indicated that a positive and significant relationship exited between board composition and FRQ. From the descriptive statistics, gender diversity showed a mean of 33.9%. From the regression, board diversity showed a positive but insignificant effect on FRQ of NGOs. From the correlation analysis showed a positive relationship between board diversity and FRQ. From the descriptive statistics, board independence showed a mean of 38.45%. Board independence showed a positive effect on FRQ. Correlation analysis showed a positive and significant coefficient. Firm size showed an average log of assets of 14.29. Firm size showed an insignificant positive relationship with FRQ. Findings showed that the ratio of independent to total board members was below 50%. Board independence showed a positive effect on FRQ. Correlation analysis showed a positive and significant coefficient. Firm size showed an insignificant relationship with FRQ. The study concludes that corporate governance variables have a relationship with FRQ of NGOs in Nairobi County. The study recommends that NGOs increase the number of non-executives, female and independent directors in order to enhance FRQ. A similar study in a rural county and adopting primary data is recommended.

The study’s objective was to establish the effect of working capital management on financial sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities in Kenya. The paper had operating surplus ratio as the dependent variable and average collection period, current ratio, acid ratio and cash ratio as the independent variables. Descriptive and cross-sectional design was used and with a populace of 33 NGOs in Kenya while utilizing Secondary data. Mode of statistical data with the aid of SPSS was Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The study found out that that Average Collection Period, Current Ratio as well as Acid Ratio and Cash Ratio had a 92.6% impact on the financial sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities in Kenya depicting a strong relationship and that working capital management is vital in influencing the financial sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities in Kenya. The results also showed that the P value was 0.000. This exhibited that the regression model was substantial and the model was fit. It was also evident that the financial sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities depend 0.004 of average collection period. Importantly, at 95% confidence level, the financial sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities had a level of significance of less than 0.05 with Average Collection Period at 0.000 level of significance indicating that it influences Financial Sustainability. Current Ratio at 0.225>0.05 level of significance, Acid Ratio at 0.447>0.05 level of significance and Cash Ratio at 0.860>0.05 level of significance did not influence Financial Sustainability of Income generating activities NGOs. This led to a conclusion that Average Collection period influences Financial Sustainability while Acid Ratio, Current Ratio and Cash Ratio did not influence Financial Sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities. Further, the researcher came to a conclusion that ACP, current ratio and acid ratio have an effect on operating surplus ratio and recommended that the state ought to implement policies to alleviate the adverse effects of financial sustainability among NGO’s. Additionally, the outcome prompted a conclusion that ACP, current ratio, acid ratio and cash ratio have 92.6 % impact on financial sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities in Kenya meaning that 7.4% is as a result of other factors hence a recommendation to do more research involving all factors affecting financial sustainability. Also, the research recommends that further studies to consider the use of primary data sources to help to give in-depth information and reliable data in determining the bearing of working capital management on financial sustainability of NGOs with income generating activities in Kenya.

Background: The chronic use of antipsychotics among mentally ill patients requires a careful balance between effectiveness and the consequential adverse effects or drug-drug interactions. Studies characterizing the prescribing patterns of antipsychotics and the potential drug-drug interactions in resource-constrained settings remain scarce. Study Objectives: To characterize the drug use patterns and potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) among the mentally ill adult patients at Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya (MNTRH). Methodology: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study of 167 patients at MNTRH. A pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the relevant socio-demographic and clinical data, which was coded and entered into Microsoft Excel 2016 for descriptive analysis and then exported to STATA 13. Fischer’s exact and Pearson’s Chi-square tests were used to identify the association between the predictor and outcome variables. A student t-test and one-way analysis of variance were done to compare the effect of various predictor variables on the outcome investigated. A binomial logistic analysis was done by regressing the patients’ profile against the outcome variable to identify the independent predictors. The statistical tests were computed at P≤ 0.05 and a 95% confidence level. Results: The majority of the participants were males (64.7%) and aged below 45 years (76.6%) with a mean age of 36.7 (SD 13.4) years. Most prescriptions contained first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) (79.2%), and almost half (45.2%) had second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs). Approximately half of the patients (53%) and 38% were on dual and monotherapy antipsychotic, respectively. Only 35.9% of the patients used a standard dose of antipsychotics (≤1000mg of chlorpromazine equivalents), while 53.3% used supramaximal doses. The two most common pDDIs were between olanzapine/carbamazepine and haloperidol/amitriptyline. Patients using supramaximal doses were twice as likely to have pDDIs (OR = 2.23, 95% CI, P=0.023). Having a higher number of FGAs prescribed significantly increased the odds of a patient receiving a supramaximal dose by up to 18 times (P <0.001). The addition of an SGA to a regimen significantly increased the chances of a pDDI (OR=4.01, 95% CI, P<0.001). Conclusion: Psychiatric disorders were mainly managed using FGAs at a much higher frequency than in developed countries. Polypharmacy contributed to patients receiving supramaximal chlorpromazine dose equivalents and adjunct therapy with anticholinergics. Drug-drug interactions can be minimized by avoiding polypharmacy with SGAs and using lower doses of antipsychotics. Close on-treatment monitoring is essential to reduce adverse drug events. Recommendations: Psychiatric disorders should be treated with SGAs as opposed to two or more FGA concurrently to ensure that patients benefit from lower doses of CPZeq, which are associated with a lower risk of extrapyramidal side effects. Future studies should come up with a scaled guideline that informs the clinical efficacy of various doses of CPZeq, particularly involving the FGAs to inform practice and policy.

In this project, I worked on a creative writing in the form of a novella, which I gave the title The African Sunrise. There is need to address the challenges that are facing the boy child in our modern society such as it is being done for the girl child so that the boy child is not found lagging behind in future. My research findings indicated that activists, NGOs and the government are giving most attention to the girl child forgetting that there is a higher chance for boys to be influenced into drugs, to drop out of school, to be influenced into crime and to be imprisoned. This novella reflects the lives of young boys and the challenges that they face as they grow up especially in the lower class citizens such as drug abuse, alcoholism and petty crime, among others. This creative writing aimed at giving hope to the youth that no matter what problems they may encounter, there is hope in the end and that there is room for correction of delinquent behaviour.